- The remains of an extinct metre-high human species have
become virtually as hidden as they were before their discovery last year
rocked the world of palaeontology.
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- One of Indonesia's leading palaeontologists is refusing
to hand back the remains to the team that found them on the Indonesian
island of Flores.
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- As reported last year, Professor Teuku Jacob, of Gadjah
Mada University, grabbed the remains of the seven creatures - dubbed "hobbits"
- and locked them in his safe, refusing to let other scientists study them.
He was not in the Australian-Indonesian team that found the bones, but
was given them by an Indonesian team member.
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- Professor Jacob told the Australian press that he would
return the bones on January 1. But The Age has learnt he has not done so
and does not plan to.
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- Mike Morwood, of the University of New England, who led
the expedition, has been in Indonesia trying to get the bones back. He
said the director of Jakarta's Indonesian Centre for Archaeology, Tony
Djubiantono, asked Professor Jacob to return the bones, to no avail.
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- On January 7, Professor Morwood told The Age that "Tony
Djubiantono has just sent a letter to Jacob formally requesting their return,
but has given him until February 1 to complete his analysis".
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- Come February 1, still no luck. "Tony Djubiantono
phoned Jacob yesterday and demanded the return of the remains to the Centre
for Archaeology in Jakarta. Jacob asked for another week," Professor
Morwood said.
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- This week still nothing had happened. "No joy,"
Professor Morwood said. "Dr Tony Djubiantono has not long been in
the position as director of the Centre for Archaeology and seems reluctant
to really push things. There are a number of new publications and TV documentaries
coming out in March (including the National Geographic special on 13th),
which will put extra pressure on Jacob to comply."
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- Professor Jacob blasted the Australians last year on
several fronts. The Australian (and world) consensus is that the "hobbits"
are a separate human species, Homo floresiensis, which diverged from the
modern human evolutionary line about a million years ago.
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- Not so, says Professor Jacob. They are just a pygmy form
of modern human who suffered a brain-shrinking disease, he says. Moreover,
the first skeleton found was not that of a female, as claimed by the Australians,
but of a male. And to cap it off, he claimed the Indonesian half of the
team was not given due credit for its part in the find.
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- Studying the bones is extremely important as they may
harbour vital DNA clues and other evidence about the ancestry of Homo floresiensis
and the way they lived.
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- Professor Jacob has a history of doing things like this.
Team member Bert Roberts, of Wollongong University, said last year that
Professor Jacob had a record of "very carefully curating fossils and
letting very few other people look at them. We don't want to inflame the
situation... otherwise maybe he'll poison the waters and we won't get back
into Indonesia next year".
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- The team hopes to discover more skeletons in digs in
Indonesia this year.
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- Copyright © 2005. The Age Company Ltd.
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- http://www.theage.com.au/
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