Indonesian
scientists dispute discovery of new human species
- Kyodo, November 6, 2004
A group of Indonesian scientists is challenging a claim by their Australian counterparts to have discovered a new and tiny human species in an eastern Indonesian island, accusing them of committing a "scientific terrorism," reports said Saturday.
Prominent palaeoanthropologist Teuku Jacob reportedly said a dwarf-sized skeleton recently found in a limestone cave at Liang Bua on remote Flores Island does not represent a new species, Homo floresiensis, as claimed by Australian scientists Mike Morwood and Peter Brown.
"The skeleton is...simply a fossil of a modern human, Homo sapiens, that lived about 13,000 to 18,000 years ago," local newspapers quoted Jacob as saying.
...Jacob criticized the announcement of the discovery without the consent of the Indonesian archeologists who participated in the find and accused the Australian scientists of committing "scientific terrorism."...
A group of Indonesian scientists is challenging a claim by their Australian counterparts to have discovered a new and tiny human species in an eastern Indonesian island, accusing them of committing a "scientific terrorism," reports said Saturday.
Prominent palaeoanthropologist Teuku Jacob reportedly said a dwarf-sized skeleton recently found in a limestone cave at Liang Bua on remote Flores Island does not represent a new species, Homo floresiensis, as claimed by Australian scientists Mike Morwood and Peter Brown.
"The skeleton is...simply a fossil of a modern human, Homo sapiens, that lived about 13,000 to 18,000 years ago," local newspapers quoted Jacob as saying.
...Jacob criticized the announcement of the discovery without the consent of the Indonesian archeologists who participated in the find and accused the Australian scientists of committing "scientific terrorism."...