to the Australian fossil-hunters who found it, however, the 18,000 year old skeleton represents an entirely new species of human.
As such, Homo floresiensis ("Flores Island Man") will take its place among such celebrated characters as Homo erectus and Homo neanderthalis. Or at least it would, were it not for the fact that many scientists think it's just a short-arsed version of H. sapiens.
Doubts about the status of H. floresiensis emerged as soon as its discovery was announced in the journal Nature - the UK-based arch-rival of Science - in October 2004. Some leading anatomists argued that the small skull could just as easily belong to a prehistoric human with a brain disease known as microencephaly.
It is a view now backed by research in the current issue of Science, showing that the skull is so small that it contradicts biological rules for the relative sizes of the skeletons and skulls of healthy humanoids.
Defenders of Hobbit Man point out that fragments of around nine other "hobbits" 
