Riddle Of The Human Hobbits (C4): THEY were little people with a brain smaller than a chimp's. And, before you start muttering this description fits the chap who lives across the road, I should point out that this species no longer exists.

But this Equinox Special pointed out that these so-called human hobbits were part of the most important fossil discovery in more than half a century.

You may find it hard to get excited about a pile of old bones dug up on the Indonesian island of Flores, but this is a dream come true for archaeologists. The finding of these tiny prehistoric humans alters lots of thinking. We had thought we were the only humans around for the past 25,000 years, until examination of the bones showed these human hobbits lived until around 13,000 years ago.

"This remarkable find changes everything," declared the archaeologists. There were some ifs, buts and maybes attached to this statement, which is just as well if you have to sustain a programme for an hour.

Experts put forward theories and computer graphics brought the human hobbits to life.

The actual discovery of the bones was "a complete fluke" which means the archaeological team, who'd been digging for four years on the island without finding very much, just struck lucky.

At first, they thought the whole skull and bones forming a complete body were a child's, except this three-and-a-half foot tall person had fully developed features. She was an adult.

Late last year the species was given a proper name - homo floresiensis - although she answered to Flo. Then it got complicated as experts tried to blame her restricted height on a brain disorder. Others concluded that these creatures may have adapted to life on the isolated island by becoming smaller. Size did matter in such an hostile environment and a pocket-sized person stood a better chance of survival. This idea of a incredibly shrinking human species was pretty startling.

Despite their compact size, they were good hunters as bones of huge reptiles, outsize rats and dwarf elephants were found. And despite their brains getting smaller, they didn't lose their intelligence.

If they were a relative of homo erectus, as was being suggested, there was a flaw in the argument. How did they get to the island? The answer was devilishly simple - they built a raft. This was the cue for more computer-generated images of unpleasant, hairy people at sea and an excuse for the experts to get paddling to see if the voyage was possible.

The demise of these creatures isn't clear either. The skulls and bones offer no evidence of how they died. What is clear is that they were odd little creatures - the size of four-year-olds, weighing four stone and with a brain a third the size of a modern human one.

Finally, a forensic scientist constructed a head from the evidence dug up. She was not a pretty sight, certainly not someone you'd want to meet in a dark alley. Give me Tolkien's hobbits any time.

Published: 03/05/2005