Do you want to know why Homo Floresiensis are nicknamed the “real life Hobbits”? Find out and ask your own questions at our Speakeasy on June 1st!
Join the Chicago Council on Science and Technology, the Leakey Foundation, the Field Museum and Professor Adam Brumm for an evening of networking, socializing, and science!
Featuring a talk by Adam Brumm, professor of archaeology and founding member of the Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution at Griffith University. Doors at Revolution Brewing + Taproom will open at 2:00 with the talk kicking off at 2:30. Food and drink will be available for purchase.
Registration is not required but is appreciated.
In October 2004 the discovery of fossils from a new species of extinct human, Homo floresiensis, was announced to the world. The fossils were excavated from Liang Bua cave on the Indonesian island of Flores. They belong to a very diminutive human with a tiny brain. This creature’s unusual traits bedevilled the efforts of scientists to trace its evolutionary origin. One theory was that Homo floresiensis was the dwarfed descendant of larger-bodied Homo erectus from Java. Another theory was that the Flores ‘Hobbit’ was the remnant of a much older line of primitive, small-bodied hominins, perhaps close relatives of Lucy (Australopithecus afarensis). Testing these theories had not been possible owing to the lack of human fossils at the oldest hominin sites on Flores—these dated to at least 1 million years ago, but had previously yielded only stone tools. In recent years, however, a handful of extremely old human fossils has been found at Mata Menge, a site located in tropical grasslands east of Liang Bua. At about 700,000 years old, the Mata Menge fossils are ten times older than the Liang Bua ‘hobbit’, and they belong to even smaller-sized hominins with similarly peculiar traits. In this talk, Professor Adam Brumm from Griffith University—a leading member of the Mata Menge team—will discuss the discovery of these new human fossils, the oldest known from Flores, and consider their implications for our understanding of how Homo floresiensis evolved.
Event Details
Join the Chicago Council on Science and Technology on Sunday, June 1st, from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM at Revolution Brewing’s Brewery + Taproom on Kedzie, for our Hobbits & Hops Speakeasy! Doors at Revolution Brewing + Taproom will open at 2:00 with the talk kicking off at 2:30.
This event is family friendly and open to all ages but alcoholic beverage sales are restricted to guests aged 21+.
We are dedicated to providing an inclusive environment for everyone. Please respect diversity in individuals and in cultures. Science in the Community is an ongoing effort by C2ST to live up to our philosophy that “Science is for Everyone.” Not only do we want to join your community, but we want to return and provide science programs that are relevant to you in the future.
