In this new series, Human, paleoanthropologist Ella Al-Shamahi reveals our incredible story across 300,000 years of human ...

To resolve these debates and understand more about Homo floresiensis and its place in the human family tree, more fossil discoveries are needed, particularly in Asia.

The skull (left) of Homo floresiensis is displayed next to a modern human's skull at a news conference in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, in November 2004, shortly after the hobbit's discovery was made public.

Ideally, geneticists looking for signs of Homo floresiensis DNA in present-day populations would refer to a hobbit genome, like they can with Neanderthal and Denisovan genomes.

Researchers found fossils of the extinct species Homo floresiensis at the Mata Menge excavation site, seen circa 2014, on the Indonesian island of Flores.

The remains of an individual Homo floresiensis were discovered in 2003 in the Liang Bua cave on the island of Flores. (Image credit: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) ...

Mixing and Mating, Revealed by DNA Genetic studies of living people over the past several decades revealed the general contours of human history. Our species arose in Africa, dispersing out from that ...