When paleoanthropologists announced the discovery of Homo floresiensis on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2003, the tiny, small-brained species quickly earned a reputation as an evolutionary surprise. The extinct hominin was thought to have hunted elephant-like animals and controlled fire despite standing barely 109 cm (3.5 feet) tall and possessing a brain roughly one-third the size of a modern human’s. New research led by from Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History challenges that picture.
Reconstruction of Homo floresiensis. Image credit: Elisabeth Daynes.
“Homo floresiensis was originally described as having relatively advanced behaviors for a short-statured and small-brained hominin species based on purported evidence of fire use and the hunting of large game,” said lead author Dr. E. Grace Veatch and her colleagues.
“For example, skeletal remains of Homo floresiensis and a dwarfed species of proboscidean, Stegodon florensis insularis, were uncovered together at Liang Bua in association with dense concentrations of stone artifacts, interpreted at the time of discovery as ‘big game’ hunting technology.”
“Some of the smaller animal remains at the site were also described as charred, implying that they were burned by Homo floresiensis, supporting the idea of a relatively small-brained yet behaviorally advanced fire-using hominin.”
In their study, Dr. Veatch and co-authors examined more than 3,100 Stegodon bone fragments as well as nearly 7,000 rodent remains recovered from Liang Bua Cave.
To distinguish marks made by stone tools from those left by predators, they conducted a feeding experiment at Zoo Atlanta, allowing a captive Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis) to feed on a goat carcass.
They then compared the resulting tooth marks with marks found on fossil bones from Liang Bua.
The fossil assemblage contained evidence that both hominins and Komodo dragons fed on Stegodon carcasses.
But the pattern of damage suggested that the giant reptiles generally had first access to the animals.
Komodo dragon tooth marks were concentrated on bones rich in meat, while the cut marks attributed to Homo floresiensis occurred mainly on lower-value skeletal parts, such as ribs, phalanges and fragments of the skull and vertebrae.
The researchers also found no evidence of projectile weapons or impact damage that would indicate active hunting.
The findings imply that the hominins probably consumed raw meat scavenged from carcasses rather than regularly bringing down large prey themselves.
“The overall taphonomic evidence suggests that the Stegodon assemblage reflects a combination of mostly primary access by Komodo dragons and secondary access by Homo floresiensis,” they said.
The evidence for fire use was equally sparse: among the thousands of Stegodon bones examined, only a single rib fragment showed signs of burning, and the scientists argue that it was probably exposed to fires set much later by modern humans.
The rodent remains told a similar story: about 20% of murine bones from layers associated with Homo sapiens showed evidence of burning, but none of more than 4,200 rodent remains from sediments linked to Homo floresiensis bore traces of fire damage.
Taken together, the findings suggest Homo floresiensis was not the technologically advanced, fire-wielding big-game hunter it was once made out to be.
“Homo floresiensis was initially described as ‘capable of complex behavior and cognition’ in part because this species may represent an isolated island-dwarfed descendant lineage of Homo erectus,” the authors said.
“However, evidence for behavioral complexity in Homo floresiensis, including complex tool and fire use, have weakened considerably over time.”
“Without fire, Homo floresiensis would not likely have evolved adaptations in gut physiology and masticatory anatomy that maximize energy acquisition from consuming cooked foods, as seen in some other hominins.”
“Furthermore, Homo floresiensis retains postcranial anatomy as well as relative arm, leg, and foot proportions unconducive for running and throwing that would make the act of hunting large game (in the traditional sense) quite difficult.”
“The evidence to date thus suggests that Homo floresiensis did not engage in a behavioral repertoire as diverse or as flexible as in modern humans or Neanderthals, possibly due to an ancestry in which large game hunting and controlled use of fire did not evolve.”
The study was published July 3, 2026 in the journal Science Advances.
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E. Grace Veatch et al. 2026. Taphonomic analysis at Liang Bua reveals the behavioral and technological capabilities of Homo floresiensis. Science Advances 12 (27); doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aeb7219
