The Ebu Gogo and the Hobbit of Flores
Villagers on Flores told of small, hairy people who lived in the forest long ago. Then archaeologists found the bones of a tiny human.
What was reported
The Nage people of the Indonesian island of Flores tell stories of the ebu gogo, 'the grandmother who eats anything': small, hairy, human-like creatures who lived in caves, murmured to each other and stole food. The stories say they lived there until a few generations ago.
In 2003, archaeologists digging in the Liang Bua cave on Flores found the bones of a tiny human species, about a metre tall, which they named Homo floresiensis, nicknamed the 'hobbit'.
Explanations offered
Scientists now date the hobbit remains to between about 100,000 and 50,000 years ago, long before the ebu gogo stories describe, so most think the legend is not a memory of the same species. Still, the discovery showed that a small human species really did live on Flores, just as the legend imagined.
- When
- Legend for generations; fossils found in 2003
- Where
- Liang Bua, Flores, Indonesia
- Witnesses
- Nage villagers; archaeologists
- Status
- Partly confirmed
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.