Palau Specimen News in PLoS ONE

Earlier this week I flubbed on reporting about a report from Science Daily that highlighted new research showing that an early island population of humans were not dwarfed, as was first thought, but were within the average size range for modern humans. I mistakenly indicated that the fossils in question were the Homo floresiensis specimens. Actually the study, published in PLoS ONE, was on the Palau specimens that were previously thought to represent a small-statured population of humans, a prime example of insular dwarfism.

The new paper strongly contradicts the original claims that the Palau people were significantly smaller in stature than average modern Homo sapiens. The original paper was also published in PLoS ONE earlier this year, this is a great example of how online, open access publishing allows quick turnaround and public dialog about issues like this. Fitzpatrick et al assert that the individuals were not below the normal height range for humans. They provide evidence of faulty assumptions and analyses in the original description of the specimens, and also present data from additional fossils is also consistent with the conclusion that the Palau fossils represent average-sized individuals. This is a major change from Berger et al's original claims that were trumpeted by the media, an issue that Fitzpatrick et al address bluntly:

"While some may see the Berger et al. paper as being so egregious that few will take it seriously (and as such, does not necessitate the lengthy response we have presented here), we feel that it is extremely important for the scientific community and laymen alike to be fully aware that the data described by Berger et al. is fundamentally flawed and does not mesh with the known biological and archaeological data from Palau. "

This is definitely a fascinating turn of events, it will be interesting to watch how it plays out in the future. This does not mean that insular dwarfism has never occurred in humans: despite bickering about their place in the hominid family tree, the small stature of H. floresiensis specimens is not in question (although it seems like everything else about them has been questioned!). The new study, however, does a pretty tidy take-down of the original claims about the Palau population. It will be interesting to follow the story and watch for future publications by the authors on both sides of this issue!

Berger LR, Churchill SE, De Klerk B, Quinn RL 2008 Small-Bodied Humans from Palau, Micronesia. PLoS ONE 3(3): e1780 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0001780

Fitzpatrick SM, Nelson GC, Clark G 2008 Small Scattered Fragments Do Not a Dwarf Make: Biological and Archaeological Data Indicate that Prehistoric Inhabitants of Palau Were Normal Sized. PLoS ONE 3(8): e3015 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0003015