Overview
- The Science Advances paper, published July 3, analyzed more than 3,000 Stegodon fragments and nearly 7,000 rodent bones and found marks that match Komodo dragon tooth scores more closely than stone-tool cuts.
- Researchers fed goats to live Komodo dragons and used 3-D imaging to compare modern tooth marks with the ancient bones, concluding the dragons ate first and hominins took scraps from less meaty parts.
- A targeted survey of rodent bones tied to the hobbit layers found essentially no signs of burning, undermining prior claims that Homo floresiensis controlled fire at Liang Bua cave.
- Authors and outside experts caution limits to the claim because Liang Bua has complex layering, modern Komodo–Stegodon interactions cannot be perfectly replicated, and some burned bones likely come from much later Homo sapiens occupations.
- If verified by further dating and excavation, the finding will shift how scientists read hobbit behavior and ancestry by lowering inferred hunting and fire use and prompting new work on how small hominins survived on Flores.