People often hesitate to call Homo floresiensis the 'Hobbit' in front of me -until I tell them that we constantly use the nickname at Liang Bua. In fact, we love it. And some of JRR Tolkien's passages are strikingly prophetic. 🧵Here's my favorite, buckle up : "The beginning of Hobbits lies far back in the Elder Days that are now lost and forgotten.

Today I visited a skull that is arguably my favorite fossil in paleoanthropology’s history, the Gibraltar Neanderthal from Forbes Quarry. Here’s why (a short #histsci thread): The skull was discovered in 1848 and considered noteworthy enough to be presented at a meeting of the Gibraltar scientific society. They likely viewed the skull as simply human (though perhaps a slightly odd one) and left the specimen on a shelf to collect dust.