In 2003, archaeologists in Indonesia discovered the skeleton of a previously unknown species of human – Homo floresiensis, or Flores man.

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It was nicknamed the ‘hobbit’, named after the characters created by JRR Tolkien, because they were just over a metre in height. It’s thought they became extinct around 70,000 years ago.

Witness History’s Rachel Naylor spoke to Peter Brown, the Australian paleoanthropologist who identified it.

00:00 Intro
00:20 Discovering the fossils
05:42 Uncovering a new species
10:43 Peter’s thoughts on the name ‘hobbit’
12:30 Disputes over the bones
14:21 What have we learned since?
16:12 Outro

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