A 2024 study led by Elizabeth Veatch from the University of Tübingen re‑examines the diet of Homo floresiensis at the Liang Bua cave on Indonesia’s Flores island. Researchers found that teeth marks on Stegodon bones match those made by modern Komodo dragons, not stone‑cutting tools.

The Komodo dragon’s serrated teeth produce shallow, short, wide marks and target the most fleshy areas—limbs, feet, ribs—exactly where the fossils show bite marks. Stone‑cut marks appear on less desirable spots, indicating that Hobbits scavenged leftovers rather than hunted the elephant directly.

No fire evidence surfaces in the same layers, suggesting that the Hobbits ate raw meat. This absence challenges the belief that Homo floresiensis possessed the skill set for big‑game hunting and controlled fire use.

The findings shift the debate on the species’ ancestry: if the Hobbits lacked hunting fire, they may descend from an earlier, less brainy hominin—perhaps Homo habilis or Homo rudolfensis—rather than from Homo erectus. This reframes how early humans spread beyond Africa and the origins of stone tools.