After hearing and reading so many stories of hobbits, elves, dwarves and leprechauns, you might wish to see one of them or maybe even learn from where these short characters came. Ireland tells stories of leprechauns, and Indonesia tells stories about the Ebu Gogo.

The Ebu Gogo, who were small inhabitants of the island of Flores, have been described as hairy people who murmur to each other (what is told to be their language) and who can repeat what humans say to them, like parrots do. Stories about these human-like creatures in Indonesia say that they might have been alive up to a century ago.

If you see one, you will be a treasure to the scientific community, since in September of 2003, skeletal remains similar to those human-like creatures described in Indonesian stories were found. The scientific name of the discovered remains is homo floresiensis; another name is the LB1 (Liang Bua 1), also known as the Hobbit or the Flores Man.

This discovery has definitely shed new light on evolution theory and human history. It has been thought that humans have been the only hominids since the Neanderthals, but these discoveries prove that idea wrong. The Hobbit of our world — not Middle Earth — is said to have lived until 12,000 years ago. They had tiny brains and could build tools, something which was thought to be only possible to accomplish with big brains; therefore, complex behavior needs to be studied further.

Some claim that this discovery should or would destroy religion, but for those affiliated to a religious belief or organization, it is another reason to reinforce their beliefs of being God’s only intelligent creation. As humans, we are obsessed in understanding where we come from and how we came to be. To fill that need, humans have based their existence on a couple of theories.

Evolution is complicated, and more research still needs to be done to fill in its gaps. Creationism poses the easiest way out: We were created by God, so we need to be in harmony with our creator. However, the creation ideology is extremely similar to another ideology that tells that humans were placed on this planet by intelligent extraterrestrial creatures and encourages us to look out for extraterrestrial life (that is not the only reason for SETI).

This belief obsession is what continues to divide human beings; because of these ideologies, it is hard for humans to sympathize with those who see the world from a different angle. Many religious fundamentalists might believe that other hominids that existed were the work of the devil. Many Darwinists say that those who believe in creation are ignorant fundamentalists.

Let’s imagine, like anthropologist Desmond Morrist suggested, that the Flores Man is still alive, can speak and has a different ideology. What would happen? Maybe it would drive some humans into destroying a population because of its “evil” beliefs. I wouldn’t be surprised, since almost all wars, genocide and violent acts that have occurred in history have happened because of extremist beliefs.

The desire of to wipe out another culture or push another belief based on religious ideologies is not something that happened yesterday; it has always been seen in the history of humanity, even today. But despite the fact that history is studied so that we can learn from our past mistakes, it seems that as a society we cannot pass our childhood stage, and the same mistakes happen over and over again.

Like in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth, maybe this Hobbit has something to teach us about ourselves. We do not know much about their ways of life; however, studies about this hominid will definitely provide better understanding about our origins. Still, I wish that our beliefs of being the superior being on this planet and having the correct ideology do not continue leading us towards the destruction of our own habitat and society.