SAS Webinar
“Homo floresiensis: Past, Present, Future” by
Professor Matthew Tocheri (Lakehead University, Canada; National Museum of Natural History, USA)
Saturday, October 3, 2026
2:00 – 3:30 PM PT
On Zoom
Abstract: Nearly twenty-two years ago, on the 28th of October 2004, a discovery was announced that sent shock waves around the world. A completely unexpected extinct human species, called Homo floresiensis, was proposed based on skeletal remains recovered on the Indonesian island of Flores. This new species quickly became known affectionately as the ‘hobbits of human evolution’ and “suddenly became, by no wish of their own, both important and renowned, and troubled the councils of the wise and the great” (J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings). Although Homo floresiensis is now known widely as a small-brained, short-statured hominin species, the impact on the field of human evolution has been nothing short of gargantuan. And our journey to recovering their story has only just begun …
About the speaker: Matt Tocheri is Canada Research Chair in Human Origins, in Lakehead University’s Department of Anthropology. He is also a Research Associate in the Human Origins Program at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History. He received his academic degrees in anthropology from Lakehead University (HBA) in Thunder Bay, Canada, and Arizona State University (MA and PhD) in Tempe, Arizona. Matt’s main research interests surround the evolutionary history and functional morphology of the human and great ape family, the Hominidae. His work on the wrist of Homo floresiensis, the so-called ‘hobbits’ of human evolution, received considerable attention worldwide after it was published in 2007 in the journal, “Science”. Matt’s other recent publications appear in “Nature”, “PNAS”, “Journal of Human Evolution”, “American Journal of Physical Anthropology”, “Journal of Anatomy”, “International Journal of Osteoarchaeology”, “Dental Anthropology”, and “Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology”.
Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84331164651?pwd=OlYVnpa4SrBdhk6ZRZCzz1YCjCOtFz.1
ID: 84331164651
Password: 8817
Dial by your location
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 929 436 2866 US (New York)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
The seminar will start at 2:00 PM PT and formally conclude at 3:30 PM.
Friends are welcome and also invited to join our organization. There is no participation fee.
You are invited to attend the webinar before 2:00 PM for chat time.
