The Nage people of the island of Flores (Indonesia) tell tales of three-feet tall people who were both human and ape-like and shared the island with them. These little people were annoying and even violent, so, by sometime in the 1600s (some reports say earlier, some later), the Nage decided to save the island from this menace and they eradicated the Ebu Gogo.
You may say the stories about the Ebu Gogo are "crazy" or "just myth," but in 2003 archeologists, continuing their consistent digging in a cave on Flores, found artifacts, evidence of cooking, hunting tools, remains of miniature elephants and other fauna from the ancient island, and an almost-complete skeleton of a 3-foot tall female that has the perfect blend of chimp and human features. Hmmmm....
The first recorded storytelling about the Ebu Gogo was by Dutch sailors who visited the island, and then later when Captain Cook, on his first voyage in 1770, sat around the campfire to hear the Nage tell the Ebu Gogo stories again.
The Ebu Gogo lived in caves and wore clothes. Their features were a perfect blend of human and ape, the Nage say.
They cooked their food, but they also ate it raw, and they definitely ate a lot because Ebu Gogo means "grandmother who eats everything." And by everything, the Nage mean EVERYTHING.
In the end, the little people were damaging the Nage's property, stealing food, and eventually this led to stealing the islanders' children.
But the Nage still tried to make things harmonious by asking selected Ebu Gogo to dinner (if someone steals your coat, give him your other one too). Unfortunately, the guests could not behave and began acting like monkeys. Those rude little Ebu Gogos grabbed any food they could find and ate as fast as they could (think Helen Keller in her early days). They also grabbed a human baby and tried to eat it.
This was the last straw. And soon thereafter, the villagers gave the Ebu Gogo a "gift" of oil-soaked clothing. The little people put on the clothes in the caves where they were living. As soon as they were dressed, the Nage set the caves on fire.
Pretty gruesome, huh?
And you could comfort yourself by saying "It's only a myth," except for the fact that they've now found Ebu-Gogo-like remains in a cave on Flores. And these ancient remains are definitely fitting the description of the Nage' little people, although researchers are calling the near-complete skeleton a "Hobbit" (Homo floresiensis) instead of Ebu Gogo. (There are also some other Hobbit skeletal body parts in the cave.)
Normal human skeleton on the right, "Hobbit" skull found
Some researchers have said that the Hobbit people were a group of islanders with an iodine deficiency. A severe iodine deficiency does stunt growth and a whole group of people living together with this malady would produce the tiny, mumbling, cretins that we find in the Nage stories.
However, an iodine deficiency does not give you chimp-like wrist bones like the Hobbit remains, and the most recent research convinced researchers William Jungers and Karen Baab to declare Homo floresiensis a separate species from Homo sapiens, but still human.
Another problem for paleoanthropologists is assuming the Hobbits were the mythological Ebu Gogo. They say the Hobbits lived on the island, at the latest, around 12,000 years ago. The Nage stories have the Ebu Gogo thriving on the island into modern times. Some stories have them living into the 20th Century because two escaped the cave fires and created new families in the mountain forests.
As a Christian, I am not trying to make an evolutionary point here, (if you are an evolutionist there are plenty of theories with which to toy). All I am saying is, "huh." There is a mystery here.
Although I don't believe everything this video of a Nova episode says, it gives good info on the Hobbit people and the Ebu Gogo:
The Ebu Gogo have a Wiki Page, and so do the Hobbits (Homo floresiensis); You'll enjoy this video, too, where the Nage tell stories of the little people to a researcher, Ebu Gogo.
Source Articles: Monster Mondays: Ebu Gogo; Hobbits on Flores, Indonesia; Stalking the Wild Ebu Gogo; Dwarf Cretins Lead to Hobbit Debate; Scientists Find New Species of 3 Foot Human; Homo floresiensis; Hobbits Are Indeed a Separate Species, Researchers Said.
