For more than a million years, a small ancient human relative survived quietly on the volcanic island of Flores in Indonesia. Then, around 50,000 years ago, this tiny hominin known as Homo floresiensis, nicknamed the hobbit because of its small stature, disappeared entirely, leaving behind one of the most puzzling mysteries in human evolution. Scientists have now built the most detailed climate record yet for the region where these ancient humans once lived, and the evidence points toward a long and severe drought as a likely trigger. As rainfall declined sharply, the hobbits and one of their key food sources appear to have been pushed out of their long-time refuge, possibly bringing them into contact with modern humans for the first time.
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