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| - A story perpetuated in some social media circles and fringe websites claims that 600 million-year-old fossils belonging to tiny humanoids have been found in Antarctica.
Snopes found that one of the earliest iterations of this claim appeared in a post (archived) published to Xa Lua News on Nov. 18, 2022. The story has been copied to other websites, while versions of this rumor also have appeared on other websites and social media platforms, including Pinterest, YouTube and Facebook. Images included in the posts show the purported skeletons, with a penny included for scale, measuring just inches long.
This is an internet hoax that is unsubstantiated by the scientific community.
"There is no credible published scientific literature, or any other valid finding, that supports this claim," Briana Pobiner, a paleontologist at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, told Snopes.
The smallest known species of humans was more than 3 feet tall, while the earliest humans evolved between 2 million and 6 million years ago, according to scientific literature. Furthermore, a closer examination of the photos shared in the story shows obvious signs of fakery.
Smallest Known Species of Humans Measures Over 3 Feet Tall
The smallest known human species is considered to be Homo floresiensis. Around 3 feet tall — much larger than the purported skeletons in the posts in question — this species is often nicknamed the "Hobbit" and is believed to have evolved to its small size because of limited resources on the Indonesian island of Flores.
The species' fossils date to between 60,000 and 100,000 years ago, with stone tools dating back as far as 190,000 years ago.
Earliest Humans Evolved Between 2 Million and 6 Million Years Ago
Fossil records indicate that the earliest humans evolved between 2 million and 6 million years ago, according to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History's Human Origins Project. The group wrote:
One of the earliest defining human traits, bipedalism -- the ability to walk on two legs -- evolved over 4 million years ago. Other important human characteristics -- such as a large and complex brain, the ability to make and use tools, and the capacity for language -- developed more recently. Many advanced traits -- including complex symbolic expression, art, and elaborate cultural diversity -- emerged mainly during the past 100,000 years.
Humans are primates. Physical and genetic similarities show that the modern human species, Homo sapiens, has a very close relationship to another group of primate species, the apes. Humans and the great apes (large apes) of Africa -- chimpanzees (including bonobos, or so-called "pygmy chimpanzees") and gorillas -- share a common ancestor that lived between 8 and 6 million years ago. Humans first evolved in Africa, and much of human evolution occurred on that continent. The fossils of early humans who lived between 6 and 2 million years ago come entirely from Africa.
Vertebrates, or organisms with a backbone, first appeared in the fossil record around 500 million years ago. (For a more thorough look at the timeline of life's evolution, check out this New Scientist article.)
Images Show Obvious Signs of Being Faked
A closer examination of the images shared in the posts shows they are very obviously doctored. When zoomed in, for example, the below photo looks like it was drawn on using a pen tool:
(Archaeology World)
No Evidence To Support the Supposed Finding
The articles did not share any additional information to support the supposed finding, such as a news release from a research institution or a peer-reviewed scientific study.
There are other erroneous claims made in the articles. For example, one section of an article posted on Archaeology Worlds says the fossils were flown to the "National Institute of Ancient Studies in Washington, D.C.," for analysis. However, the article links to the Wikipedia page for the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, is a program at New York University.
The article also cites a "Doctor Marly of Cambridge University," but does not provide the full name of the supposed researcher. Google searches for a "Doctor Marly" at the university return only links sharing the rumor about the skeletons.
Additionally, there is no scientific literature to support such a finding, and no credible news outlets have reported on such evidence. Because the rumor has no evidence to support it, does not align with accepted science and includes images that show signs of being faked, this claim is false.
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