Micro-CT scans of LB 1’s hip bones found nearly every measured pelvic feature of Homo floresiensis within the Homo sapiens range, revising views of the 1-meter-tall species’ locomotion.
Researchers compared the pelvis with living humans, African apes and 26 fossil hominins, using a new iliac-flare measure that helped resolve earlier mixed results.
The overall pelvis aligned more closely with Pleistocene Homo — including Homo erectus — than with australopiths or apes, pointing to upright walking closer to other human species.
LB 1 still did not move exactly like modern people: the pelvic shape suggests slower bipedalism, limited long-distance travel and possibly some tree use.
The finding sharpens how the Flores “hobbit” moved but does not settle its ancestry, which still centers on descent from island-dwarfed Homo erectus or an earlier small-bodied Homo lineage.