Discovery of "hobbit" fossils suggests tiny humans roamed Indonesian islands 700,000 years ago

Twenty years ago on an Indonesian island, scientists discovered fossils of an early human species that stood at about 3 1/2 feet tall, earning them the nickname "hobbits."

Now a new study suggests ancestors of the hobbits were even slightly shorter.

"We did not expect that we would find smaller individuals from such an old site," said Yousuke Kaifu, co-author of the study, which was published on Tuesday in the journal Nature.