Megan Smith, Nerd Nite Siem Reap, July 2011

how homo floresiensis blew my mind

  Portuguese colony for 400 years

  Occupied by Indonesia for 25 years

  Independent since 2002

  Mostly Catholic and Animist blend

  Ceremony held for lost bodies   Family goes out to the woods to find the bones

  Funeral is held once bones are recovered

  Death   Possessions to give voice to the dead   Séances to determine cause of death

  Non-ingested poison

  Black snakes sent by witches

  Sacred places   Protecting Resources (mouths of rivers)   Protecting People (undertow, crocs)

  Crocodile can do no wrong   If a crocodile eats you, you have done something

wrong

  Clearly this was nonsense

  Little furry people

  Live in caves and trees

  Magical powers

  White and black magic

  In Indonesia “Ebu Gogo”

  Rai Nain or papaya stump?

  National Geographic cover story on bones

  12,000 years ago, co-existing with H. sapiens

  Short furry people living in caves and trees

  Possibly not extinct!

  Hobbits?

  Scandal, maybe just microcephaly?

  Theories of co-existence with homo sapiens

  Parallels with similar legends throughout the Indonesian archipelago

  Preservation of realities as legends over so many years

  Flores Furries ate giant rats (up to 1m+ in length)

  Timor has the world’s largest rats and rat fossils

  Hunted by giant lizards (aka Komodo Dragons)

  Deadly bite!

  Science vs. Magic

  Blending of science and belief

  Delayed scientific explanation

VS.

  Sushi anyone?   Numbing chemical

in blowfish used to make zombies

  Juliet’s fake death

  Epilepsy and wandering souls

  Effect of spiritual beliefs on physical health and medical treatment

  I don’t believe in magic, but I’m slower to dismiss myths and beliefs as nonsense.

  Myths informed by science

  Science guided by myths