JOHN NOBLE WILFORD╱陈世钦译/纽约时报

A discoveryin a cave on the Indonesian island of Flores, reported 10 years ago, moved onescientist to hail it as “the most important find in human evolution for 100years.”

The fragmentary bones, but only one full skull, ofseveral individuals led the discoverers to conclude that these were remains ofa previously unknown extinct species of humans.

考古学家10年前在印度尼西亚佛罗列斯岛的一个洞穴里发现了一些东西，一位科学家盛赞它为「有关人类演化百年来最重要的发现」。其中只有一个完整的头骨，其余则为分属几个人的零散骸骨。考古学家据此认为，它们是学术界此前未知的一种已灭绝人种的遗骸。

The Australian and Indonesian scientists named thespecies Homo floresiensis. Some call ed these unusually small people, who hadapparently lived on the island as recently as 15,000 years ago, the hobbits.

It was mystifying that people with brainsapparently no larger than a chimpanzee’s, one-third that of modern Homosapiens, would have been capable of making the stone tools found in the cavearound them.

Further, was a single skull sufficient evidence ofa distinct human species? How could the Flores skull be proved normal and notthat of a modern human with a growth disorder ?

澳洲与印度尼西亚的考古学家将这个人种称为佛罗列斯人。部分人士将这些显然1.5万年前存活于佛罗列斯岛的异常矮小人种称为哈比人。令人不解的是，大脑容量显然不比黑猩猩大，而且仅及现代人1/3的该人种竟然有能力以石头制作同时在该洞穴发现的各种工具。此外，仅是一个头骨是否就足以证明他们是个别的人种？如何证明佛罗列斯头骨是正常人的骨头，而不属于成长失调的现代人？

Now the skeptics have revived the debate withpapers published this month in The Proceedings of the National Academy ofSciences. One article points out what are said to be flaws in the originalreports ; the other describes evidence suggesting the individual was born withDown syndrome.

怀疑哈比人存在者最近再度炒热这个话题，这个月并透过美国国家科学院汇报发表文章。其中一篇点出被指为原始报告中的几项缺失。另一篇叙述的证据则指出这个头骨的主人患有唐氏症。

Among the flaws, the critics say, wereunderestimates of the stature and the brain size of the most complete skeleton,designated as LB1, from Liang Bua Cave. In their view, LB1’s stature was alittle more than 1.2 meters tall, not one meter, as in the original estimate.New measurements of the brain size were also larger.

批评者指出，原始报告的一项缺失是，低估梁布亚洞穴中代号LBI的最完整骨架主人的身高与大脑容量。他们认为，LBI身高大约略多于1.2公尺，不是最初估计的1公尺。脑容量的最新估算数字也比较大。

The authors of the first journal paper — Robert B.Eckhardt and Alex S. Weller of Penn State University, Maciej Henneberg of theUniversity of Adelaide, in Australia, and Kenneth J. Hsu of the NationalInstitute of Earth Sciences in Beijing — concluded that the defining featuresof the specimen as originally described “do not establish the uniqueness ornormality necessary to meet the formal criteria for a type specimen of a newspecies.”

宾州州立大学的艾克哈特与魏勒、澳洲阿德雷得大学的汉尼博格，以及北京大学地球与空间科学学院的许靖华是前述第一篇报告的共同作者。他们指出，科学家最初形容的该人种特征「并不构成符合新人种正式标准所不可或缺的独特性或常态性」。

Dr. Henneberg and Dr. Eckhardt were the lead authorand co-author of the Down syndrome hypothesis . Based on a re-examination ofthe evidence, the y said the revised dimensions of the LB1 cranium and femurfell in the range predicted for an individual with Down syndrome from thatregion .

The larger size estimate also matches that of somepeople today on Pacific islands.

汉尼博格与艾克哈特分别是提出唐氏症假设那篇报告的主要执笔人与共同执笔人。他们重新检视相关证据后指出，LBI头盖骨与股骨大小的修正后结果符合该区域唐氏症患者的推估数字。比较大的估计数字也与目前存活于部分太平洋岛屿的人种相符。

The scientists also pointed to a left-rightmismatch of facial features as being characteristic of people with Downsyndrome, one of the most common developmental disorders in humans. They notedthat it occurred in more than one human birth per 1,000.

Other scientists who tended to accept thenew-species interpretation have rejected what they call the “sick hobbithypothesis.”

唐氏症是最普遍的人体发育障碍之一。科学家指出，脸部左右不对称是唐氏症患者的主要特征之一，发生机率大约1/1000。

倾向于接受新人种理论的其他科学家驳斥他们所说「哈比人生病的假设」。

Searches have failed to yield more skulls, neededto determine if LB1 is one of a kind or one of an extinct human species . Untilthen, Dr. Eckhardt said, the new analysis yielded a “less strained explanation”than adding a branch to the human family tree.

要确定LBI是个特例还是已绝种人种的一员，必须有更多头骨才行，然而后续搜寻并未找到更多头骨。艾克哈特说，在发现更多头骨之前，新的分析结果提供了不像为人类大家族谱系增加一个支系那么牵强的解释。