How does Gregory Forth think early hominins reached the island of Flores?

Gregory Forth says there is no known land bridge to Flores, even at low ice-age sea levels, so animals had to cross water. Stegodons swam over and Komodo dragons still swim between islands. Hominins may have drifted across by accident on large clumps of vegetation or earth torn loose by a tsunami, which would need at least a male and a female to arrive. Possible stone tools on Flores date back about a million years, and possible ancestral jaw and tooth fragments to about 700,000 years.

• The youngest Liang Bua fossils were first dated to 12,000 to 13,000 years, later revised to 50,000 to 60,000.
• Forth notes the species is known from one site about the size of a building, so its true range and end date are unknown.

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on The Joe Rogan Experience (2026-11-05). Read the whole episode summary →

▸More from this episode