Original Sin

There are new findings about the "hobbit" hominids of Flores island in Indonesia.  The cause of their extinction was thought to be volcanic eruptions, but researchers have discovered that the ash layer which corresponds to the last "hobbit" remains was probably from an eruption several hundred miles away, and thus unlikely to have wiped out the little guys.

Okay, so one possible cause of their extinction has been scratched off the list.  What's the response, both from researchers and the press?  "Modern humans did it!"

Is there any evidence of this?  No.  Indeed, it would be impossible to prove any single cause of the extinction, barring the use of time travel.  Twelve thousand years ago, when the last "hobbit" remains were deposited, the region was going through volcanic eruptions, changing sea levels due to the end of the ice age, and who knows what else.

It strikes me that blaming Homo sapiens for the extinction of Homo floresiensis is more an exercise in secular Puritanism than it is actual science.  Humans, apparently, are innately "sinful."   We're presumed guilty of genocide even if it's unclear if genocide actually occurred.  One sees the same attitude in other fields -- how much of environmentalism as a political movement is drawn from the same well?  Yet unlike religious Puritanism, this doesn't even hold out the hope of redemption.

If we're going to accuse Homo sapiens of causing the extinction of the floresiensis hominids, I want to see some proof.  A body.  A murder weapon.  A motive.  Some fingerprints or DNA.  See if modern humans have an alibi. 

Me?  I think it was elves.