In the far reaches of Indonesia lies Flores, a long narrow island of high mountains, precipitous cliffs, and deep ravines. While doing fieldwork on this remote island, our guest today - anthropologist Gregory Forth - came across people talking about a half-apelike, half-humanlike creature that once lived in a cave on the slopes of a nearby volcano. 

Over the years he continued to record what locals had to say about these mystery hominoids while searching for ways to explain them as imaginary symbols of the wild or other cultural representations. In his latest book - “Between Ape and Human: An Anthropologist on the Trail of a Hidden Hominoid”, you can follow him as he explores the mystery of this hominoid, and the space they occupy in Lio cultures as both natural creatures and supernatural beings. 

Why it's especially of interest to Fans of History In 2003, several skeletons of a small-statured early human species were excavated in a cave in western Flores. Named Homo floresiensis, this ancient hominin was believed to have lived as recently as 12,000 years ago—possibly overlapping with the appearance of Homo sapiens on Flores. In view of this timing and the striking resemblance to the mystery creatures described by the islanders, Dr. Forth began to think about the creatures as possibly reflecting a real species, now extinct but retained in the cultural memory. Investigating reports from the Lio region of the island, he soon found that locals described these 'ape-men' as still living—dozens even claimed to have seen them.

Bernie and Dr. Forth discuss his book and his finding on Flores Island... don't miss it!

This is a podcast by Dan Hörning and Bernie Maopolski.

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