Talk:Ebu Gogo

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The approach of the Ebu Gogo article is to fit the the cycle of Ebu Gogo stories into a mythical framework and then discuss their possible relationship to the recent discoveries of homo floresiensis. This article could definitely be enriched if someone could add a couple of Flores Islander stories about the Ebu Gogo; however this is something I don't have to hand.

Note - created by user Firstfox. I just created myself an account after doing this :-D

I got the below quote from (this incredibly snotty site): [Hobbit-sized Humans Called Homo floresiensis Discovered by Australian-Indonesian Archeologists]:

Bert Roberts offers hints of new discoveries just below the research horizon: "When I was back in Flores just three weeks ago, Gert van den Bergh (from the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research at Texel, and the team's expert on the fossil elephants) and I headed off to a village in central Flores where we heard the most amazing tales of little hairy people whom they called ebu gogo: ebu meaning "grandmother" and gogo "he who eats anything".

"The ebu gogo were short - about a metre tall - long-haired, potbellied, with ears that stuck out, walking with a slightly awkward gait, and had longish arms and fingers. They murmured at each other and could repeat words parrot-fashion. They could climb slender trees but were never seen holding stone tools, whereas we have lots of sophisticated artefacts associated with Homo floresiensis. That's the only inconsistency with the archaeological evidence.

Gert had heard of these stories 10 years ago and he thought them no better than leprechaun stories - until we unearthed the hobbit."

Could the ebu gogo still be alive? Roberts thinks it is possible.

"The villagers said that the last hobbit was seen just before Dutch colonists settled that part of Flores in the 19th century," he said, adding that searches of the remaining rainforest on Flores, and the caves specifically associated with the ebu gogo stories, could turn up samples of hair or other material, if not living, breathing specimens.

I don't know if this tale of the "grandmother glutton" is copyright, but it'd be nice to work this into the article, wouldn't it?

Pazouzou 07:29, 29 Oct 2004 (UTC)

I agree - I've worked a few of the facts into the main text, but I think we should also leave your news report here to give the readers some further background. :-D

firstfox 14:53, 29 Oct 2004 (UTC)

[edit] My changes

I thought it was a great article but made some conclusions in advance of the data in the last paragraph. —JerryFriedman 19:51, 29 Oct 2004 (UTC)

There are more fascinating details in the article at Villagers speak of the small, hairy Ebu Gogo. Gotta work these into the article!

Pazouzou 07:41, 30 Nov 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Sources

This article doesn't quote any sources or references. Doesn't it need them? Hello5959us

[edit] Hoax?

I hate to bring up an inconvenient possibility, but I haven't been able to locate an reference to the "Ebu Gogo" that predates the discovery of the Floresienis fossils. Is it possible that the Ebu Gogo stories were created AFTER the discovery of the fossils? This would also explain the lack of sources for the article. --67.160.74.124 03:50, 8 August 2006 (UTC)