WOLLONGONG, AUSTRALIA—Scientists have found evidence of fireplaces that were in use between 41,000 and 24,000 years ago in Liang Bua Cave on the island of Flores. The cave is known as the site where the remains of Homo floresiensis, the diminutive hominin dubbed the “hobbit,” were discovered in 2003. It had been thought that Homo floresiensis died out around 12,000 years ago, but recent research suggests that the species may have gone extinct some 50,000 years ago. “This new evidence for fire at the site fits in with the chronology of modern humans moving through Southeast Asia and into Australia around 50,000 years ago,” Mike Morely of the University of Wollongong told The Australian. No evidence of the use of fire by Homo floresiensis over a period of about 130,000 years has been found in the cave, so scientists think the hearths were made by modern humans. “The gap’s narrowing between the two populations,” Morely explained. “We’ve got them in the same place and we’ve got less than 10,000 years between them.” If the two species did come in contact, it could help explain the demise of Homo floresiensis. For more, go to "New Flores Fossils May Be Hobbit Ancestors."