Mini man returns home

The priceless remains of what Australian researchers believe is a new species of mini human have been returned to their rightful owners, almost four months after being taken by an Indonesian scientist.

The Australian co-discoverers of the species dubbed the "hobbit" had feared palaeo-anthropologist Professor Teuku Jacob would never give the remains back. They were returned to the Indonesian Centre for Archaeology last week.

Archaeologist Michael Morwood, in collaboration with Indonesian and American scientists, last year discovered the grapefruit-sized skull and bones of a fully grown female barely a metre tall in a cave on the Indonesian island of Flores.