Jakarta, Indonesia ? Scientists say they have found more bones in an Indonesian cave that offer additional evidence of a second human species – short and hobbit-like – that roamed the Earth the same time as modern man.

But the vocal minority that has challenged that conclusion since the discovery of Homo floresiensis was announced last year remains unconvinced.

The discovery of a jaw bone, to be reported in Thursday’s issue of the journal Nature, represents the ninth individual belonging to a group believed to have lived as recently as 12,000 years ago. The bones are in a wet cave on the island of Flores in the eastern limb of the Indonesian archipelago, near Australia.

In 2004, scientists announced their original, sensational discovery of a delicate skull and partial skeleton of a female, nicknamed “Hobbit” and believed to be 18,000 years old.