MIKA Rizki, 30, a doctoral student of paleontology at the University of Wollongong, Australia, just joined the excavation team at Soa Basin, Mata Menge, Flores, East Nusa Tenggara, a month before the big discovery.

Her job was to make a record of everything found by the team. After two weeks of excavation done in cooperation with researchers from the geological agency, Mika stumbled upon something major: a human tooth. "I saw a fossilized tooth.