The "hobbits" of the Indonesian island of Flores are once again creating a stir in the world of anthropology.

The remains of the hominids - dubbed hobbits after the wee folk in JRR Tolkien's tale for their tiny (97cm) size - were unearthed by a joint Indonesian and Australian team that included several University of Wollongong scientists in 2004.

The cave-dwellers were officially named Homo floresiensis and were hailed as a previously unseen species of human.

However, a team of scientists from several prominent Australian universities is challenging that classification, claiming the tiny cave-dwellers were simply Homo sapiens who became stunted and retarded as a result of iodine deficiency in pregnancy.

The condition, known as dwarf cretinism, occurs in humans when they are born without a functioning thyroid, and as a result, have severely restricted growth and mental and motor skills.

However, University of Wollongong researcher Professor Bert Roberts, who was part of the 2004 team that unearthed the fossilised remains, is doubtful about the new findings.

"I think it is good that people are coming up with different ideas, but I'd be very surprised if the theory of cretinism explained all the differences between the floresiensis and Homo sapiens. It might explain a few, but not all," he said.

Prof Roberts argued that a species of such limited intelligence and physical capabilities would have died out fairly quickly.

"We have bones of floresiensis starting as early as 95,000 years ago up to 12,000 years ago, so that is 80,000 years," he said.

"Cretins are not very bright generally, and it seems implausible that however many generations that is were all dim-witted, and yet managed successfully to hunt small elephants and komodo dragons. They obviously weren't that stupid."