Climate, people and faunal succession on Java, Indonesia: evidence from Song Gupuh

Song Gupuh, a partially collapsed cave in the Gunung Sewu Limestones of East Java, Indonesia, contains over 16 m of deposits with a faunal sequence spanning some 70 ka. Major changes in the range of animals represented show the impact of climate change and humans. The Terminal Pleistocene and Early Holocene was a period of maximum biodiversity. Human use of Song Gupuh and other cave sites in the region also intensified significantly from ca. 12 ka, together with a new focus on exploitation of small-bodied species (macaque monkeys and molluscs), the first evidence for import of resources from the coast, and use of bone and shell tools. Human activity, especially after the onset of the Neolithic around 2.6 ka, subsequently contributed to a progressive loss of many species from the area, including tapir, elephant, Malayan bear, rhino and tiger, and this extinction process is continuing. We conclude by discussing the biogeographical significance of Song Gupuh in the context of other sites in Java (e.g. Punung, Wajak) and further afield (e.g. Liang Bua)

Age and context of the oldest known hominin fossils from Flores

Recent excavations at the early Middle Pleistocene site of Mata Menge in the So\u27a Basin of central Flores, Indonesia, have yielded hominin fossils1 attributed to a population ancestral to Late Pleistocene Homo floresiensis2. Here we describe the age and context of the Mata Menge hominin specimens and associated archaeological findings. The fluvial sandstone layer from which the in situ fossils were excavated in 2014 was deposited in a small valley stream around 700 thousand years ago, as indicated by 40Ar/39Ar and fission track dates on stratigraphically bracketing volcanic ash and pyroclastic density current deposits, in combination with coupled uranium-series and electron spin resonance dating of fossil teeth. Palaeoenvironmental data indicate a relatively dry climate in the So\u27a Basin during the early Middle Pleistocene, while various lines of evidence suggest the hominins inhabited a savannah-like open grassland habitat with a wetland component. The hominin fossils occur alongside the remains of an insular fauna and a simple stone technology that is markedly similar to that associated with Late Pleistocene H. floresiensis

An integrative geochronological framework for the pleistocene So'a basin (Flores, Indonesia), and its implications for faunal turnover and hominin arrival

Flores represents a unique insular environment with an extensive record of Pleistocene fossil remains and stone artefacts. In the So\u27a Basin of central Flores these include endemic Stegodon, Komodo dragons, giant tortoises, rats, birds and hominins, and lithic artefacts that can be traced back to at least one million years ago (1 Ma). This comprehensive review presents important new data regarding the dating and faunal sequence of the So\u27a Basin, including the site of Mata Menge where Homo floresiensis-like fossils dating to approximately 0.7 Ma were discovered in 2014. By chemical fingerprinting key silicic tephra originating from local and distal eruptive sources we have now established basin-wide tephrostratigraphic correlations, and, together with new numerical ages, present an update of the chronostratigraphy of the So\u27a Basin, with major implications for the faunal sequence. These results show that a giant tortoise and the diminutive proboscidean Stegodon sondaari last occurred at the site of Tangi Talo ∼1.3 Ma, and not 0.9 Ma as previously thought. We also present new data suggesting that the disappearance of giant tortoise and S. sondaari from the sedimentary record occurred before, and/or was coincident with, the earliest hominin arrival, as evidenced by the first records of lithic artefacts occurring directly below the 1 Ma Wolo Sege Tephra. Artefacts become common in the younger layers, associated with a distinct fauna characterized by the medium-sized Stegodon florensis and giant rat Hooijeromys nusatenggara. Furthermore, we describe a newly discovered terrace fill, which extends the faunal record of Stegodon in the So\u27a Basin to the Late Pleistocene. Our evidence also suggests that the paleoenvironment of the So\u27a Basin became drier around the time of the observed faunal transition and arrival of hominins on the island, which could be related to an astronomically-forced climate response at the onset of the Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT; ∼1.25 Ma) leading to increased aridity and monsoonal intensity

A reassessment of the early archaeological record at Leang Burung 2, a Late Pleistocene rock-shelter site on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi

This paper presents a reassessment of the archaeological record at Leang Burung 2, a key early human occupation site in the Late Pleistocene of Southeast Asia. Excavated originally by Ian Glover in 1975, this limestone rock-shelter in the Maros karsts of Sulawesi, Indonesia, has long held significance in our understanding of early human dispersals into \u27Wallacea\u27, the vast zone of oceanic islands between continental Asia and Australia. We present new stratigraphic information and dating evidence from Leang Burung 2 collected during the course of our excavations at this site in 2007 and 2011-13. Our findings suggest that the classic Late Pleistocene modern human occupation sequence identified previously at Leang Burung 2, and proposed to span around 31,000 to 19,000 conventional 14C years BP (~35-24 ka cal BP), may actually represent an amalgam of reworked archaeological materials. Sources for cultural materials of mixed ages comprise breccias from the rear wall of the rock-shelter-remnants of older, eroded deposits dated to 35-23 ka cal BP-and cultural remains of early Holocene antiquity. Below the upper levels affected by the mass loss of Late Pleistocene deposits, our deep-trench excavations uncovered evidence for an earlier hominin presence at the site. These findings include fossils of now-extinct proboscideans and other \u27megafauna\u27 in stratified context, as well as a cobble-based stone artifact technology comparable to that produced by late Middle Pleistocene hominins elsewhere on Sulawesi

A reassessment of the early archaeological record at Leang Burung 2, a Late Pleistocene rock-shelter site on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi

This paper presents a reassessment of the archaeological record at Leang Burung 2, a key early human occupation site in the Late Pleistocene of Southeast Asia. Excavated originally by Ian Glover in 1975, this limestone rock-shelter in the Maros karsts of Sulawesi, Indonesia, has long held significance in our understanding of early human dispersals into 'Wallacea', the vast zone of oceanic islands between continental Asia and Australia. We present new stratigraphic information and dating evidence from Leang Burung 2 collected during the course of our excavations at this site in 2007 and 2011-13. Our findings suggest that the classic Late Pleistocene modern human occupation sequence identified previously at Leang Burung 2, and proposed to span around 31,000 to 19,000 conventional 14C years BP (~35-24 ka cal BP), may actually represent an amalgam of reworked archaeological materials. Sources for cultural materials of mixed ages comprise breccias from the rear wall of the rock-shelter-remnants of older, eroded deposits dated to 35-23 ka cal BP-and cultural remains of early Holocene antiquity. Below the upper levels affected by the mass loss of Late Pleistocene deposits, our deep-trench excavations uncovered evidence for an earlier hominin presence at the site. These findings include fossils of now-extinct proboscideans and other 'megafauna' in stratified context, as well as a cobble-based stone artifact technology comparable to that produced by late Middle Pleistocene hominins elsewhere on Sulawesi

Visions from the Past: The archaeology of Australian Aboriginal art

A vast art gallery - the work of 1500 generations. Across an island continent - on flat slabs overlooking the sea, on desert boulders, under rock overhangs, on the sheer face of deep ravines - the first Australians painted and carved what mattered to them. Here are stories of the birth of the world and the creation of ancestral humans, of the creatures who made the landscape and gave humans their laws, of the animals who shared these peoples' world, of contact with seafaring races from the north, and of fateful meetings with European arrivals. Here is art that reaches back towards the beginning of art, a record of communities of immense antiquity. Some sites present the art of recent times alongside or overlapping with art many thousands of years old. In other places the record has been broken in the distant past. How do we read these stories? How can this art yield up some of its meanings to strangers? How do we learn to appreciate the richness of this ancient legacy? Mike Morwood, archaeologist and teacher, draws upon many years' experience, comparisons with rock art across the world, and a deep understanding of the present-day custodians of this vast treasure to provide a key to the world's oldest and most remarkable art gallery. 'Visions from the Past' tells the exciting story of how the study of rock art is undertaken, providing information on its systems of meaning and changes over time, and revealing how an understanding of these ancient forms contributes to our knowledge of Australia's immense prehistory

Art and stone : towards a prehistory of central western Queensland

This thesis explores the potential of a multi-attribute approach to the prehistory of,central western Queensland. Two artefacts of Aboriginal culture are examined in detail stone tools and rock art. For the stone analysis, excavated assemblages from four rockshelter sites are used to define regional changes in central western stone-use over the past 11,000 years. Spatial patter ning of artefactual material within sites is also described and related to site use-structure and specific, depositional processes. The results of the sequential and spatial analyses are then compared with those obtained from , other sites in the area, particularly Kenniff and Cathedral Caves. A three-part sequence is defined for Central Queensland and related to general patterns of change in Australian Aboriginal stone use. The analysis of rock art in Central Queensland is based on information from 92 recorded art sites. The history of previous work on the art of the region is briefly outlined and the details of the art recording and classification systems given. A variety of techniques is used to define a relative, then a dated artistic sequence which spans a minimum of 4,200 years. Synchronic variation within broadly contemporaneous art assemblages is used in conjunction with contextual evidence to suggest the former role of rock art in local Aboriginal culture. The implications of sequential change in several aspects of the artistic system are discussed in a wider context, with particular reference to evidence from other areas of Queensland and to general models for change in Australian Aboriginal rock art. In the conclusions, the results of the stone and rock art analyses are compared, contrasted, and common explanatory mechanisms advanced

The Forgotten People

"No one expected to find a new species of early humans - and certainly not the remains of a pygmy people with a morphed evolutionary history."Liang Bua is an easy site to work on. No long treks with heavy loads required. Just get on one of the trucks that serve as local transportfor people, animals and goods, and after an hour on the rough road, flanked by terraced hillsides and valleys, you can clamber off at the entrance to the cave, which is obscured by coffee trees....It's not until you step inside the Liang Bua cave that you realise its enormous size. It is cathedral-like: a flat clay floor with immense chandeliers of stalactites suspended above, bent impossiblytowards the cave entrance. How any stay up there is a wonder. Occasionally they don't: bits of fallen stalactites litter the cave floor, probably brought down in the tremors so common to this region,one of the most volcanically active on Earth.The excavation was in full swing on 7 August 2003, with five Indonesian researchers, 40 local workers and myself. There was a general hum of activity: subdued voices, the throb from the generator set up outside the cave to provide lighting for the excavations. Two sectors were being excavated, IV and VII. The workers used bamboo stakes, trowels, metal~edged digging sticks, picks or crowbars. For at least six hours each day, they squatted on their haunches toiling with concentration and stamina

Seafaring in the Pleistocene

Archaeological data from Wallacea (Indonesia) and elsewhere are summarized to show that the history of seafaring begins in the Early Pleistocene, and that this human capability eventually led to Middle Palaeolithic ocean crossings in the general region of Australia. To understand better the technological magnitude of these many maritimeaccomplishments, a series of replicative experiments are described, and the theoretical conditions of these experiments are examined. The proposition is advanced that hominid cognitive and cultural evolution during the Middle and early Late Pleistocene have been severely misjudged. The navigational feats of Pleistocene seafarers confirm the cultural evidence of sophistication available from the study of palaeoart

The People Time Forgot: Flores Find

Morwood et al discuss the discovery of the fossilised skeletal remains of what scientists nicknamed as the hobbits. Scientists believe that the skull represents a new human species called the Homo floresiensis, which were found in a cave on Flores. The species existed alongside modern humans as recently as 13,000 years ago, yet may descend from Homo erectus, which arose some two million years ago