Earliest hominin occupation of Sulawesi, Indonesia
Abstract
Sulawesi is the largest and oldest island within Wallacea, a vast zone of oceanic islands separating continental Asia from the Pleistocene landmass of Australia and Papua (Sahul). By one million years ago an unknown hominin lineage had colonized Flores immediately to the south, and by about 50 thousand years ago, modern humans (Homo sapiens) had crossed to Sahul. On the basis of position, oceanic currents and biogeographical context, Sulawesi probably played a pivotal part in these dispersals. Uranium-series dating of speleothem deposits associated with rock art in the limestone karst region of Maros in southwest Sulawesi has revealed that humans were living on the island at least 40 thousand years ago (ref. 5). Here we report new excavations at Talepu in the Walanae Basin northeast of Maros, where in situ stone artefacts associated with fossil remains of megafauna (Bubalus sp., Stegodon and Celebochoerus) have been recovered from stratified deposits that accumulated from before 200 thousand years ago until about 100 thousand years ago. Our findings suggest that Sulawesi, like Flores, was host to a long-established population of archaic hominins, the ancestral origins and taxonomic status of which remain elusive.
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- Authors
- van den Bergh, G. D., Li, B., Brumm, A., Grün, R., Yurnaldi, D., Moore, M. W., Kurniawan, I., Setiawan, R., Aziz, F., Roberts, R. G., Suyono, Storey, M., Setiabudi, E., & Morwood, M. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Wollongong (AU)
- Griffith University (AU)
- University of New England (AU)
- Badan Geologi (ID)
- University of Copenhagen (DK)
- Corresponding author
- Li, Bo
- ORCID
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2016-01-13
- Volume
- 529
- Issue
- 7585
- Pages
- 208-211
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W2233207196
- Cited by
- 160
- References
- 65
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 37 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 7
- FWCI
- 98.55
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Online (University of Wollongong) (submittedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion)
- Research at the University of Copenhagen (University of Copenhagen) (submittedVersion)
- Griffith Research Online (submittedVersion)
- RUNE (Research UNE) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Villum Fonden (00007408)
- Australian Research Council (DP1093342, DP0770234, FT100100384)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Anthropology › Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
- Social Sciences › Geography, Planning and Development › Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies
- Social Sciences › Archeology › Archaeology and Rock Art Studies
- Keywords
- hominin occupation, Sulawesi, archaic humans, lithic artifacts, Bubalus, Stegodon, human dispersal, Sahul, Pleistocene, stratified deposits, hominin origins
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Fossils, Humans, Indonesia, Hominidae, History, Ancient, Tool Use Behavior, Human Migration
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