Age and context of the oldest known hominin fossils from Flores

Brumm, Adam and Van Den Bergh, Gerrit D. and Storey, Michael and Kurniawan, Iwan and Alloway, Brent V. and Setiawan, Ruly and Setiyabudi, Erick and Grün, Rainer and Moore, Mark W. and Yurnaldi, Dida and Puspaningrum, Mika R. and Wibowo, Unggul P. and Insani, Halmi and Sutisna, Indra and Westgate, John A. and Pearce, Nick J.G. and Duval, Mathieu and Meijer, Hanneke J.M. and Aziz, Fachroel and Sutikna, Thomas and Van Der Kaars, Sander and Flude, Stephanie and Morwood, Michael J. (2016) Age and context of the oldest known hominin fossils from Flores. Nature, 534 (7606). pp. 249-253. ISSN 0028-0836 (https://doi.org/10.1038/nature17663)

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Abstract

Recent excavations at the early Middle Pleistocene site of Mata Menge in the So'a Basin of central Flores, Indonesia, have yielded hominin fossils attributed to a population ancestral to Late Pleistocene Homo floresiensis. 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/39 Ar 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'a 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.

  • Item type:Article
    ID code:83833
    Dates:
    Date
    Event
    8 June 2016
    Published
    11 March 2016
    Accepted
    Notes:Funding Information: The So'a Basin project was funded by an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery grant (DP1093342) awarded to M.J.M. and A.B., and directed by M.J.M. (2010-2013) and G.v.d.B. (2013-2015). The Geological Survey Institute (GSI) of Bandung, Indonesia, provided additional financial and technical support. G.v.d.B.'s research was also supported by ARC Future Fellowship FT100100384. M.W.M. was funded by ARC grant DP1096558. Quadlab is funded by a grant to M.S. from the Villum Foundation. M.D. received funding from a Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship of the EU's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013), awarded under REA Grant Agreement No. PIOF-GA-2013-626474. B.V.A. received funding from a Victoria University of Wellington Science Faculty Research Grant (201255). For permission to undertake this research, we thank the Indonesian State Ministry of Research and Technology (RISTEK), the former Heads of the Geological Agency (R. Sukyiar and Surono), the successive directors of the GSI (S. Permanandewi, Y. Kusumahbrata (formerly) and A. Pribadi) and Bandung's Geology Museum (S. Baskoro and O. Abdurahman). Local research permissions were issued by the provincial government of East Nusa Tenggara at Kupang, and the Ngada and Nage Keo administrations. We also thank the Ngada Tourism and Culture and Education Departments for their ongoing support. In addition, we acknowledge support and advice provided by I. Setiadi, D. Pribadi, and Suyono (GSI), the Pusat Penelitian Arkeologi Nasional (ARKENAS) in Jakarta, and J. T. Solo of the provincial Culture and Tourism office in Kupang. Scientific and technical personnel involved in the fieldwork included: T. Suryana, S. Sonjaya, H. Oktariana, I. Sutisna, A. Rahman, S. Bronto, E. Sukandar, A. Gunawan, Widji, A. T. Hascaryo, Jatmiko, S. Wasisto, R. A. Due, S. Hayes, Y. Perston, B. Pillans, K. Grant, M. Marsh, D. McGahan, A. M. Saiful, B. Burhan, L. Siagian, D. Susanti, P. D. Moi, M. Tocheri, A. R. Chivas, and A. Cahyana. F. Wesselingh identified gastropod remains. Sidarto (GSI) provided digital elevation model data used in Fig. 1b. Geodetic surveys and measurements were conducted by E. E. Laksmana, A. Rahmadi, Y. Sofyan, and G. Hazell. J. Noblett constructed the Mata Menge 3D model, based on drone aerial photographs taken by K. Riza, T. P. Ertanto, and M. Faizal. The research team was supported by ∼100 excavators and support personnel from the Ngada and Nage Keo districts. We thank L. Kinsley, Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, for assistance with mass spectrometric measurements. Publisher Copyright: © 2016 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved. Brumm, A., van den Bergh, G., Storey, M. et al. Age and context of the oldest known hominin fossils from Flores. Nature 534, 249–253 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature17663
    Subjects:Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > Anthropology
    Auxiliary Sciences of History > Archaeology
    Department:Faculty of Engineering > Civil and Environmental Engineering
    Depositing user: Pure Administrator
    Date deposited:26 Jan 2023 09:32
    Last modified:20 Apr 2024 00:52
    Related URLs:
    URI:https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/83833
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