Journal article
Last appearance of Homo erectus at Ngandong, Java, 117,000-108,000 years ago
Nature, Vol.577(7790), pp.381-385
16/01/2020
PMID: 31853068
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Source: InCites
Abstract
Homo erectus is the founding early hominin species of Island Southeast Asia, and reached Java (Indonesia) more than 1.5 million years ago1,2. Twelve H. erectus calvaria (skull caps) and two tibiae (lower leg bones) were discovered from a bone bed located about 20 m above the Solo River at Ngandong (Central Java) between 1931 and 19333,4, and are of the youngest, most-advanced form of H. erectus5,6,7,8. Despite the importance of the Ngandong fossils, the relationship between the fossils, terrace fill and ages have been heavily debated9,10,11,12,13,14. Here, to resolve the age of the Ngandong evidence, we use Bayesian modelling of 52 radiometric age estimates to establish—to our knowledge—the first robust chronology at regional, valley and local scales. We used uranium-series dating of speleothems to constrain regional landscape evolution; luminescence, 40argon/39argon (40Ar/39Ar) and uranium-series dating to constrain the sequence of terrace evolution; and applied uranium-series and uranium series–electron-spin resonance (US–ESR) dating to non-human fossils to directly date our re-excavation of Ngandong5,15. We show that at least by 500 thousand years ago (ka) the Solo River was diverted into the Kendeng Hills, and that it formed the Solo terrace sequence between 316 and 31 ka and the Ngandong terrace between about 140 and 92 ka. Non-human fossils recovered during the re-excavation of Ngandong date to between 109 and 106 ka (uranium-series minimum)16 and 134 and 118 ka (US–ESR), with modelled ages of 117 to 108 thousand years (kyr) for the H. erectus bone bed, which accumulated during flood conditions3,17. These results negate the extreme ages that have been proposed for the site and solidify Ngandong as the last known occurrence of this long-lived species.
Details
- Title
- Last appearance of Homo erectus at Ngandong, Java, 117,000-108,000 years ago
- Creators
- Yan Rizal - Department of Geology, Institute of Technology Bandung, Bandung, IndonesiaKira E Westaway - Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. kira.westaway@mq.edu.auYahdi Zaim - Department of Geology, Institute of Technology Bandung, Bandung, IndonesiaGerrit D van den Bergh - Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, AustraliaE Arthur Bettis, 3rd - Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USAMichael J Morwood - Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, AustraliaO Frank Huffman - Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USARainer Grün - Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution (ARCHE), Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University, Nathan, Queensland, AustraliaRenaud Joannes-Boyau - Southern Cross UniversityRichard M Bailey - School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, UKSidarto - Geology Museum, Geological Agency, Bandung, IndonesiaMichael C Westaway - School of Social Science, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, AustraliaIwan Kurniawan - Geology Museum, Geological Agency, Bandung, IndonesiaMark W Moore - Archaeology and Palaeoanthropology, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, AustraliaMichael Storey - Quadlab, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, DenmarkFachroel Aziz - Geology Museum, Geological Agency, Bandung, IndonesiaSuminto - Geology Museum, Geological Agency, Bandung, IndonesiaJian-Xin Zhao - School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, AustraliaAswan - Department of Geology, Institute of Technology Bandung, Bandung, IndonesiaMaija E Sipola - Chemistry and Geology Department, Minnesota State University, Mankato, MN, USARoy Larick - Bluestone Heights, Shore Cultural Center, Cleveland, OH, USAJohn-Paul Zonneveld - Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, CanadaRobert Scott - Department of Anthropology and Center for Human Evolutionary Studies, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USAShelby Putt - Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Illinois State University, Normal, IL, USARussell L Ciochon - Department of Anthropology and Museum of Natural History, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA. russell-ciochon@uiowa.edu
- Publication Details
- Nature, Vol.577(7790), pp.381-385
- Publisher
- Nature Publishing Group; England
- Grant note
- This research, including the Solo River survey and the Sembungan and Menden terrace excavations, was funded by the Australian Research Council Discovery grant (DP1093049) to K.E.W. and (DP0343334 and DP0770234) to M.J.M. The 2008–2010 excavations at Ngandong were supported by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research (ICRG-92), University of Iowa (UI) Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research (CGRER), UI Office of the President, UI Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the UI Office of the Vice-President for Research (to R.L.C.). The Menden excavations were financially supported by the Geological Survey Institute in Bandung (GSI). Laboratory costs were funded, in part, by the Human Evolution Research Fund at the University of Iowa Foundation. The 40Ar/39Ar dating was funded by the Villum Foundation.
- Identifiers
- 991012925656102368
- Copyright
- © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited 2019
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Science and Engineering; School of Environment, Science and Engineering; Southern Cross GeoScience; Science
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article