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Anderson HE, Morley MW, McAdams C, Zaim J, Rizal Y, Aswan, Puspaningrum MR, Hascaryo AT, Price GJ, Louys J. The microstratigraphy and depositional environments of Lida Ajer and Ngalau Gupin, two fossil-bearing tropical limestone caves of west Sumatra. Sci Rep 2024; 14:259. [PMID: 38168923 PMCID: PMC10761806 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-50975-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2023] [Accepted: 12/28/2023] [Indexed: 01/05/2024] Open
Abstract
Lida Ajer and Ngalau Gupin are karstic caves situated in the Padang Highlands, western Sumatra, Indonesia. Lida Ajer is best known for yielding fossil evidence that places the arrival of Homo sapiens in Southeast Asia during Marine Isotope Stage 4, one of the earliest records for the region. Ngalau Gupin recently produced the first record of hippopotamid Hexaprotodon on the island, representing the only globally extinct taxon in Pleistocene deposits from Sumatra. Microstratigraphic (micromorphological) analyses were applied to unconsolidated fossil-bearing cave sediments from these two sites. We use micromorphology as part of a micro-contextualised taphonomic approach to identify the diagenetic processes affecting fossils and sediments within these caves, through phases of their depositional history. The fossil-bearing sediments in Lida Ajer have been subjected to a suite of natural sedimentation processes ranging from water action to carnivore occupation, which would indicate the fossils underwent significant reworking prior to lithification of the deposit. The results demonstrate that the base of the unconsolidated fossil-bearing sediments in Ngalau Gupin were derived from the interior of the cave, where the matrix was partially phosphatized as a result of guano-driven diagenesis. These observations can be used to test hypotheses about the integrity of incorporated vertebrate remains and to aid in local palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. The methods employed in this research have not previously been applied to cave sediments from sites in the Padang Highlands and provide key new insights into the palaeontological and natural history of the western region of Sumatra.
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Affiliation(s)
- Holly E Anderson
- Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD, 4111, Australia.
| | - Mike W Morley
- Archaeology, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia
| | - Conor McAdams
- Archaeology, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia
| | - Jahdi Zaim
- Geology Study Program, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Bandung, Jawa Barat, 40132, Indonesia
| | - Yan Rizal
- Geology Study Program, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Bandung, Jawa Barat, 40132, Indonesia
| | - Aswan
- Geology Study Program, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Bandung, Jawa Barat, 40132, Indonesia
| | - Mika R Puspaningrum
- Geology Study Program, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Bandung, Jawa Barat, 40132, Indonesia
| | - Agus T Hascaryo
- Geology Study Program, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Bandung, Jawa Barat, 40132, Indonesia
| | - Gilbert J Price
- School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia
| | - Julien Louys
- Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD, 4111, Australia
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Scerri EML, Roberts P, Yoshi Maezumi S, Malhi Y. Tropical forests in the deep human past. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20200500. [PMID: 35249383 PMCID: PMC8899628 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0500] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Since Darwin, studies of human evolution have tended to give primacy to open 'savannah' environments as the ecological cradle of our lineage, with dense tropical forests cast as hostile, unfavourable frontiers. These perceptions continue to shape both the geographical context of fieldwork as well as dominant narratives concerning hominin evolution. This paradigm persists despite new, ground-breaking research highlighting the role of tropical forests in the human story. For example, novel research in Africa's rainforests has uncovered archaeological sites dating back into the Pleistocene; genetic studies have revealed very deep human roots in Central and West Africa and in the tropics of Asia and the Pacific; an unprecedented number of coexistent hominin species have now been documented, including Homo erectus, the 'Hobbit' (Homo floresiensis), Homo luzonensis, Denisovans, and Homo sapiens. Some of the earliest members of our own species to reach South Asia, Southeast Asia, Oceania and the tropical Americas have shown an unexpected rapidity in their adaptation to even some of the more 'extreme' tropical settings. This includes the early human manipulation of species and even habitats. This volume builds on these currently disparate threads and, for the first time, draws together a group of interdisciplinary, agenda-setting papers that firmly places a broader spectrum of tropical environments at the heart of the deep human past. This article is part of the theme issue 'Tropical forests in the deep human past'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eleanor M L Scerri
- Pan-African Evolution Research Group, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745, Jena, Germany.,Department of Classics and Archaeology, University of Malta, Msida, Malta.,Department of Prehistoric Archaeology, University of Cologne, 50931 Cologne, Germany
| | - Patrick Roberts
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745, Jena, Germany.,School of Social Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
| | - S Yoshi Maezumi
- Department of Ecosystem and Landscape Dynamics, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, 1098 XH Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Yadvinder Malhi
- Environmental Change Institute, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QY, UK
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