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Indriati E, Swisher CC, Lepre C, Quinn RL, Suriyanto RA, Hascaryo AT, Grün R, Feibel CS, Pobiner BL, Aubert M, Lees W, Antón SC. The age of the 20 meter Solo River terrace, Java, Indonesia and the survival of Homo erectus in Asia. PLoS One 2011; 6:e21562. [PMID: 21738710 PMCID: PMC3126814 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0021562] [Citation(s) in RCA: 87] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2011] [Accepted: 06/03/2011] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Homo erectus was the first human lineage to disperse widely throughout the Old World, the only hominin in Asia through much of the Pleistocene, and was likely ancestral to H. sapiens. The demise of this taxon remains obscure because of uncertainties regarding the geological age of its youngest populations. In 1996, some of us co-published electron spin resonance (ESR) and uranium series (U-series) results indicating an age as young as 35–50 ka for the late H. erectus sites of Ngandong and Sambungmacan and the faunal site of Jigar (Indonesia). If correct, these ages favor an African origin for recent humans who would overlap with H. erectus in time and space. Here, we report 40Ar/39Ar incremental heating analyses and new ESR/U-series age estimates from the “20 m terrace" at Ngandong and Jigar. Both data sets are internally consistent and provide no evidence for reworking, yet they are inconsistent with one another. The 40Ar/39Ar analyses give an average age of 546±12 ka (sd±5 se) for both sites, the first reliable radiometric indications of a middle Pleistocene component for the terrace. Given the technical accuracy and consistency of the analyses, the argon ages represent either the actual age or the maximum age for the terrace and are significantly older than previous estimates. Most of the ESR/U-series results are older as well, but the oldest that meets all modeling criteria is 143 ka+20/−17. Most samples indicated leaching of uranium and likely represent either the actual or the minimum age of the terrace. Given known sources of error, the U-series results could be consistent with a middle Pleistocene age. However, the ESR and 40Ar/39Ar ages preclude one another. Regardless, the age of the sites and hominins is at least bracketed between these estimates and is older than currently accepted.
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Affiliation(s)
- Etty Indriati
- Laboratory of Bio and Paleoanthropology, Faculty of Medicine, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
| | - Carl C. Swisher
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey, United States of America
- * E-mail: (CS); (SA)
| | - Christopher Lepre
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey, United States of America
- Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory Palisades, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States of America
| | - Rhonda L. Quinn
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey, United States of America
- Department of Anthropology, Loyola University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America
| | - Rusyad A. Suriyanto
- Laboratory of Bio and Paleoanthropology, Faculty of Medicine, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
| | - Agus T. Hascaryo
- Laboratory of Bio and Paleoanthropology, Faculty of Medicine, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
| | - Rainer Grün
- Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
| | - Craig S. Feibel
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey, United States of America
| | - Briana L. Pobiner
- Human Origins Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C., United States of America
| | - Maxime Aubert
- Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
| | - Wendy Lees
- Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
| | - Susan C. Antón
- Center for the Study of Human Origins, Department of Anthropology, New York University, New York, New York, United States of America
- * E-mail: (CS); (SA)
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