1
|
Shipton C, Morley MW, Kealy S, Norman K, Boulanger C, Hawkins S, Litster M, Withnell C, O'Connor S. Abrupt onset of intensive human occupation 44,000 years ago on the threshold of Sahul. Nat Commun 2024; 15:4193. [PMID: 38778054 PMCID: PMC11111772 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-48395-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2023] [Accepted: 04/30/2024] [Indexed: 05/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Archaeological evidence attests multiple early dispersals of Homo sapiens out of Africa, but genetic evidence points to the primacy of a single dispersal 70-40 ka. Laili in Timor-Leste is on the southern dispersal route between Eurasia and Australasia and has the earliest record of human occupation in the eastern Wallacean archipelago. New evidence from the site shows that, unusually in the region, sediment accumulated in the shelter without human occupation, in the window 59-54 ka. This was followed by an abrupt onset of intensive human habitation beginning ~44 ka. The initial occupation is distinctive from overlying layers in the aquatic focus of faunal exploitation, while it has similarities in material culture to other early Homo sapiens sites in Wallacea. We suggest that the intensive early occupation at Laili represents a colonisation phase, which may have overwhelmed previous human dispersals in this part of the world.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ceri Shipton
- Institute of Archaeology, University College London, London, UK.
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
- Archaeology and Natural History, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
| | - Mike W Morley
- Flinders Microarchaeology Laboratory, Archaeology, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
| | - Shimona Kealy
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
- Archaeology and Natural History, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
| | - Kasih Norman
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
- Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Griffith University, Griffith, QLD, Australia
- Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia
| | - Clara Boulanger
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
- Archaeology and Natural History, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Department of Modern Society and Civilization, National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, 565-8511, Japan
- UMR 7194 Histoire Naturelle de l'Homme Préhistorique, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France
| | - Stuart Hawkins
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
- Archaeology and Natural History, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Mirani Litster
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
- Archaeology, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia
| | | | - Sue O'Connor
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
- Archaeology and Natural History, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Early ground axe technology in Wallacea: The first excavations on Obi Island. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0236719. [PMID: 32813705 PMCID: PMC7437812 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0236719] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2020] [Accepted: 07/11/2020] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
The first excavations on Obi Island, north-east Wallacea, reveal three phases of occupation beginning in the terminal Pleistocene. Ground shell artefacts appear at the end of the terminal Pleistocene, the earliest examples in Wallacea. In the subsequent early Holocene occupation phase, ground stone axe flakes appear, which are again the earliest examples in Wallacea. Ground axes were likely instrumental to subsistence in Obi’s dense tropical forest. From ~8000 BP there was a hiatus lasting several millennia, perhaps because increased precipitation and forest density made the sites inhospitable. The site was reoccupied in the Metal Age, with this third phase including quadrangular ground stone artefacts, as well as pottery and pigs; reflecting Austronesian influences. Greater connectivity at this time is also indicated by an Oliva shell bead tradition that occurs in southern Wallacea and an exotic obsidian artefact. The emergence of ground axes on Obi is an independent example of a broader pattern of intensification at the Pleistocene-Holocene transition in Wallacea and New Guinea, evincing human innovation in response to rapid environmental change.
Collapse
|
4
|
Nițu EC, Cârciumaru M, Nicolae A, Cîrstina O, Lupu FI, Leu M. Mobility and social identity in the Mid Upper Paleolithic: New personal ornaments from Poiana Cireșului (Piatra Neamț, Romania). PLoS One 2019; 14:e0214932. [PMID: 31017924 PMCID: PMC6481798 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0214932] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2018] [Accepted: 03/24/2019] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Most of the Paleolithic art and ornaments discovered in Romania come from the site of Poiana Cireșului. Four Paleolithic layers have been studied at this site—the oldest one belongs to the Early Gravettian period between 30 ka and 31 ka BP. The ornaments discovered in this layer include perforated shells from three species of mollusks: freshwater Lithoglyphus naticoide and Lithoglyphus apertus as well as Homalopoma sanguineum (an exclusively Mediterranean species). Poiana Cireșului is one of the very few Gravettian sites where perforated Homalopoma sanguineum shells were found, and the importance of this discovery is stressed even more by the very long distance between the site and the nearest source located over 900 km away. This find suggests the connection of communities here with the Mediterranean area as well as a possible movement of populations from the south of the continent to the east of the Carpathians with significant implications in understanding human group mobility and the origin of the Early Gravettian in this area. Furthermore, Poiana Cireșului is the only Gravettian settlement where Lithoglyphus naticoides shells were used. The unique association of perforated shells—not found in any other Gravettian settlement—contributes to the identity of the Paleolithic community of Poiana Cireșului through their ornaments.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Elena-Cristina Nițu
- “Princely Court” National Museum Târgovişte, Museum of Human Evolution and Technology in Paleolithic, Târgovişte, Dâmboviţa County, Romania
- * E-mail:
| | - Marin Cârciumaru
- “Princely Court” National Museum Târgovişte, Museum of Human Evolution and Technology in Paleolithic, Târgovişte, Dâmboviţa County, Romania
- Valahia University of Târgovişte, Doctoral School, Târgovişte, Dâmboviţa County, Romania
| | - Adrian Nicolae
- “Princely Court” National Museum Târgovişte, Museum of Human Evolution and Technology in Paleolithic, Târgovişte, Dâmboviţa County, Romania
| | - Ovidiu Cîrstina
- “Princely Court” National Museum Târgovişte, Museum of Human Evolution and Technology in Paleolithic, Târgovişte, Dâmboviţa County, Romania
| | - Florin Ionuț Lupu
- “Princely Court” National Museum Târgovişte, Museum of Human Evolution and Technology in Paleolithic, Târgovişte, Dâmboviţa County, Romania
| | - Marian Leu
- “Princely Court” National Museum Târgovişte, Museum of Human Evolution and Technology in Paleolithic, Târgovişte, Dâmboviţa County, Romania
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
The spatio-temporal distribution of archaeological and faunal finds at Liang Bua (Flores, Indonesia) in light of the revised chronology for Homo floresiensis. J Hum Evol 2018; 124:52-74. [PMID: 30173885 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.07.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2017] [Revised: 06/27/2018] [Accepted: 07/04/2018] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Liang Bua, the type site of Homo floresiensis, is a limestone cave on the Indonesian island of Flores with sedimentary deposits currently known to range in age from about 190 thousand years (ka) ago to the present. Recent revision of the stratigraphy and chronology of this depositional sequence suggests that skeletal remains of H. floresiensis are between ∼100 and 60 ka old, while cultural evidence of this taxon occurs until ∼50 ka ago. Here we examine the compositions of the faunal communities and stone artifacts, by broad taxonomic groups and raw materials, throughout the ∼190 ka time interval preserved in the sequence. Major shifts are observed in both the faunal and stone artifact assemblages that reflect marked changes in paleoecology and hominin behavior, respectively. Our results suggest that H. floresiensis and Stegodon florensis insularis, along with giant marabou stork (Leptoptilos robustus) and vulture (Trigonoceps sp.), were likely extinct by ∼50 ka ago. Moreover, an abrupt and statistically significant shift in raw material preference due to an increased use of chert occurs ∼46 thousand calibrated radiocarbon (14C) years before present (ka cal. BP), a pattern that continues through the subsequent stratigraphic sequence. If an increased preference for chert does, in fact, characterize Homo sapiens assemblages at Liang Bua, as previous studies have suggested (e.g., Moore et al., 2009), then the shift observed here suggests that modern humans arrived on Flores by ∼46 ka cal. BP, which would be the earliest cultural evidence of modern humans in Indonesia.
Collapse
|
7
|
Abstract
Wallacea, the zone of oceanic islands separating the continental regions of Southeast Asia and Australia, has yielded sparse evidence for the symbolic culture of early modern humans. Here we report evidence for symbolic activity 30,000-22,000 y ago at Leang Bulu Bettue, a cave and rock-shelter site on the Wallacean island of Sulawesi. We describe hitherto undocumented practices of personal ornamentation and portable art, alongside evidence for pigment processing and use in deposits that are the same age as dated rock art in the surrounding karst region. Previously, assemblages of multiple and diverse types of Pleistocene "symbolic" artifacts were entirely unknown from this region. The Leang Bulu Bettue assemblage provides insight into the complexity and diversification of modern human culture during a key period in the global dispersal of our species. It also shows that early inhabitants of Sulawesi fashioned ornaments from body parts of endemic animals, suggesting modern humans integrated exotic faunas and other novel resources into their symbolic world as they colonized the biogeographically unique regions southeast of continental Eurasia.
Collapse
|
8
|
Early modern human lithic technology from Jerimalai, East Timor. J Hum Evol 2016; 101:45-64. [PMID: 27886810 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2016.09.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/24/2015] [Revised: 09/05/2016] [Accepted: 09/07/2016] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Jerimalai is a rock shelter in East Timor with cultural remains dated to 42,000 years ago, making it one of the oldest known sites of modern human activity in island Southeast Asia. It has special global significance for its record of early pelagic fishing and ancient shell fish hooks. It is also of regional significance for its early occupation and comparatively large assemblage of Pleistocene stone artefacts. Three major findings arise from our study of the stone artefacts. First, there is little change in lithic technology over the 42,000 year sequence, with the most noticeable change being the addition of new artefact types and raw materials in the mid-Holocene. Second, the assemblage is dominated by small chert cores and implements rather than pebble tools and choppers, a pattern we argue pattern, we argue, that is common in island SE Asian sites as opposed to mainland SE Asian sites. Third, the Jerimalai assemblage bears a striking resemblance to the assemblage from Liang Bua, argued by the Liang Bua excavation team to be associated with Homo floresiensis. We argue that the near proximity of these two islands along the Indonesian island chain (c.100 km apart), the long antiquity of modern human occupation in the region (as documented at Jerimalai), and the strong resemblance of distinctive flake stone technologies seen at both sites, raises the intriguing possibility that both the Liang Bua and Jerimalai assemblages were created by modern humans.
Collapse
|