Age and context of the oldest known hominin fossils from Flores

Title
Age and context of the oldest known hominin fossils from Flores
Publication Date
2016
Author(s)
Brumm, Adam
van den Bergh, Gerrit D
Puspaningrum, Mika R
Wibowo, Unggul P
Insani, Halmi
Sutisna, Indra
Westgate, John A
Pearce, Nick J G
Duval, Mathieu
Meijer, Hanneke J M
Aziz, Fachroel
Sutikna, Thomas
Storey, Michael
van der Kaars, Sander
Flude, Stephanie
Morwood, Michael J
Kurniawan, Iwan
Alloway, Brent V
Setiawan, Ruly
Setiyabudi, Erick
Grun, Rainer
Moore, Mark
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4768-5329
Email: mmoore2@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:mmoore2
Yurnaldi, Dida
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
Place of publication
United Kingdom
DOI
10.1038/nature17663
UNE publication id
une:19567
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/39Ar 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'.
Link
Citation
Nature, 534(7606), p. 249-253
ISSN
1476-4687
0028-0836
Start page
249
End page
253

Files:

NameSizeformatDescriptionLink