title: Earliest hominin occupation of Sulawesi, Indonesia.
abstract: Sulawesi is the largest and oldest island within Wallacea, a vast zone of oceanic islands separating continental Asia from the Pleistocene landmass of Australia and Papua (Sahul). By one million years ago an unknown hominin lineage had colonized Flores immediately to the south, and by about 50 thousand years ago, modern humans (Homo sapiens) had crossed to Sahul. On the basis of position, oceanic currents and biogeographical context, Sulawesi probably played a pivotal part in these dispersals. Uranium-series dating of speleothem deposits associated with rock art in the limestone karst region of Maros in southwest Sulawesi has revealed that humans were living on the island at least 40 thousand years ago (ref. 5). Here we report new excavations at Talepu in the Walanae Basin northeast of Maros, where in situ stone artefacts associated with fossil remains of megafauna (Bubalus sp., Stegodon and Celebochoerus) have been recovered from stratified deposits that accumulated from before 200 thousand years ago until about 100 thousand years ago. Our findings suggest that Sulawesi, like Flores, was host to a long-established population of archaic hominins, the ancestral origins and taxonomic status of which remain elusive.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth &Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales 2522, Australia.|Naturalis Biodiversity Center, 2333 CR Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Gerrit D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: van den Bergh
authors.affiliation: Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth &Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales 2522, Australia.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Research Centre for Human Evolution, Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University, Nathan, Queensland 4111, Australia.|School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales 2522, Australia.
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brumm
authors.affiliation: Research Centre for Human Evolution, Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University, Nathan, Queensland 4111, Australia.
authors.forename: Rainer
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Grün
authors.affiliation: Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth &Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales 2522, Australia.|Geology Museum Bandung, Geological Agency, Jalan Diponegoro 57, Bandung 40122, Indonesia.
authors.forename: Dida
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yurnaldi
authors.affiliation: Archaeology, School of Humanities, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales 2350, Australia.
authors.forename: Mark W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.affiliation: Geology Museum Bandung, Geological Agency, Jalan Diponegoro 57, Bandung 40122, Indonesia.
authors.forename: Iwan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kurniawan
authors.affiliation: Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth &Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales 2522, Australia.|Geology Museum Bandung, Geological Agency, Jalan Diponegoro 57, Bandung 40122, Indonesia.
authors.forename: Ruly
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Setiawan
authors.affiliation: Geology Museum Bandung, Geological Agency, Jalan Diponegoro 57, Bandung 40122, Indonesia.
authors.forename: Fachroel
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Aziz
authors.affiliation: Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth &Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales 2522, Australia.
authors.forename: Richard G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.affiliation: Geology Museum Bandung, Geological Agency, Jalan Diponegoro 57, Bandung 40122, Indonesia.
authors.lastname: Suyono
authors.affiliation: Quadlab, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 13 DK-1350 Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Storey
authors.affiliation: Geology Museum Bandung, Geological Agency, Jalan Diponegoro 57, Bandung 40122, Indonesia.
authors.forename: Erick
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Setiabudi
authors.affiliation: Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth &Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales 2522, Australia.
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Morwood
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005580:Fossils; D049690:History, Ancient; D015186:Hominidae; D063426:Human Migration / Q000266:history; D006801:Humans; D007214:Indonesia; D053001:Tool Use Behavior