Indonesian ‘hobbits’ not related to Homo erectus

The most comprehensive study on the bones of Homo floresiensis, a species of tiny human discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2003, has found that they most likely evolved from an ancestor in Africa and not from Homo erectus as has been widely believed.

Artist's impression of Homo floresiensis [Credit: Katrina Kenny, SA Museum]

The study by The Australian National University (ANU) found Homo floresiensis, dubbed "the hobbits" due to their small stature, were most likely a sister species of Homo habilis -- one of the earliest known species of human found in Africa 1.75 million years ago.

Data from the study concluded there was no evidence for the popular theory that Homo floresiensis evolved from the much larger Homo erectus, the only other early hominid known to have lived in the region with fossils discovered on the Indonesian mainland of Java.

Study leader Dr Debbie Argue of the ANU School of Archaeology & Anthropology, said the results should help put to rest a debate that has been hotly contested ever since Homo floresiensis was discovered.

"The analyses show that on the family tree, Homo floresiensis was likely a sister species of Homo habilis. It means these two shared a common ancestor," Dr Argue said.

"It's possible that Homo floresiensis evolved in Africa and migrated, or the common ancestor moved from Africa then evolved into Homo floresiensis somewhere."

A reconstructed skull of Homo floresiensis [Credit: Stuart Hay, ANU]

Homo floresiensis is known to have lived on Flores until as recently as 54,000 years ago.

The study was the result of an Australian Research Council grant in 2010 that enabled the researchers to explore where the newly-found species fits in the human evolutionary tree.

Where previous research had focused mostly on the skull and lower jaw, this study used 133 data points ranging across the skull, jaws, teeth, arms, legs and shoulders.

Dr Argue said none of the data supported the theory that Homo floresiensis evolved from Homo erectus.

"We looked at whether Homo floresiensis could be descended from Homo erectus," she said.

"We found that if you try and link them on the family tree, you get a very unsupported result. All the tests say it doesn't fit -- it's just not a viable theory."

Dr Argue said this was supported by the fact that in many features, such as the structure of the jaw, Homo floresiensis was more primitive than Homo erectus.

"Logically, it would be hard to understand how you could have that regression -- why would the jaw of Homo erectus evolve back to the primitive condition we see in Homo floresiensis?"

Dr Argue said the analyses could also support the theory that Homo floresiensis could have branched off earlier in the timeline, more than 1.75 million years ago.

"If this was the case Homo floresiensis would have evolved before the earliest Homo habilis, which would make it very archaic indeed," she said.

Professor Mike Lee of Flinders University and the South Australian Museum, used statistical modeling to analyse the data.

"When we did the analysis there was really clear support for the relationship with Homo habilis. Homo floresiensis occupied a very primitive position on the human evolutionary tree," Professor Lee said.

"We can be 99 per cent sure it's not related to Homo erectus and nearly 100 per cent chance it isn't a malformed Homo sapiens," Professor Lee said.

Source: Australian National University [April 21, 2017]

byUnknown

in Anthropology, Early Humans, Human Evolution, Indonesia, Ticker

April 21, 2017

Indonesian ‘hobbits’ not related to Homo erectus

The most comprehensive study on the bones of Homo floresiensis, a species of tiny human discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores in 200...

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Papua Center for Archaeology discovers prehistoric cave in Sorong City

The Papua Center for Archaeology has discovered a prehistoric cave dwelling in the Malaumkarta Village, Makbon Sub-district, Sorong City, West Papua Province.

Kalabus Cave [Credit: Papua Center for Archaeology]

"The local community named the cave as Kalabus Cave," Hari Suroto, an archaeologist of the Papua Center for Archaeology, stated during a telephonic conversation here on Sunday.

Suroto said the cave is located 200 meters west of the Kalabu River. When it was discovered, the caves floor was covered by the droppings of swallows, while the mouth and yard of the cave were in dry condition.

"Pottery and food remains, in the form of sea shells, were found on the floor of the caves mouth," he noted.

Based on the artifacts discovered in the cave, it could be assessed that Kalabus Cave had served as a prehistoric dwelling, as the men who once inhabited the cave largely depended on natural resources in the vicinity.

"The findings of food remains, in the form of sea shells, indicated that the men who once lived in the cave reached the coast in search of food," he revealed.

The finding of pottery artifacts also indicated that food processing activities were more varied, which included boiling.

"In addition, the pottery was used to store food or water," he noted.

Furthermore, Suroto, who was also an alumnus of the University of Udayana in Bali Province, said the observation results of the soil type around Kalabus Cave revealed that it could not have been used to make pottery. Hence, it could be assumed that the pottery came from outside the cave.

"Physically, Kalabus Cave is comfortable and safe, as it has spacious spaces, good lighting, dry and flat floor surface, good air circulation, and is located close to a water source," he stated.

"Kalabus Cave had the potential to be used as a place to live and move by humans," he added.

Source: Antara News [April 17, 2017]

byUnknown

in Archaeology, Asia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, South East Asia

April 17, 2017

Papua Center for Archaeology discovers prehistoric cave in Sorong City

The Papua Center for Archaeology has discovered a prehistoric cave dwelling in the Malaumkarta Village, Makbon Sub-district, Sorong City, We...

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Researchers uncover prehistoric art and ornaments from Indonesian ‘Ice Age’

Griffith University archaeologists Associate Professor Adam Brumm, who with Indonesian colleagues led the excavations that yielded the new findings, and Dr Michelle Langley, who analysed the recovered ornaments and art objects.

Excavations at the limestone cave of Leang Bulu Bettue on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi 
[Credit: Justin Mott]

Griffith University archaeologists are part of a joint Indonesian-Australian team that has unearthed a rare collection of prehistoric art and ‘jewellery’ objects from the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, dating in some instances to as early as 30,000 years ago.

The Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution (ARCHE) team, based in Griffith’s Environmental Futures Research Institute, together with Indonesian colleagues, have shed new light on ‘Ice Age’ human culture and symbolism in a paper published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Dated to between 26,000 to 22,000 years ago, this humanly modified artefact consists of a drilled 
and perforated finger bone from an endemic bear cuscus. The hole at one end formerly bore a string, 
while wear marks on the ornament show that it repeatedly rubbed against human skin or clothing
 during the period of its use. These facts suggest the perforated bone was suspended for use as 
a 'pendant' or similar jewelry object [Credit: Griffith University]

The study was co-led by Associate Professor Adam Brumm, an Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellow, and Dr Michelle Langley , who also holds a fellowship from the ARC, analysed the recovered artefacts, and is the country’s leading expert in the study of ancient ornaments and bone technology.

“Scientists have long been curious about the cultural lives of the first Homo sapiens to inhabit the lands to the immediate north of Australia sometime prior to 50,000 years ago — part of the great movement of our species out of Africa,” Associate Professor Brumm says.

Prehistoric ornaments excavated from the Sulawesi cave site Leang Bulu Bettue [Credit: Michelle Langley/Adam Brumm/Bear/Luke Marsden]

“Some have argued that Pleistocene human culture declined in sophistication as Homo sapiens ventured beyond India into the Southeast Asian tropics and the island chains east of continental Eurasia, known as ‘Wallacea’. “However, the onset of new research programs in Wallacea is steadily dismantling this view.”

Adding to the 2014 breakthrough discovery of 40,000-year-old cave art on the Wallacean island of Sulawesi, which is said to be some of the world’s oldest, is a unique assemblage of previously unknown symbolic objects excavated from a Sulawesi cave site called Leang Bulu Bettue.

Hollow bone tube with red and black pigments, made from the long bone of a bear cuscus, 
may have been used as an ‘air-brush’ to create human hand stencils on rock surfaces 
[Credit: Michelle Langley]

The recovered artefacts, dated to between 30,000 to 22,000 years ago, consist of disc-shaped beads made from a babirusa (‘pig-deer’) tooth and a pendant fashioned from the bone of a bear cuscus (a large and primitive possum-like marsupial found only on Sulawesi), as well as ‘portable’ art objects: stones incised with geometric patterns, the meaning of which is unknown.

Dr Langley’s analysis also revealed extensive evidence for rock art production at the site, including discarded ochre pieces, ochre stains on tools, and a bone tube that may have been a ‘blow-pipe’ for creating hand stencil motifs, the earliest of which date to at least 40,000 years ago on Sulawesi.

Hand stencils may have been created using pigments and a bone 'air-brush' 
[Credit: Yinika Perston]

“Previously, assemblages of multiple and diverse types of Pleistocene ‘symbolic’ artifacts were entirely undocumented from Wallacea,” she said.

“It was also unknown if or how Sulawesi cave artists adorned their bodies or whether their artistic repertoire even extended beyond rock paintings. Our understanding of the symbolic lives of these people is now much richer.”

Wallacea, the zone of oceanic islands positioned east of the Wallace Line, one of the world’s major biogeographical 
boundaries, and lying between the continental regions of Asia and Australia-New Guinea 
[Credit: Adam Brumm]

The team says these early examples of art and ‘jewellery’ imply that the spiritual beliefs of modern humans may have transformed as they encountered new forms of animal life on the journey from Asia to Australia.

“Sulawesi, in particular, is renowned among biogeographers for its extremely high rate of species endemism – essentially all of the island’s land mammals, except for bats, occur nowhere else on earth,” Associate Professor Brumm says.

“The discovery of ornaments manufactured from the bones and teeth of two of Sulawesi’s flagship endemics – babirusas and bear cuscuses – and a previously recorded painting of a babirusa dated to at least 35,400 years ago, shows that humans were drawn to these dramatically new faunal species. This may indicate that the conceptual world of these people changed to incorporate exotic animals.”

The researchers think that this ‘symbolic negotiation’ with novel species might have been fundamental to the later settlement of Australia, which harboured unprecedentedly rich communities of endemic faunas and floras.

They speculate that the human journey through the biogeographically unique zone of Wallacea might have prompted new ways of thinking about the natural world, suggesting elements of the complex human-animal spiritual relationships that define Aboriginal cultures may actually pre-date the initial colonization of Australia.

The work reported in PNAS was conducted in collaboration with scientists from a range of Indonesian academic institutes, including the National Research Centre for Archaeology (ARKENAS), as well as a large team of Sulawesi-based archaeologists. Other Griffith University scientists involved were Associate Professor Maxime Aubert, Dr Jillian Huntley and Professor Rainer Grün. Associate Professor Aubert and Dr Huntley are also members of members of the Place, Evolution and Rock Art Heritage Unit (PERAHU) within the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research.

Source: Griffith University [April 04, 2017]

byUnknown

in Archaeology, Asia, Astrobiology, Australasia, Indonesia, South East Asia

April 04, 2017

Researchers uncover prehistoric art and ornaments from Indonesian ‘Ice Age’

Griffith University archaeologists Associate Professor Adam Brumm, who with Indonesian colleagues led the excavations that yielded the new f...

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