MASTER “EVOLUTION, PATRIMOINE NATUREL, SOCIÉTÉS” SPÉCIALITÉ « QUATERNAIRE ET PRÉHISTOIRE »

ERASMUS MUNDUS MASTER « QUATERNARY AND PREHISTORY » ASIA LINK PROJECT « HUMAN ORIGINS PATRIMONY IN SOUTHEAST ASIA »

MASTER MODULE « PREHISTORY OF SOUTHEAST ASIA » MASTER MODULE « PREHISTORY OF SOUTHEAST ASIA »

LECTURES ABSTRACTS as received on October 21st, 2005 LECTURES ABSTRACTS as received on October 21st, 2005

A module about Southeast Asian Prehistory François Sémah

1- Institutional aspect

This module is organized in the frame of both the HOPSEA (Human Origins Patrimony in Southeast Asia) project (Asia-Link Program) and the International Master course “Quaternary and Prehistory” (Erasmus Mundus Program).

Its purpose is to promote, on a regional topic, scientific exchanges between teaching-staff, PhD students, and Master students from various countries, as well as present and future co-promotion of Master and PhD theses.

Validation will be acknowledged by the members of the Erasmus Mundus consortium “Quaternary and Prehistory” and by the Johann-Wolfgang Goethe Universität (Frankfurt/Main). At this stage, the commonly-organized validation of the module is considered as a pioneer action towards mutual acknowledgment of credit between Asian and European universities, as encouraged by the European Commission (cf. the Action 3 application of the Erasmus Mundus consortium).

2- Scientific aspect

The module is built every year as seminar series intended to share recent field and laboratory experiences of involved teaching-staff and students, includes some fundamental lectures linking the module with more basic ones taught during the cursus the students originate from, and a limited number of lectures expanding its scope, regionally and methodologically as well. In the future, the coupling with Johann-Wolfgang Goethe Universität should lead to a parting of lectures on Human Evolution and Palaeobiology in Frankfurt, prehistoric behaviour and geological aspects being taught in Paris.

3- An introductory example

The depositional and stratigraphical example of the Song Terus cave in Java is presented as an introduction about the main thematical issues the module deals with. The thick filling of the cave and its archaeological horizons cover a crucial period, namely the last part of the Middle Pleistocene (since c. 300,000 years ago) up to the Holocene (Neolithic implements are found in the uppermost layers). Therefore, the archaeological record includes the replacement period of Homo erectus by Homo sapiens in the archipelagos.

***

Exploring the potential of Pleistocene Southeast Asian macromammals as paleoecological indicators

Christine Hertler In the African Plio-Pleistocene, bovids have proven as useful indicators for particular environmental settings (Vrba 1980, 1992). African bovids are considered as primary candidates for habitat analyses, because they underwent pronounced adaptive radiations during the Pliopleistocene. Specialists among them occupy narrow ecological niches. The occurrence of a particular bovid species thus closely correlates with particular features of the environment. In very contrast, a fewer number of bovid species occurs in insular Southeast Asia, where environmental settings are moreover considered as rather uniform throughout the Pleistocene.

The occurrence of adaptive radiations depends on vicariance topography and/or habitat binding as well as habitats requirements of the species under study. We examined both of the assumptions. The spatial distribution of Pleistocene fossil sites in Jawa does not permit a comparison of different environmental settings at present. Based on habitat theory we developed a model which helped to locate sites with different vicariance topographies. Since no species is likely to occur in every type of habitat, even species which are considered as rather opportunistic in their habitat requirements can be expected to be restricted to a particular type of habitat.

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Short overview of the Homo erectus question, with special reference to Southeast Asia

Dominique Grimaud-Hervé

There is more than one century that the importance of biodiversity and knowledge of the humanity story in Southeast Asia is recognized. Precursor was Alfred Russell Wallace who claimed that human ancestor should be looked for in the tropical forest landscapes like those found on Sumatra or Borneo islands where orang-utans are found. We are indebted to Eugene Dubois who found the first specimen of Pithecanthropus erectus, which is one of the most prominent discoveries in human palaeontology history.

After the discoveries of Mauer in Germany, Zhoukoudian Lower Cave in China, Ngandong then Modjokerto and Sangiran in Java, these fossil remains were considered as human’s ancestors. Then, Homo erectus’ diagnosis was elaborated and accepted by scientific community.

Homo erectus taxon included for long in the literature the African and European contemporaneous finds, but the present consensus is to consider this taxon as an Asian specialization of the African Homo ergaster, which evolved until its extinction about 50,000 years ago.

E.Dubois (1883) Trinil’s femur Trinil’ s site

Trinil 2 (Pith.I) Sangiran 17 (P VIII) Ngandong 12

Ckn .L 3.PA.100 (Sin.XII Locus L)

Homo floresiensis

Tony Djubiantono

The problem of Homo floresiensis is still discussed by the palaeoanthropologists until today. Since discovery in 2003 in the cave of Liang Bua in Flores island and thanks to the collaboration between the National Research Centre of Archaeology, Indonesia and the university of New England, Australia, the different opinions about the real position in the human evolution is still uncertain.

On the geographical map of Indonesia, Flores island belongs to the inner arc which is composed of many still active volcanoes. Situated in a karstic landscape, the Liang Bua cave is one famous cave for Indonesian prehistory.

What is unique on Homo floresiensis fossil is his only one meter height and the volume of his brain of about 380 cm3. Archaic characters are strongly marked, like the absence of the chin, but we found also modern characters on the shape of the skull. Therefore, Homo floresiensis possesses characters of H. erectus and of H. sapiens as well. That led Peter Brown to point that the fossil belongs to a new species, maybe intermediate between erectus and sapiens.

The age of this fossil is 18,000 years B.P. according to different methods (C14, OSL, ESR and Uranium series). From the geological point of view it belongs to the last glacial period.

We still look forward the results of complementary analysis to make a better opinion about the taxonomic status of that amazing fossil (Homo erectus floresiensis?), whose characters are linked to modern humans, to erectus or even to older forms.

*** Connecting the palaeoanthropological and prehistoric records in Southeast Asia

Florent Détroit

According to the oldest Australian archaeological sites, the arrival of Homo sapiens in the Asia-Pacific area occurred at least 40 to 60,000 years ago. From a palaeoanthropological point of view, even if the hypothesis of a local evolutionary continuity from Indonesian Homo erectus is still defended by some scholars, most of recent works seems to show that the oldest Australian fossils result from continental migrations waves during the Upper Pleistocene. These new arriving groups of Homo sapiens thus passed, in a way or another, through insular Southeast Asia and crossed consequent sea straits and arms, probably on several occasions in order to be able to settle and develop on the large Australian continent. However, if their early presence in Indonesia is attested in several archaeological sites, actual fossil remains documenting first Homo sapiens arrivals in the region are still very scarcely. Up to now, only three sites gave human fossils older than 20,000 BP: the Moh Khiew cave in the Thai peninsula, the Tabon cave on Palawan island (The Philippines) and the Niah cave in Borneo (Sarawak, Malaysia). As a consequence, subsequent evolution, migrations and affinities of these Homo sapiens in a broadest Asia-Pacific frame are still poorly understood.

However, we have seen during the last few years the emergence of a huge debate concerning the origin and dispersal modes of the so-called “Austronesian-speaking peoples” over the islands of Southeast Asia and Oceania. In this lecture, we will not test or discuss conflicting hypotheses proposed for the homeland of Austronesian speaking peoples. This debate is originally a linguistic one, but during the last few years a growing multi-disciplinary corpus of evidences seems to support a rapid dispersal of the Austronesian speaking peoples from Southern China through Taiwan to the Philippines, Indonesia and then Melanesian and Polynesian islands. This emerging synthesis is mainly based on linguistic, genetic and archaeological data… but at the moment, palaeoanthropology seems to be the missing discipline. This is due to various reasons, including a frequent lack of knowledge on some recent late Upper Pleistocene and early Holocene discoveries made in the region.

Indeed, regarding these questions of human migrations, insular Southeast Asia is often considered until now as a source area or, alternatively, only as a passageway. However, after examination of the most prominent palaeoanthropological discoveries made over the last few years, we will see that it is possible to draw a rather more complex picture. Discovered during systematic excavations, in well-defined stratigraphical and cultural context, these new Upper Pleistocene and Holocene fossil Homo sapiens show a large morphological and morphometrical variability that points to a probably very large biological diversity of these populations. This assumption seems to be also highly supported by the analysis of funerary behaviours. For this period, all the main funerary modes are documented (primary burials, secondary burials, cremation). According to these new data, there is no clear visible chronological trend,

unlike for instance the hypothesis claiming that flexed burials preceded stretched burials in Indonesia. Thus, for the considered time period, our results contrast to some extent with previous palaeoanthropological models of settlements and migrations in Southeast Asia, which were in fact based on a very limited number of fossils. We prefer to consider insular Southeast Asia as a crossroads of human migrations (i.e. an “actual zone of human hybridization”) at least as of the end of the Upper Pleistocene.

***

Recent fielworks in karstic sites in northern Vietnam: Implications for continental Southeast Asian prehistory

Fabrice Demeter Concerning Indochina prehistory, a few archaeological sites were identified throughout the whole peninsula, covering Middle to Late Pleistocene periods. Therefore, cultural artefacts were abundant enough to establish regional typologies, whereas still little is known about Pleistocene hominins: only a few remains were found, mostly isolated teeth from Vietnam, Thailand and probably Laos. Given this situation, origins of modern humans or transition between Homo erectus and Homo sapiens in mainland Southeast Asia is a question still debated, since chronology shows that these two species overlapped for several thousand of years. In this context, the Late Pleistocene Homo erectus teeth we recently discovered in northern Vietnam (publication submitted), bring new arguments to the human origins debate.

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Palaeogeography of the Solo Basin near Sangiran (Central Java, Indonesia)

Tony Djubiantono

The Solo Basin in Central Java situated between two ranges of hills : the Kendeng hills and the Southern Mountains. In this basin are found some volcanoes, which are still active until today. Many prehistoric sites are found in this area, like Sangiran, Trinil, Sambungmacan, Simo, Gemolong, Kaliuter etc.

The evolution of the Solo Basin gives a useflul image of the landscapes formerly colonized by Homo erectus (‘Pithecanthropus’) in Central Java.

We present sedimentological and paleomagnetic results from the Kaliuter area. The result of this study is used to reconstruct the paleogeography of the Solo basin.

1.9 M.A. The Solo Basin (including Sangiran and Kaliuter area) conditions at this time were deep marine. The sedimentation is dominated by clayey sediments.

1.7 M.A. In the Southern part of the Solo Basin started the old volcanic activity characterised by laharic deposits, and at the Northern part the environment changes gradually from deep marine to lagoonal and swampy conditions, as pointed by black clay then blue clay sequences. In this clayey sediments are found vertebrate fossils.

1. M.A. In the Southern part of the Solo Basin the lacustrine and swampy facies developed very fast, as shown by the dominance of the black clays. But in the Northern area we still find marine blue clays, interrupted at Kaliuter by deltaic deposits containing some lithic artifacts.

0.9 M.A. The conditions became almost totally continental in the Solo Basin, after a tectonic phase and the deposition of conglomeratic sediments.

0.8 - 0.7 M.A. The sedimentation in the Solo Basin was dominated by river deposits, carrying along volcanic effluents.

*** Characterization of cave deposits in the Southern Mountains of Java :

Sedimentological and micromorphological approaches Xavier Gallet The Southern Mountains karstic area (Pacitan, East Java) is well known for its numerous caves, some of them containing archaeological remains. Excavations in some of these caves (Song Terus, Goa Tabuhan...) offer important sedimentary fillings. These well preserved sedimentary background show us several kind of sediments meaning various kind of deposits.

Understanding of sedimentological process is very important because it gives us geological background of human occupations in the area. With different kind of analyses (granulometry, infrared spectroscopy, chemical analyses, micromorphology...), we can characterize these deposits (alluvial, aeolian, volcanic, karstic, anthropic...) and give new datas about the dynamic of sedimention in this area. These results also arise climatic hypothesis, chronostratigraphic correlations and geological history of the area.

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The Ages of the Solo Terraces at the Ngancar and Ngandong Region, Middle Jawa, Indonesian

Yan Rizal

See separate document end of folder

*** Dating the Hominid bearing sites in Asia

Christophe Falguères

Asia and on particular southeast Asia is a place where the application of dating methods requires special care. For instance, in Indonesia, the discovery of the most part of human remains occurs out of stratigraphic control and the dating methods available beyond 1Ma concern mainly volcanic layers which are not directly in relation with the human remains and the archaeological artefacts. These facts generate difficulties which are added to the “usual” problems linked to the application of dating methods such as uranium uptake or annual dose rate determination.

Two examples are presented. The first concerns the oldest hominids who colonized the islands and essentially Java. The volcanic breccia has been dated using Ar/Ar method in order to provide a maximum age. On the other hand, the Mojokerto child has been presented as the oldest human remain outside Africa. A recent paper allows to provide more inofrmation about the age of this important Homo erectus fossil.

The second example is represented by the most evolved "Pithecanthropus" (javanese Homo erectus), Solo Man, who was first found in the deposits of an alluvial terrace of the Solo river at a locality named Ngandong in Central Java. Eleven fragmentary skulls and two tibias were excavated in the alluvial sediments of a terrace perched about 20 meters above the present riverbed of the Solo river.

Recent attempts at U-series and ESR dating of fossil mammals teeth and bones from the Ngandong terrace deposits have yielded widely spread ages ranging from 27 to ca. 200 kyrs. One of these assigns a young age (27± 2 to 53.3 ± 4 kyrs) to the layer which is supposed to be the Solo Man's one. Then, the hypothesis of the contemporaneity of late Homo erectus with Homo sapiens in south-east Asia was proposed.

To test this hypothesis, the most short-cut way is the direct dating of the Solo Man fossils. We got the opportunity to measure directly two Ngandong skulls (NG-1 and NG-7) and the Sambungmacan skull (SM-1) using non destructive gamma-ray spectrometry. On the other hand, several samples of ungulate teeth and bones were sampled from different levels of Sambungmacan site. They have been analyzed both by combined ESR and U-series or by U-series methods

The results are compared with the direct gamma-ray spectrometric ages obtained on the skulls and discussed.

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The Palaeolithic of Cagayan Valley, Northern Philippines: History, Past Problems and Prospects for Future Research

Wilfredo Ronquillo See separate document end of folder

*** The Prehistory of Tabon Cave Palawan, Philippines

Eusebio Dizon See separate document end of folder

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Borneo island prehistory, the central spot of a mosaic: recent collaborative Indonesian-French fieldwork

Jean-Michel Chazine After a MOU was signed with the Puslit Arkenas in Jakarta, in 2003, archaeological surveys and excavations have been undertaken in close cooperation with French and Indonesian archaeologists. The Marang' Mount and River area has been selected following some previous surveys carried on within 100 or so caves and rock shelters of the vicinity. More than 20 of them appeared to be ornate caves, containing paintings of a different kind than those already found in surrounding areas. Dating of the oldest was proved to be older than 10.000 years ago, enlarging the questions concerning not only the human and cultural background of that settlement.

A large number of ceramics corresponding to the Austronesian arrival or merely influence, mostly linked to funerary practices, have been gathered, showing a display of techniques, motifs and forms similar to all the neighbouring places.

Late 2004 and 2005' excavations have provided occupation layers, older than 12.000 years ago, presenting a continuous stone tool industry with a specific set of flaking strategy. Two primary burials found in a cave in flexed position would correspond to pre-Austronesian practices. Last May, the clearing of a new burial of an elongated individual has revealed a noticeable peculiarity, as its head had been replaced by a stone. An identical practice has just been underlined by Spriggs & al. in Vanuatu, in the very first Lapita cemetry. The yet imprecise links with some Lapita influence in East Kalimantan, is corroborated by the adjacent finding of two seemingly Lapita sherds, excavated in the same or nearby layer.

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Paleolithic peopling of Central Asia Jacques Jaubert Research about Paleolithic period has been for a long time dominated by Russian or Soviet scholars, but it’s H. Movius and his ‘Movius Line’ who give us an interesting hypothesis still discussed. With impressive geological stratigraphies of Tajikistan studied by V. Ranov, the first indices of peopling goes over the Matuyama-Brunhes limit (0,8 My). He has described a culture called Karatau, distinctive form the Acheulean, but Acheulean is however known to the East of Caspian Sea in the Kazakh steppes.

The presence of original techno-complexes as blades productions dated from the isotopic stage 7 (240 ky BP) is to be noted. Middle Paleolithic is besides well represented but not very diversified. An interesting occurrence is described in the long sequence of Obi-Rakhmat grotto (Uzbekistan) with blades industries (OIS 5) associated to Levallois débitage and few humans remains (archaic Homo sapiens?). Until this discovery, fossil Man was only known by the burial of Teshik-Tash (Uzb.) attributed to Neanderthal, the eastern most one in Eurasia.

*** Dwarfs and giants on islands: the prehistoric Hobbit Homo floresiensis

John de Vos See separate document end of folder

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Taphonomy of the occupation floors at Ngebung (Sangiran dome, Indonesia) Anne-Marie MOIGNE The Ngebung site (locality 2) is an exceptional archaeological site dating back to the early Middle Pleistocene, which represents the first record of Sangiran Homo erectus’ actual occupation floors. The archaeological horizons (layer A) yield lithic artefacts associated with mammal bones. Furthermore, anthropic traces were recovered on the bones surface. Three aspects are developed:

1) Palaeontology The faunal list of the site, the number and ages of individuals.

2) Preservation of the bones The skeletal representation of bovids, cervids and proboscids. Connection.

3) Fragmentation and traces A qualitative and quantitative approach of the bone flakes, carnivore gnawing and crushing as well as traces of anthropic activity. Regarding anthropic activity, special attention is paid to intentional fracturation and cut marks. We will expose the last results about MEB analysis of cut marks.

*** The importance of the von Koenigswald collection for the knowledge of Human lineage

Friedemann Schrenk The Koenigswald collection housed by the research institute Senckenberg consists of the earliest hominid finds made at Sangiran, Central Jawa. The collection contains also the type specimen of a robust hominid, which was initially attributed to the genus Meganthropus, i.e. the mandibular fragment Sangiran 6a. This hominid fossil as apparently been collected from the older black clay deposits at Sangiran dome and provides evidence for an early immigration wave. Modes and chronological framework of migrations out of Africa and into Asia are introduced.

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The Ages of the Solo Terraces at the Ngancar and Ngandong Region, Middle

Jawa, Indonesian

Yan Rizal

Department of Engineering Geology of ITB

Jl. Ganesha 10 Bandung, 40312

Indonesian

Abstract

Base on the TL and IROSL experiments, can be said that the TL and IROSL Methods can be

used for dating the terrace sediment of the solo rivers and for dating the fossil can be used the

ESR Method.

The result of those above methods is: The age of the uppermost terrace is 78.37 + 7.84 Ka and

the upper terrace is 73.72 + 7.37 ka (TL-Method). The age of High terrace base on IROSL

Method is 32.31 + 3.23 Ka, and Middle terrace is 17.94 + 1.79 Ka, also the lower terrace is 5.06

+ 0.5 Ka.

Base on the ESR Method three terraces can be distinguished, which respectively from oldest to

youngest. The High terrace or known as Ngandong terrace has the age between 31.0 + 4.8 and

62.3 + 4.0 Ka. And the ages of Middle Terraces is between 12.3 + 0.9 and 28.1 + 1.8 Ka and

between 1.2 + 0.1 and 2.1 + 0.2 Ka for the Lower Terraces. As the ages of these terraces would

be took a middle value of the lower und the higher ages. So the ages of High-terraces is 46,63 +

4,4 Ka, the Middle-terraces is 20,2 + 1,35 and the Lower-terraces is 1,65 + 1,5 Ka

Introduction

The Solo valley is very famous in the world, especially surrounded Trinil, Ngandong and also

Sangiran, where at these places there are many hominids fossil was found like Pithecanthropus

palaeojavanicus, etc. Some of these hominids were found in terraces, like in Ngandong. Ter

Haar (1934) found a skull in the terraces in Ngandong area. A long the Solo River there is not

only hominids fossil was found but also a lot of fossil of vertebrate bone, such bone of cervidae,

bovids, rhino and stegodons.

Many researchers had worked in this area for paleontology, sedimentology etc, but only one of

them tried to date the ages of the terraces. Till so far only Swisher (1996) has dated an ages of

Ngandong terraces base on ESR Method.

Generally many researchers used fossil to identify the ages of the sediment, some time it is not

easy to do it, because it is very difficult to find a gut fossil.

In this time I tried to identify the ages of the Solo terraces by Thermoluminescence and ESR

Methods. The Result of this work just a preliminary Result and hopely will giving new

information in Quaternary geology in Indonesia and also it can be used as a guide to next work .

Grainsize analyze and Light mineral analyze was done as additional work, to help in

interpretation of the ages.

Location and Stratigraphy

The Location of study area is in the Solo depression along the solo River and southern part of the

Kendeng zone, an E – W trending anticlinorium’s (Fig.1). During Miocene-Pliocene times this

zone was a deep foreland basin, situated between the stable Sunda shelf in the north and the

volcanic arc in the south. Pleistocene or younger movements caused uplift, folding and thrusting

of the mio-pliocene sediments.

The Location of the Solo terraces that would study was found at the region of Pitu-Ngancar

Village and the Ngandong Village.

The main lithological units in this section are (from bottom to top): The Kerek, Upper and lower

Kalibeng, Pucangan, Kabuh Formation and the old alluvial (terraces) and recent alluvium

sediment (Fig. 2)

Kerek Formation

The Kerek Formation composed of alternating calcareous sandstones, clay stones, marl, tuff and

limestone. The presence of Globorotalia peripheroacuta, G. praefohsi and rare miogypsinids in

the basalt part of the formation suggest a middle Miocene age (Karmini, 1982). Benthic

foremininiferal assemblages are a mixture of shelf species and species characteristic for deep

water and the consistent occurrence of Eggerella bradyi, Melonis soldanii and Globobullina

pupoides suggest water depths between about 600 m and 1000 m. (van Gorsel and Troelstra,

1981). At the top of the formation is a coarse unsorted conglomeratic sandstone with volcanic

boulders and coral heads, overlain by calcarenites with abundant larger foraminifera

(Amphistegina, Planorbulinella, Lepidocyclina), but also rich in planktonic (van Gorsel and

Troelstra, 1981). The conglomerates was thought to indicate emergence of the area above sea-

level (van Bemmelen, 1949), but its position between deep-water deposits rather suggests an

olitostrome or submarine fan deposit.

Lower Kalibeng Formation

This unit consists of thick unstratified yellowish pelagic marl, with some very thin sandy

interbeds in the lower part. The formation is extremely rich in well preserved foraminera,

planktonics constituting over 95% of the assemblages. Benthic foraminifera are all deep-water

species, such as Oridorsalis umbonatus, Gyroidina neosaldanii, Planulina wuellerstorfi,

Anomalina globulosa and Uvigerina auberiana. Estimated water depth of this assemblage is

about 1000 m. Some what shallower condition (possibly 400 – 600 m) can be concluded from

the uppermost, with common Anomalina colligera. (van Gorsel and Troelstra, 1981).

Upper Kalibeng Formation

The upper Kalibeng Formation is a regressive limestone, with a well bedded calcarenites at the

base and massive reefal limestone at the top. Benthic assemblages at the base are characterized

by a high species diversity and common Rectobilivina dimorpha, Bolivina spp., costate and

striate Uvigerina, Trifarina, Globocassidulina, Hoeglundina, etc., indicating a palaeo depth

between 200 – 400 m. The abundance of Amphistegina papillosa and Planorbulinella elatensis in

the middle of the unit suggests a water-depth around 100 m. The upper part with platy corals,

Calcarina and abundant Amphistegina lessonii demonstrates gradually shallowing condition.

Brecciate of the limestone and abraded tests of Amphistegina at the top of limestone unit suggest

sedimentation at or near sea level (van Gorsel and Troelstra, 1981).

Pucangan Formation

Overlying the marine limestone are non marine deposits (conglomerates, sands and clays) of

Pleistocene age. Not far from the present are well known localities with vertebrate remains

(Trinil and Ngandong faunas with primitive hominids such as Pithecanthropus erectus). Between

the volcanoclastics of this formation and the underlying Upper Kalibeng limestone’s is a marl

interval, about 5 – 10 meters thick. The marls have a sandy aspect, but the grains are planktonic

foraminifera and rare deep-water benthic foraminifera (van Gorsel and Troelstra, 1981). This

unit has been called Transition Beds (Van Es, 1931) and was thought to represent the final

marine stage in Java.

Kabuh Formation

The Kabuh Formation overlying discordantly the Pucangan formation. This formation consists of

conglomerate sandstones, sandstones and tuff. The lower part of this unit is famous with the

names “Grenzbank”. This grenzbank is calcareous conglomerate where in this unit many

vertebrate fossils were found. In general base on the tuff layer the Kabuh Formation can be

dividing in to four sub unit:

1. The lowest one consist of Clay stone, Siltstone and Conglomerate and the first Tuff layer

2. The second unit consist of Clay, Siltstone, Sandstone, Iron sandstone and Conglomerate

and the second Tuff layer

3. The third unit consist of Clay, Silt, Sand, Irons and Conglomerate and the third Tuff layer

4. The four unit have a same composition but without Iron sand layer

Terraces

Lehmann (1936), Ter Haar (1934), had divided the terraces surrounding the Trinil area in 3

terraces: High terrace, Lower terrace and Sub recent terrace and Sartono (1976) had divided the

Solo terraces in 6 terraces base on aero photo interpretation, there are: Rambut Terrace,

Kedungdowo terrace, Getas terrace, Ngandong terrace, Jipangulu terrace and Menden terrace.

Base on this study the Solo terraces can be divide in to five terraces: The uppermost terrace,

Upper terrace, High terrace, Middle terrace and Lower terrace (Rizal,1998).

The Descriptions of the Terraces and their Distribution in Trinil – Ngawi - Ngandong

Region

Along this region many terraces were found, most of these terraces are very close to the Solo

River and some of them rather far from this Solo River especially the old terraces.

The Data of the terraces was collected at some location, where was the outcrop of the terrace

very clear, such as from west to east: Glagah Location, Cantel Location, Kaligede Location,

Gates Location , Ngasinan and Watu Gudel Location, also Srigowok Location, Mageri Location,

Kalisogo, kali Kangkung, Kersono and Ngandong Location (Fig.2). Except these above Location

the data was collected also from other outcrops.

At Glagah Location just two terraces was found, there are Uppermost Terrace and Upper

Terraces, these terraces laid uncomformable above the marl of Kalibeng Formation and at Cantel

location was found three terraces, there are Uppermost , Upper and High Terraces. These

terraces also lay unconformable above the marl of Kalibeng Formation and but at location

Kaligede only the upper and high terraces was found and laid unconformity above the marl of

Kalibeng Formation. Two terraces (Middle and lower terraces) was found at location Ngasinan

laid unconformable above the Kabuh Formation. But at Gates location only one terrace was

found above the Kabuh Formation, that is a lower Terrace. At Srigowok, Mageri and Kalisogo

also Ngandong location was found three terraces, they are high, middle and lower terraces. At

Kalikangkung and Kersono location was found only two terraces, they are upper and high

terraces at Kalikangkung and middle and lower terraces at Kersono location. At Srigowok,

Mageri and Kalisogo the terraces laid above marl of Kalibeng Formation and at Ngandong

unconformable above the Klitik Formation.

Base on their grain size, the uppermost terrace at Glagah location can be in 3 parts

distinguished: lower part consists of gravel, middle part consists of sand and upper part consists

of silt and clay. Composition of these gravel are 65% sedimentary rock, 33% altered and fresh

igneous rock and 2% silica and quart fragments. And at Cantel only gravel was found and their

composition are 62% sedimentary rock fragments, 35% altered and fresh igneous rock

fragments, 3% silica and quart fragments.

The upper terraces at Kaligede Location can be in 3 parts distinguished: at lower part consists

of medium to coarse sand with gravel lenses, the middle part consists of fine to medium sand and

the upper part consist of silt and clay. The composition of these gravel lenses are 55%

sedimentary rock fragments, 42% altered and fresh igneous rock fragment and 3% silica and

quart fragments. At Srigowok Location this upper terraces can be divided into 2 groups: the

lower part consist of gravel and the upper part consist of sand. The composition of the gravel are

60% sedimentary rock fragments, 37% altered and fresh igneous rock fragments and 3% silica

and quart fragments and at Kalikangkung location this upper terraces consist of 3 parts: lower

part is gravelly sand, middle part is medium to coarse sand and the upper part is silt – fine sand

to medium sand. The composition of this gravelly sand is 85% sedimentary rock fragments, 11%

altered and fresh igneous rock fragments and 4% silica and quart fragments.

The high terraces at Watugudel location consist of 3 parts: a lower part is medium to coarse

sand with gravel lenses, a middle part is clay-silt to fine sand and an upper part is fine sand. The

composition of the gravel lenses are 75% altered and fresh igneous rock fragments, 12%

sedimentary rock fragments and 3% silica and quart fragments.

And at Kalisogo location this terraces consist of gravelly sand at lower part, medium to coarse

sand at the middle and clay-silt to fine sand at upper part. The composition of the gravels is 81%

altered and fresh igneous rock fragments, 16% sedimentary rock fragments and 3% silica and

quart. The High terrace at Ngandong location is similar to the Kalisogo location, and the

composition not so different, where at Ngandong consist of 77% altered and fresh igneous rock

fragments, 16% sedimentary rock fragments and 4% silica and quart fragments.

The middle terrace at Ngasinan location can be divided in to 3 parts, there are: a lower parts

consist of medium to coarse sand with gravel lenses, a middle part consist of gravel at the bottom

and change gradually to silty sand at higher level. An upper part consists of gravelly sand and

gradually changes to fine sand at higher levels. The gravel composition is 89% altered and fresh

igneous rock fragments, 8% sedimentary rock fragments and 3% silica and quart fragments. At

Kersono location this middle terraces consist of sandy gravel and gravelly sand at lower part,

medium to coarse sand at middle part and sandy silt-clay at upper part. The composition of these

terraces is 93% altered and fresh igneous rock fragments and 5% sedimentary rock fragments

and 2% silica and quart fragments.

The lower terraces at the Mageri and Gates location shown the similar profiles consist of

sandy silt-clay and clayey silty sand.

Dating Methodology

To identify the age of the Sediment of the Terraces will be used the Thermo luminescence (TL)

method Infra Red Optical Simulated Luminescence (IR-OSL) and to the teeth that found in the

sediment will be used the ESR-Method to identify their age.

Aitken (1985), Berger (1988a,b) explained the process of TL dating methodology and this

method can be used to date a tephra, loess and lacustrine sediment. Prescott and Hulton (1988)

explained about cosmic gamma ray dosimetry for TL and ESR.. Hennig & Gruen (1983)

explained that the ESR can be used as tools to date the ages of quaternary sediment. Gruen &

Brumby (1994) told about the assessment of errors in the past radiation doses extrapolation from

ESR / TL dose response data.

A fine material (clay-silt-v.f.sand) for the thermoluminescence was taken from some location

that represent the other location of the same level Terraces to date and the sample will be call Yr

1 for the sample from Uppermost Terrace, Yr 2 for the sample from Upper Terraces, Yr 3 for the

sample from High Terraces, Yr 4 for the sample from middle Terrace and Yr 5 for the lower

Terraces.

Whether the TL or IR-OSL was not success to date all sample, the TL could be used just for the

sample from Uppermost and Upper Terraces, and The IR-OSL was used for the sample from

High, Medium and Lower Terraces. And for ESR the sample was collected from Ngandong,

Kalisogo and Watu Gudel Location, where the sample consist of teeth of Bovidae and

Cervidae, that found at High-, Middle- and Lower-terraces. At the Uppermost and Upper-

terraces was not found a gut sample to date, there the result for these ESR-Method only till ages

of a high terraces.

The Result Identification

The Composition of light mineral of the sample can be used also to differentiate the terraces,

especially a fine fraction of sample that also was used to identify the ages.

The light mineral composition of the 40 mg samples can be seen in Table 1. (Below):

Table 1: The Light mineral composition of 40 mg sample

No. Sample No. Quart (%) Feldspar (%) Glass (%)

1

2

3

4

5

Yr. 1

Yr. 2

Yr. 3

Yr. 4

Yr. 5

47.7

45.2

13.8

15.9

17.0

35.2

38.3

77.5

70.2

60.0

15.1

16.5

6.7

11.4

20

And grain size distribution of 100 gram sample of each terrace in the study area, like Table 2

below:

Table 2: Grain size distribution of 100 g sample

No. Sample No. Sand (%) Silt (%) Clay (%)

1

2

3

4

5

Yr. 1

Yr. 2

Yr. 3

Yr. 4

Yr. 5

25

20

5

35

31

27

30

93

48

45

48

50

2

17

24

The distribution Grain size of the sample that the used to identify the ages was in silt and clay

fraction. And they gave ages of the terraces like in Table 3:

Table 3: The ages of the sample base on TL and IR-OSL Methods

No Sample No. Ages base on TL (Ka) Ages base on IR-OSL (Ka)

1

2

3

4

5

Yr. 1

Yr. 2

Yr. 3

Yr. 4

Yr. 5

78.37 + 7.84

73.72 + 7.37

unidentified

unidentified

unidentified

unidentified

unidentified

32.31 + 3.23

17.94 + 1.79

5.06 + 0.5

The age’s determination with ESR-Method was done to 8 samples of Bovidae and Cervidae teeth

that came from different Terraces. They called T3-1 till T3-3 (T3 means a High Terraces; -1

means sample number 1), Also T4-1 till T4-3 (T4 means a Middle Terraces; -1 means sample

number), and T5-1 & T5-2 (T5 means Lower Terraces). The Result of measurement will be

given in 2 forms there are an early U-uptake and a linear U-up take, like in table 4 and 5.

Table 4 the Result of Early U-Uptake

Sample No. Int. D (μGy/a) De-D (μGy/a) Total D (μGy/a) Ages (Ka)

T3-1

T3-2

T3-3

T4-1

T4-2

T4-3

T5-1

T5-2

995 + 15

611 + 88

696 + 98

229 + 35

332 + 54

475 + 75

154 + 23

105 + 15

824 + 85

206 + 19

182 + 19

1451 + 135

3838 + 368

3590 + 346

3108 + 298

2243 + 217

2425 + 176

1462 + 97

1523 + 105

2684 + 152

5641 + 383

5537 + 365

4224 + 304

3310 + 224

39.2 + 2.9

38.4 + 4.3

31.0 + 4.8

19.3 + 1.3

12.3 + 0.9

12.4 + 1.2

1.3 + 0.1

1.2 + 0.1

Table 5 the Result of Linear U-Uptake

Sample No. Int. D (μGy/a) De-D (μGy/a) Total D (μGy/a) Ages (Ka)

T3-1

T3-2

T3-3

504 + 78

297 + 45

340 + 51

415 + 43

101 + 10

90 + 9

1525 + 96

1043 + 58

1075 + 62

62.3 + 4.0

53.8 + 5.7

43.9 + 6.6

T4-1

T4-2

T4-3

T5-1

T5-2

114 + 17

168 + 27

240 + 37

77 + 11

52 + 8

723 + 68

1926 + 186

1802 + 175

1555 + 148

1121 + 108

1841 + 92

3565 + 208

3514 + 199

2594 + 158

2135 + 121

28.1 + 1.8

19.5 + 1.2

19.5 + 1.7

2.1 + 0.2

1.8 + 0.2

Base on 2 tables above, we can concluded that the ages of the High Terraces is between 31.0 +

4.8 and 62.3 + 4.0 Ka. And the ages of Middle Terraces is between 12.3 + 0.9 and 28.1 + 1.8 Ka

and between 1.2 + 0.1 and 2.1 + 0.2 Ka for the Lower Terraces. As the ages of these terraces

would be took a middle value of the lower und the higher ages. So the ages of High-terraces is

46,63 + 4,4 Ka, the Middle-terraces is 20,2 + 1,35 and the Lower-terraces is 1,65 + 1,5 Ka

Discussion

By the ages determination with TL-Method unfortunately just 2 ages from 5 levels of the Solo

Terraces could be identified, and only 3 Terraces was identified with IR- OSL Method. But the

Result of both Methods could be said a continue ages from the older to the younger.

It’s a different to ESR Methods, the result of measurement given different ages between early

and linear uptake, this differentiate could be caused of Uranium, Thorium, Kali concentration

and signal of γ and β Ray, that was took from enamel and dentin of the teeth. The dated was

done not from the same species, but from a different species, Bovid and Cervide.

Compare to the result of TL and IR-OSL, the minimum ages of the terraces base on ESR was not

so different (from TL and IR-OSL, 32.31 + 3.21 Ka for High Terraces and 17.94 + 1.79 for

Middle Terraces and also 5.06 + 0.5 Ka for Lower Terraces and from ESR, 31.0 + 4.8, the ages

of Middle Terraces is between 12.3 + 0.9 Ka and between 1.2 + 0.1 for the Lower Terraces. The

TL ages look likes older then the ESR ages, but if we took the middle value ages of the ESR,

High-terraces is 46,63 + 4,4 Ka, the Middle-terraces is 20,2 + 1,35 and the Lower-terraces is

1,65 + 1,5 Ka. Look like opposite to above except the younger ones.

In compare to the result of Swisher (1996), it is looked like similar age for the High terraces

(27,0 + 2 Ka and 53,3 + 4 Ka, and mid value = 40,15 + 3 Ka )

It’s difficult to say which one the above value TL ages or ESR ages are correct, and it can be

used as the absolute ages of the Terraces?

I can say both are right, the teeth could be older the sediment. Its can be lived from another place

and it’s was transported and resedimented in Ngandong, in this case the animal can be older then

the sediment but its can be same ages if it’s lived at the time of building the terraces. And

another argument the animals could be lived and died in Ngandong and for this case the animal

can be younger or same ages to the sediment.

For a gut result, it is better for the next research I propose to take much more detail and

systematically sample than the sample in this study to delete what we doubt of this work and to

get a gut and a significance age of the Solo terraces.

Conclusion

Herewith the conclusions of the ages of solo-terraces study are:

1. There are some stage muss be done for TL Dating to get a gut result

a. Grain size analyze to know the grain size distribution of the sample

b. Petrography analyze to know a minerals composition of the sample

c. Illuminations analyze to know whether the sediments need a specific treatment or

not. If the wrong treatment will give a wrong result of analyzed

2. The Result of this study can be used as preliminary result, and need some more detail and

systematic sample to get real ages of these Solo terraces.

3. The Temporary ages of the Solo terraces of this study base on TL and IROSL-Method

are:

- The uppermost terraces are 78, 37 + 7, 84 Ka

- The upper terraces are 73, 72+ 7, 37 Ka

- The high terraces are 32, 31 + 3, 23 Ka

- The middle terraces are 17, 94 + 1, 79 Ka

- The lower terraces are 5, 06 + 0, 51 Ka

4. The different concentration of the element and the ESR-signal of the same level terraces

shown a local not homogeny condition at the sedimentation times that can be happened

cause of the additional material materials from small tributaries of the Solo river.

5. The Temporary result of the Solo terraces of this study base on ESR method on the

Cervid and Bovid teeth are:

- The High-terraces are 46,63 + 4,4 Ka,

- The Middle-terraces are 20,2 + 1,35 Ka,

- The Lower-terraces are 1, 65 + 1, 5 Ka.

REFERENCES

Aitken, M.J. (1985), Thermoluminescence Dating, Academic Press, New York, N.Y., 351pp.

Prescott, J.R., and Hulton, J.T. (1988), Cosmic gamma ray dosimetry for TL and ESR. Nucl.

Tracks Radiat, Meas., 14: 223 – 227.

Bemmelen, R.W. van (1949), The Geology of Indonesia, The Haque, Martinus Nijhoff, 1, 732p.

Berger, G. W. (1988a), Dating Quaternary events by Luminescence. In D.J. Easter brook

(Editor). Dating Quaternary Sediments. Geol. Soc. Am. Spec. Pap., 227: 13 - 50

--------, (1988b), Thermoluminescence Dating of Tephra, Loess and Lacustrine Sediments. Quat.

Sci. Dev, 7: 295 – 304.

Es, L.J.C. van (1931), The Ages of Pithecanthropus, The Haque, Martinus Nijhoff, 142p.

Gruen, R. & Brumby, S. (1994), The assessment of errors in the past radiation doses

extrapolation from ESR / TL response data. Radiation measurements 23: 307 – 315.

Gorsel, J.T. van. (1981), Late Neogene Planktonic foraminifera Biostratigraphy of the Solo River

Section ,Java, Indonesia, Marine Micropaleontology 6: 183 -209.

Hennig, G.J & Gruen, R. (1983), ESR dating in Quaternary geology, Quat. Sci., 18: 419 – 432.

Karmini (1982): In Sukardi & Buditrisna,T. (1992): Explanatory note and geological map of

Salatiga Quadrangle, Jawa (Scale 1 : 100.000). Geol. Research and Dev. Center, PPPG-

Bandung, Indonesia: Quadrangle 1408-6.

Lehmann, H. (1936), Morphologische Studien auf Java, Geographischen Abhandlungen 3, Reihe

9, J. Engelhorns nachf, Stuttgart.

Rizal, Y. (1998): Die Terrassen entlang des Solo-Flusses in Mittel und Ost Java, Dissertation,

Universitaet zu Koeln, Germany.

Sartono, S. (1976), Genesis of the Solo Terraces, Mod.Quad.Res.SE Asia, 2: 1 – 21.

Swisher III, C.C., Rink, W.J., Anton, S.C., Schwarcz, H.P., Curtis, G.H., Suprijo, A.,

Widiasmoro (1996), Latest Homo erectus of Java: Potential contemporaneity with Homo

sapiens in Southeast Asia, Science, 274: 1870 – 1873.

DWARFS AND GIANTS ON ISLANDS; THE PREHISTORIC HOBBIT HOMO

FLORESIENSIS

John de Vos

Department of Palaeontology, Nationaal Natuurhistorisch Museum, Naturalis, PO Box 9517, NL-2300

RA Leiden, The Netherlands. E-mail: vos@naturalis.nnm.nl

INTRODUCTION

Since the middle of the last century the Nationaal Natuurhistorisch Museum has been involved in

the study of island faunas, with a clear emphasis on mammal evolution on islands. During the

1940s, D.A. Hooijer studied the endemic island faunas of the Indonesian Archipelago, collected by

Father Verhoeven. M. Freudenthal discovered fissure fillings containing an island fauna in Gargano

(Italy) in 1969. J. de Vos studied the Mediterranean islands in co-operation with Utrecht University

(Paul Sondaar) and the University of Athens (Dermitzakis) during the seventies. Since the 1980s he

has been investigating the faunas of the Indonesian Archipelago in cooperation with the Geological

Research and Development Centre (Aziz), Bandung, Indonesia. Recently, a project was initiated to

study the fossil faunas of the Philippines in cooperation with the National Museum of Manilla

(Bautista).

The study of these various faunas from different part of the world, and comparison with literature

on other island faunas, has revealed a pattern. Larger mammals tend to dwarfism on islands, such as

pygmy elephants on Mediterranean Islands, and dwarf stegodonts in the Indonesian archipelago. On

the other hand small mammals, like murids, tend towards large dimension. Above all, island faunas

are unbalanced. They consist of only a few taxa on any given island, mostly herbivores, like

elephants, hippos, cervids and murids. Carnivorous mammals are absent.

When analysing fossil faunas from islands or part of a continent, we can make certain deductions

about the palaeogeography. The faunal evolution and succession of a region depends on possible

dispersal routes (Simpson, 1965; Dermitzakis & Sondaar, 1978). If an island site yields a balanced

fossil continental balanced fauna, similar to that on the mainland, than these land masses were

formerly connected by a broad corridor. If in a site on an island, a so-called unbalanced, endemic

island fauna, lacking carnivores, occurs, the area was also an island in the past. The mammals must

have reached the island by swimming or rafting via sweepstake dispersal or a filter route. Even in

sites now part of the continent, unbalanced faunas may be found, indicating that area must have

been an island in the past.

The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of the results of the research of the scientistst of

Naturalis on palaeo-isles in the latter half of the 20th century and beyond and to put Homo

floresiensis in the context of "unbalanced endemic island fauna's".

GARGANO, ISLAND FAUNAS ON THE PRESENT MAINLAND

The most important Italian island faunas, however, are found on the mainland, on Gargano

peninsula. The limestone of Gargano shows extensive karst development, and the various

quarries in the area contain numerous fissure fillings, many of which are fossiliferous. Soon it

became apparent that the fauna assemblages found represent an island environment. The faunas

are unbalanced, lacking perissodactyles, proboscideans, and carnivores, with the exception of the

otter Paralutra garganensis (Willemsen, 1983). The artiodactyls are represented only by one

aberrant form, the deer-like Hoplitomeryx (Leinders, 1984). Another indication that we are

dealing with island faunas is the presence of various giant forms among the micromammals, like

the murid Microtia (Freudenthal, 1976), the dormouse Stertomys (Daams & Freudenthal, 1985),

and the erinaceid Deinogalerix (Freudenthal, 1972; Butler, 1980).

The importance of the Gargano lies in the occurrence of insular faunas from different ages from

a single palaeo-island. Usually only one or a few sites are known from a certain island, but in

Gargano c. 75 fissure fills were sampled, which seem to represent sequential time slices.

Therefore, the development of the fauna and its components can be reconstructed through time.

The major drawback, of course, is that we can only reconstruct the time sequence based on the

fossil contents of the different fissure fillings, which holds the risk of getting into circular

reasoning. A biostratigraphy of the Gargano faunas was made by Freudenthal (1976), who based

his sequence primarily on the stage of evolution in the various Microtia lineages.

The correlation of the insular faunas from Gargano to the continental faunas of that period

remains uncertain, although it is clear that the island faunas should be dated sometime in the Late

Miocene and/or Early Pliocene. Of course, one of the problems with correlating island faunas to

the mainland is that the insular forms have changed so much that it is difficult to find the

ancestor on the mainland. And, of course, that ancestor may as yet not have been found. In the

case of Gargano the typical examples of island evolution as Hoplitomeryx and Deinogalerix have

been studied most extensively.

The island faunas from Gargano are not the only Tertiary insular faunas from the Mediterrenean.

The island of Mallorca and Menorca (Balears, Spain) have also yielded insular faunas, the oldest of

which dates back to the Pliocene. There are some remarkable similarities to Gargano. For instance,

the faunas are also characterised by the presence of an aberrant artiodactyle, here the caprine

Myotragus. Like in Gargano, there are fissure fillings of various ages, allowing us to follow the

changes in the fauna over a respectable period of time. Unlike Gargano, this faunal evolution

continued right upto the beginning of the Holocene. The island faunas disappeared as Man entered

the scene, just like they did on other Mediterranean Islands, e.g. in the Greek archipelago.

THE GREEK ISLES: PLEISTOCENE FAUNAS OF THE AEGEAN ISLANDS

Pleistocene Crete is a classical example of an oceanic-like island, which was colonised by

sweepstake dispersal. From the time of colonization until the Holocene it had an unbalanced

endemic island fauna. Crete got its present configuration in the late Early Pleistocene (Sondaar et

al., 1986). The Pleistocene island fauna only contains cervids (Kuss, 1975b; De Vos 1979, 1984a,

1996a; Capasso Barbato & Petronio 1986; Capasso Barbato,1989, 1990, 1992 a), elephants (Bate

1905, 1907; Simonelli 1907, 1908; Kuss 1965, 1966, 1973; Accordi, 1972; Malatesta, 1980;

Capasso Barbato 1992 b; Mol et al., 1996), hippos (Boekschoten & Sondaar 1966; Kuss, 1975a;

Spaan, 1996), murids (Kuss & Misonne 1968; Mayhew 1977, 1996), shrews (Reumer 1986, 1996;

Reumer & Payne, 1986), birds (Weesie 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988; Lax, 1996) and reptiles

(Bachmayer et al. 1975; Brinkerink, 1996), while carnivores, with the exception of an otter

(Symeonidis & Sondaar 1975; Willemsen, 1980, 1996), are lacking.

Mayhew (1977, 1996) distinguished five biozones based on the endemic Pleistocene murid

species of Crete. These species belong to two genera, Kritimys and Mus. Kritimys are larger than

the Brown rat, Rattus norvegicus (Mayhew, 1996), while the species of Mus are of small size. If

we look at the ungulates, there is one faunal turnover. The faunal assemblages can be

summarized as follows (Mayhew, 1977, 1996: De Vos & Dermitzakis, 1986a; De Vos, 1996a):

Mammuthus creticus - Hippopotamus creutzburgi fauna, or the Kritimys Zone

The earliest Pleistocene land vertebrates are from the locality Siteia I. Besides Kritimys aff.

kiridus (Mayhew 1977, 1996), a rib of Hippopotamus creutzburgi was found (Spaan, 1996). The

probable ancestors of Kritimys and a soricid Crocidura zimmermanni, found from the K. catreus

subzone onwards, are of a Late Pliocene/Early Pleistocene mainland stock (Mayhew, 1996;

Reumer, 1996). Hippopotamus amphibius antiquus is considered to be the ancestor of the dwarf

Hippopotamus creutzburgi, which had a more unguligrade stance than the mainland species

(Spaan, 1996).

At Cape Maleka 1, the dwarf elephant Mammuthus creticus is associated with Kritimys (Mayhew

1977, 1996). Based upon the evolutionary stage of Kritimys, this site is somewhat younger in age

than Siteia I, but it is still placed in the Early Pleistocene. Mammuthus meridionalis is considered

to be the ancestor of the pigmy Mammuthus creticus (Mol et al., (1996). Apparently the Early

Pleistocene Hippopotamus antiquus and Mammuthus meridionalis dispersed by sweepstake route

to Crete and adapted to the island environment by becoming dwarfs.

Elephas creutzburgi - Candiacervus fauna, or the Mus Zone

The earliest occurrence of Mus on Crete is at the Stavros Micro site. The earliest find of the

cervid Candiacervus is in Charoumbes 2, the earliest find of Elephas and Candiacervus together

in Charoumbes 3. From the younger site (Gerani 5) the absolute ESR dating is 127.450 ±20%

(Reese, 1996). The youngest locality is Gerani 2, which is dated at AAR 47.000 ± 20% (Reese,

1996). Early Neolithic deposits cover the Pleistocene deposits in this cave.

De Vos (1979, 1984a, 1996a) recognised six sizes in the endemic genus Candiacervus, which

can be explained as an adaptive radiation of the ancestral stock (De Vos & Dermitzakis, 1986b;

De Vos, 1996a, 2000). Since there is still considerable overlap, particularly in the postcranial

elements, no true species can be recognised. Nevertheless, species names are sometime attributed

to extremes of the size spectrum (e.g., Capasso Barbato & Petronio, 1986). The adaptive

radiation probably resulted from sympatric speciation (De Vos, 1996a). The large Elephas from

Crete is a little smaller than the continental form Elephas antiquus. Their taxonomic statuses are

not clear and continue to be under discussion. Dermitzakis & Sondaar (1978) classified their

material as Elephas cf. antiquus. Other authors have considered it to be a species on its own like

Elephas creutzburgi by Kuss (1965) or Elephas chaniensis by Symeonidis et al., (2000, 2001).

Poulakakis et al. (2002) took an intermediate position by considering the Cretan elephant as a

subspecies of the continental form (Elephas antiquus creutzburgi). The otter Lutrogale cretensis

is the only mammal carnivore in the Cretan fauna (Symeonides & Sondaar, 1975; Willemsen,

1980, 1996). It shows an adaptation to terrestrial life and was feeding on fish, crustaceans and

small land vertebrates (Willemsen, 1980, 1996).

The genus Mus probably arrived in the early Middle Pleistocene (Mayhew, 1996). The first

occurrence of Elephas antiquus in Europe is also in the early Middle Pleistocene, around

700,000 BP. So, the faunal turnover from the Mammuthus creticus - Hippopotamus creutzburgi

fauna to the Elephas creutzburgi - Candiacervus fauna was no earlier than the transition from

Early to Middle Pleistocene.

Due to the many localities of different ages, Crete can be considered as a case history for

colonisation, island adaptation of the ungulates and rodents that managed to settle on the island,

and extinction of island endemics during the Holocene.

It was certainly not the only island with a Pleistocene insular fauna. Doukas & Athanassiou (2003)

give an overview from the islands of the Aegean with unbalanced endemic island faunas, mostly

consisting of solely (dwarf) proboscideans. Apart from Crete these are Rhodos, Tilos, Dilos,

Astypalaea, Seriphos, Milos, Naxos, Paros and Kytnos. On Karpathos and Kassos endemic cervids

are also found. Probably these latter two formed one single island (Sondaar et al., 1996).

The island research done by Naturalis focussed on the Greek Archipelago. Examples of insular

evolution can, however, also be found on other Mediterranean islands. The Balears were mentioned

above, with their Myotragus faunas that survived up to the end of the Pleistocene. Sicily is famed

for having the smallest of all dwarf elephants, Elephas falconeri. Further, the giant dormouse

Leithia was found here. On Cyprus, remains have been found of a dwarfed hippopotamus and

elephant.

Sondaar (1977) proposed a model for the unbalanced endemic island faunas of the

Mediterranean. In that model the mammals, hippos, elephants, murids, cervids and bovids

reached the islands by swimming or rafting via sweepstake dispersal. On the islands the large

mammals (elephants and hippos) generally became smaller and the small mammals (murids)

became larger. This was according to the model of adaptation to island conditions (Sondaar,

1977) and not degeneration, as was the general consensus at that time.

To test this model, a research programme was started in southeast Asia, in particular the islands

of the Indonesian Archipelago.

SOUTHEAST ASIA: WALLACEA

The many islands and seas in between Sunda and Sahul have been given the name Wallacea. In

contrast to the islands of the Sunda Shelf, these islands were not connected to the mainland at

times of low sea levels.

Sulawesi

The first dwarf proboscidean remains from southwest Sulawesi were described by Hooijer

(1949) as Archidiskodon celebensis. Hooijer studied the fossil material recovered by Van

Heekeren near the village of Sompoh west of the Walanae River in the Sengkang district. Later

collecting at several localities in the same area yielded abundant fossil material that permitted

Hooijer (1953a, 1954b, 1955, 1972) to assign the particular characteristics to this dwarf probos-

cidean, Archidiskodon celebensis, later reclassified as Elephas celebensis.

In addition to E. celebensis, Hooijer (1953a) announced the presence of Stegodon. In his first

announcement he still doubted whether the fragmentary material should be attributed to a pygmy

or a normal sized Stegodon. In 1964, after additional fossil Stegodon material had been collected,

he concluded that all the Stegodon material described so far belonged to a dwarf species, which

he named S. sompoensis. Hooijer (1972b) described some Stegodon molar fragments collected in

the previous years, which he attributed to S. cf. trigonocephalus, based on their supposedly large

size. He concluded that there must have been both a large and small sized Stegodon in the fossil

fauna.

Stratigraphic data of the material described by Hooijer are lacking. Fieldwork during 1990-1994

gave the following stratigraphic sequence (Van den Bergh et al., 1994, 1995, 2001; Van den

Bergh, 1997, 1999). In the Late Pliocene sedimentary rocks a pigmy Stegodon (Stegodon

sompoensis) and a pigmy Elephas (“Elephas” celebensis) of about 2.5 Ma are present. During

the Early Pleistocene, a large sized Stegodon possibly immigrated to south Sulawesi, as

represented by the few large-sized molar fragments. This might either be Stegodon

trigonocephalus from Java or another large sized Stegodon from the Philippines or the Asian

mainland. By the Middle or Late Pleistocene, both pygmy proboscideans had become extinct,

while the large sized Stegodon continued or, alternatively, a new immigration of a large

Stegodon took place besides a new immigration of an highly advanced Elephas species.

Flores

The discovery of stone artefacts in association with remains of a large Stegodon, S.

trigonocephalus florensis, and large murids, Hooijeromys nusatenggara, at the localities Mata

Menge and Boa Leza in west Central Flores was reported by Maringer & Verhoeven (1970). The

same fauna had also been recovered from the locality Ola Bula, though from the latter locality no

in situ artefacts were reported. Based on the association with S. trigonocephalus florensis, the

artefacts, described as a number of pebble tools and retouched flakes mostly made of volcanic

rock, were inferred to be Middle or Late Pleistocene and it was speculated that Solo Man might

have reached the Lesser Sunda islands.

The large to medium sized Stegodon from the localities Ola Bula, Boa Leza, Mata Menge and

Dhozo Dhalu is slightly more advanced than Stegodon trigonocephalus from Java (Hooijer

1953b, 1972b). The taxonomic status is, like the Cretan large elephant, under discussion. Hooijer

(1957) considered it to be a subspecies of the Javanese species (Stegodon trigonocephalus

florensis), while it was considered to be a species on its own (Stegodon florensis) by Van den

Bergh (1997, 1999) and Van den Bergh et al. (2001). Additionally, fossil remains of the giant rat

Hooijeromys nusatenggara Musser have been found at Mata Menge, Ola Bula, Dhozo Dhalu and

Boa Leza. Verhoeven (1970) had discovered this murid earlier in the same area (Musser 1981).

Further, at Mata Menge a few teeth of a small crocodile were found, while at Dhozo Dhalu teeth

of Varanus komodoensis occurred in association with the younger fauna. This still extant species

seems to have been the only element from the older vertebrate fauna that did not become extinct.

In 1982 a new locality was discovered 2.5 km east of Mata Menge and 250 m southeast of Ola

Bula, yielding fossils of a giant tortoise and a pygmy Stegodon (Sondaar, 1987). This locality,

known as Tangi Talo (Sondaar et al., 1994; Van den Bergh et al., 1994, 1995, 2001; Van den

Bergh, 1997, 1999), contained a distinct fauna and appeared to be stratigraphical older than the

Ola Bula excavation of Verhoeven. Based on faunal correlations, the Tangi Talo fauna was also

inferred to be older than the artefact-bearing layer at Mata Menge. The fossil locality near Tangi

Talo is the only one which yielded the Geochelone-pygmy Stegodon fauna. The fossils were

recovered from the top of a 300 mm thick white, pumice containing tuffaceous layer pertaining

to subunit A (Sondaar et al., 1994; van den Bergh, 1999). The pygmy Stegodon from Tangi Talo

represents a distinct species, Stegodon sondaari, differing from the pygmy stegodonts known

from Java, Sulawesi and Timor, and also the Geochelone is on average much smaller than the

fossil giant tortoises known from the other islands (Van den Bergh, 1999; Van den Bergh et al.,

2001). Besides these two species, remains of Varanus komodoensis were also recovered from the

same layer. No artefacts have been found in the fossiliferous layer at Tangi Talo or in the

tuffaceous interval in which this layer occurs.

The colonization of the island by humans coincides with a faunal turnover on the island. An

endemic island fauna with a Geochelone and a pygmy Stegodon is replaced by an endemic island

fauna with Stegodon florensis and Hooijeromys nusatenggara. This younger fauna is associated

with artefacts at the localities Mata Menge and Boa Leza, indicating the co-occurrence with

humans. Palaeomagnetic dating results suggest a late Early Pleistocene age for the Tangi Talo

fauna and early Middle Pleistocene for the Mata Menge fauna (Sondaar et al. 1994), indicating

an age of at least 0.7 Ma for the artefact-bearing layer. Fission track ages of stone tools by

Morwood et al. (1998) date 0.88 ± 007 and 0.80 ± 0.07 Ma.

Brown et al. (2004) announced a new small-bodied hominin (Homo floresiensis) from the cave

Liang Bua. It was 1 m tall and had an endocranial volume of 380 cm3. According to the authors

the most likely explanation for its existance is long-term isolation, with subsequent dwarfing, of

an ancestral Homo erectus. The age was considered from before 38,000 years ago until at least

18,000 years ago (Morwood et al., 2004).

Timor

On Timor Verhoeven (1964) discovered the first remains of a dwarf Stegodon at Weaiwe. The

posterior part of an M3 of this pygmy Stegodon timorensis was described and figured by Sartono

(1969). More molar material from this Timor species was described and figured by Hooijer

(1969), who also reported a large-sized Stegodon from the island, represented by a slightly worn

DM3 from Sadilaun. Hooijer classified this fossil as S. timorensis subspecies D. More material

of both the dwarf and the large-sized Stegodon was collected during a 1970 expedition in which

Hooijer participated. Hooijer (1972b) described molar remains as well as postcranial elements

obtained during this expedition. Sartono & Marino (1978) add some material of the dwarf

species from Timor. The stratigraphical context of the fossils, however, is not clear.

Sumba

Sartono (1979) announced the discovery of a pygmy Stegodon from Sumba. Though the

stratigraphic context is not clear, the presence of a pygmy stegodon shows that Sumba was an

island.

Sangihe

The small island of Sangihe lies between the northern tip of north Sulawesi and the island of

Mindanao of the Philippines. In 1989, Dr. F. Aziz and Dr. Shibazaki collected some stegodont

material from the island, including an upper tusk and some molar remains. All material

originates from the Pintareng Formation on the southeast of Sangihe Island. The age of this

formation is thought to be Pleistocene (Samodra, 1989). The material was briefly described and

figured by Aziz (1990) and attributed to S. sp. B cf. trigonocephalus.

During the Pleistocene Flores, Sulawesi, Timor, Sumba and Sangihe were isolated from both the

Asian continent and Australia. Because of this isolation, those islands contained unbalanced

endemic island faunas, containing only a few genera, mostly herbivores, while carnivores are

missing. Every island had its own evolutionary history, although there is a general pattern

recognisable.

PHILIPPINES

From the islands of the Philippines only a few mammal fossils are found and described (Von

Koenigswald, 1956; Bautista, 1988, 1991; De Vos & Bautista, 2003). Based on the size and

morphology of the molars there is only one species of Stegodon, namely Stegodon luzonensis

and a large species Elephas. Stegodon luzonensis is a little smaller than the continental form.

Postcranial elements of the proboscidean show that there is a small and large proboscidean.

Further there is a relatively small rhino, Rhinoceros philippinensis and material of a giant

tortoise (De Vos & Bautista, 2003). This fauna composition shows clearly that it is an endemic

island fauna.

Their stratigraphic position is not well known. Besides, archaeological investigations (Fox &

Paralta, 1974) have argued that the faunal remains are of Mid-Pleistocene age (following Von

Koenigswald in Durkee & Pederson, 1961, p. 160) and that at least some of the tools are coeval

with the fossils (in: Wasson & Cochrane, 1979). Probably we are dealing here with the same

succession as in Flores, that there first was a pygmy proboscidean and a giant tortoise, followed

by a large proboscidean and artefacts.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

Island evolution follows distinct patterns. A characteristics of island faunas is their unbalanced

nature. Carnivores are absent, although both on Gargano and on Crete an otter has been found.

Because of their semi-aquatic lifestyle these creatures were able to reach the islands, whereas

other mammal predators were not. Perissodactyles, too, seem to be absent as a rule.

Nevertheless, on Luzon a rhinoceros, Rhinoceros philippinensis was found, and fossil rhino’s are

also known from Japan. Possibly the gasses in the gut provided enough floating capacaty for the

animals to reach the island via sweepstake dispersal.

The most common elements on the Quaternary islands are proboscideans, hippopotamuses and

cervids. Whether such a preference for certain families exists among smaller mammals is not

clear. The island forms we know mainly belong to glirids (Leithia, Stertomys) and murids

(Microtia, Kritimys, Hooijeromys), but it can easily be argued that these were common elements

on the mainland at the time of colonization and that their arrival on islands, by, for example,

rafting on driftwood, was a simple matter of chance. This also holds true for Deinogalerix, which

is probably derived from Parasorex, a very common insectivore in the Late Miocene of Europe

(Van den Hoek Ostende, 2001b).

Apart from the unbalanced nature of the island faunas, with a preference for certain taxa, the tell-

tale signs of an island fauna are dwarfism for the larger and gigantism among the smaller

mammals. However, these phenomena are not necessarily clear-cut. Extreem dwarfism occurs,

such as in the Sicilian Elephas falconeri and Homo floresiensis. On the other hand, the Elephas

found in the Middle and Late Pleistocene of Crete is only a little smaller than the mainland E.

antiquus. In Wallacea and the Philippines, too, the Middle and Late Pleistocene proboscideans

are just somewhat smaller than the mainland forms, but true pygmys do occur on the Early

Pleistocene isles of the region. As not necessarily all large mammals are subject to dwarfism, not

all small mammals will obtain large proportions. The niches for small rodents are still available,

as is clear from the large number of relatively unchanged rodents, insectivores and lagomorphs

on Gargano. Also, on Flores, in Late Pleistocene sedimentary rocks in the Liang Bua cave, we

find, apart from the giant murids, Papagomys armandvillei, P. theodorverhoeveni and

Spelaeomys florensis (Musser, 1981) three small to middle-sized rats.

By expanding the research to the isles of Wallacea, the model proposed by Sondaar (1977) could

be tested. The same phenomena were observed with striking similarity. Both on Crete and on, for

example, Flores, a faunal turnover took place near the Early to Middle Pleistocene. This is also

the period of a major faunal change on the continent in Eurasia, as the Villafranchian faunas

gave way to the mammals of the Galerian. Since the turnover in insular faunas occurred on

different sides of the globe, the explanation must be sought in a global cause. Probably this is

related to the more extreme climatic fluctuations of the Middle Pleistocene. Glacial periods like

OIS 16 will not only have caused major changes in the ecosystem on the continent, but also a

considerable drop in sealevel. Thus islands became more readily accessible and new island

faunas could settle in, either actively replacing existing faunas or simply filling up the empty

space left after extinction.

In most cases the phylogenetic relationship of the island forms with continental forms is obscure.

We can deduce this from the nomenclatorical problems. Also in the case of Homo floresiensis

the phylogenetic reletionship is obscure. We can conclude that we have to treat Homo

floresiensis as an island form and study the characteristics of the island adaptations and not treat

it is a continental form and compare it with continental forms, like Australopithecus.

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Abstract on the Prehistory of Tabon Cave Palawan, Philippines

Prof. Eusebio Z. Dizon Archaeological Studies Program, University of the Philippines

Diliman Quezon City And

Scientist III, National Museum of the Philippines The Island of Palawan, Western Philippines, occupies a specific biogeographical position: though East of the Wallace’s line, it was only separated by narrow, few miles large straits from the Sunda shelf during the glaciations. As a consequence, the remarkable and world-widely acknowledged biodiversity of the Palawan island illustrates a unique combination of endemism and migration events of flora, fauna and human components. This is certainly the most palpable result of life-evolution during thousands of years in this privileged context, where Homo sapiens was discovered sometimes during the Upper Pleistocene. Pleistocene Homo sapiens reached Australia 50,000 years ago or before (Bellwood, 1997; O'Connell & Allen, 2004), but are still scarcely documented in Island Southeast Asia. Many caves are found in the karstic landscape of the island (mid-Miocene limestones), often yielding sedimentary fillings. Prehistoric research focused on Palawan Island was quite early: Alfred Marché, from the Paris Muséum, collected skeletal remains and material culture during 1880s. In the 1960s, the American anthropologist Robert Fox conducted excavations in the Tabon cave and found the famous Tabon Man cranial remains (Fox, 1970; Macintosh, 1978) which is now acknowledged as one of the oldest Homo sapiens found in island Southeast Asia (Dizon et al. 2002 ; Détroit et al. 2004), beside the probably old “deep-skull” recovered from the Niah cave in Borneo (see Harrisson 1975; Barker & Reynolds, 2002). The Tabon Caves (1970) monograph of Robert Fox was very preliminary and yet quite informative regarding the prehistory of Palawan as a whole. In fact, it became the “bible” of Philippine prehistory since its publication due to its “scientific content”, meaning to say , the first Radiocarbon dated series and the best stratigraphical drawing of its sediments with the corresponding lithic assemblages and human fossil remains at that time. Nevertheless, there were quite many details that prehistorians now would like to extract more from the Tabon Cave, such as the paleo- and micro- environments where the ancient people live and made their adaptations; the flora and fauna of the various periods of its occupation; the sedimentological deposition and taphonomic activites that went, etc. The National Museum of the Philippines undertook new excavations at Tabon to recheck the stratigraphy, and made more significant discoveries, including fossilized human remains. The collaborative work between the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle in Paris and the National Museum of the Philippines succeeded to describe the fossils, and direct dating assigned ages ranging from more than 16,000 to maybe c. 50,000 years to different human fossil remains (Détroit 2002; Dizon, et al. 2002; Détroit et al. 2004). Those results definitely brought the confirmation of the exceptional character of these discoveries, which allow for the first time to know what the first Southeast Asian Homo sapiens look like.

The Palaeolithic of Cagayan Valley, Northern Philippines: Its History, Past Problems and Prospects for Future Research

Wilfredo P. Ronquillo

Scientist II/ Chief, Archaeology Division National Museum of the Philippines

and

Professorial Lecturer II, Archaeological Studies Program

University of the Philippines, Diliman Campus, Q.C.

A B S T R A C T Report of a fossil bed containing rhinoceros teeth and bones and probable remains of other large mammals has been documented since 1936 almost on the Cagayan-Isabela boundary in the northern Philippines to H. Otley Beyer. This was included in his 1947 publication “Philippine Archaeology by Islands and Provinces. Cursory analyzed by von Koenigswald in 1953 the fossilized bones included those of stegodon and elephas. Mostly found on the surface associated cultural materials include cobble and flake tools made from cryptocrystalline quartz. In the 1970s archaeological explorations in Cagayan Province resulted in the identification of “kill sites”by Robert Fox and the museum teams. Subsequent excavations of key sites indicate that the distribution of the fossils and man-made stone tools were basically distributed on the surface and appeared to have been transported by both natural and cultural transformation processes. In 1976 a Pleistocene Geology team from the University of Iowa undertook the geological studies in the area. Their research confirmed a date of 500,000 B.P. through palaeomagnetism of the volcanic ash incorporated in the fossiliferous Pleistocene geological layer now known as the Awidon Mesa Formation. The Pleistocene formation showed evidence of large scale N-transforms. Full scale archaeological activities in the Palaeolithic open sites of Cagayan Valley has ceased in the last 30 years due to reasons of funding, lack of manpower and the perennial geological problems encountered. Future multi-disciplinary research in the area may still prove fruitful for the search for early man in the Philippines.