Early stone technology on Flores and its implications for Homo floresiensis.

Full Abstract

In the Soa Basin of central Flores, eastern Indonesia, stratified archaeological sites, including Mata Menge, Boa Lesa and Kobatuwa (Fig. 1), contain stone artefacts associated with the fossilized remains of Stegodon florensis, Komodo dragon, rat and various other taxa. These sites have been dated to 840-700 kyr bp (thousand years before present). The authenticity of the Soa Basin artefacts and their provenance have been demonstrated by previous work, but to quell lingering doubts, here we describe the context, attributes and production modes of 507 artefacts excavated at Mata Menge. We also note specific similarities, and apparent technological continuity, between the Mata Menge stone artefacts and those excavated from Late Pleistocene levels at Liang Bua cave, 50 km to the west. The latter artefacts, dated to between 95-74 and 12 kyr ago, are associated with the remains of a dwarfed descendent of S. florensis, Komodo dragon, rat and a small-bodied hominin species, Homo floresiensis, which had a brain size of about 400 cubic centimetres. The Mata Menge evidence negates claims that stone artefacts associated with H. floresiensis are so complex that they must have been made by modern humans (Homo sapiens).

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Author information

Author/s: Brumm, Adam (A); Aziz, Fachroel (F); van den Bergh, Gert D (GD); Morwood, Michael J (MJ); Moore, Mark W (MW); Kurniawan, Iwan (I); Hobbs, Douglas R (DR); Fullagar, Richard (R);

Affiliation: Department of Archaeology and Natural History, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 0200, Australia. adam.brumm(-atsign-)anu.edu.au

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Historical Article; Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Nature (Nature), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-Jun; vol 441 (issue 7093) : pp 624-8

Dates: Created 2006/06/01; Completed 2006/07/07; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 16738657, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Animals
Archaeology
Evolution
Fossils
History, Ancient
Hominidae - anatomy & histology; classification; physiology

Humans
Indonesia
Phylogeny
Rats
Technology - history
Time Factors

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