Journal Article

Revised stratigraphy and chronology for Homo floresiensis at Liang Bua in Indonesia

Westaway, Kira E., Awe, Rokus Due, Storey, Michael, Zhao, Jian-xin, Dosseto, Anthony, Alloway, Brent V., Brumm, Adam, Meijer, Hanneke J. M., Tocheri, Matthew W., Sutikna, Thomas, Roberts, Richard G., Morley, Mike W., Li, Bo, van den Bergh, Gerrit D., Grün, Rainer, Jungers, William L., Morwood, Michael J., Saptomo, E. Wahyu, Jatmiko, Aubert, Maxime, Wasisto, Sri

2016

Overview

New excavations in Liang Bua, where the remains of the ‘Hobbit’ ( Homo floresiensis ) were discovered, show that this diminutive human species used this cave between 190,000 and 50,000 years ago, and not until as recently as 12,000 years ago as previously interpreted; modern humans have been present in Australia since around 50,000 years ago, so whether Homo floresiensis survived long enough to witness the arrival of modern humans is still an open question. An earlier date for Homo floresiensis The discovery in Liang Bua cave on the island of Flores in Indonesia of the diminutive Homo floresiensis , an archaic member of the human family commonly known as the 'Hobbit', was an archaeological sensation in 2004. A source of considerable debate was the fact that it lived in Liang Bua cave between 95,000 and 12,000 years ago, after modern humans had colonized the area (around 50,000 years ago). Thomas Sutikna and colleagues — including many of the original research team — have gone back to Liang Bua, where new excavations have exposed previously unexplored parts of the cave. They have found that the layers of sediment in the cave are not deposited evenly, and it now seems that the H. floresiensis -bearing strata are older than was thought. New radiometric dating places the H. floresiensis remains and stone artefacts to between 190,000 and 50,000 years ago. Whether H. floresiensis survived long enough to witness the arrival of modern humans is an open question. Homo floresiensis , a primitive hominin species discovered in Late Pleistocene sediments at Liang Bua (Flores, Indonesia) 1 , 2 , 3 , has generated wide interest and scientific debate. A major reason this taxon is controversial is because the H. floresiensis -bearing deposits, which include associated stone artefacts 2 , 3 , 4 and remains of other extinct endemic fauna 5 , 6 , were dated to between about 95 and 12 thousand calendar years (kyr) ago 2 , 3 , 7 . These ages suggested that H. floresiensis survived until long after modern humans reached Australia by ~50 kyr ago 8 , 9 , 10 . Here we report new stratigraphic and chronological evidence from Liang Bua that does not support the ages inferred previously for the H. floresiensis holotype (LB1), ~18 thousand calibrated radiocarbon years before present (kyr cal. bp ), or the time of last appearance of this species (about 17 or 13–11 kyr cal. bp ) 1 , 2 , 3 , 7 , 11 . Instead, the skeletal remains of H. floresiensis and the deposits containing them are dated to between about 100 and 60 kyr ago, whereas stone artefacts attributable to this species range from about 190 to 50 kyr in age. Whether H. floresiensis survived after 50 kyr ago—potentially encountering modern humans on Flores or other hominins dispersing through southeast Asia, such as Denisovans 12 , 13 —is an open question.

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing Group
• Subject: 631/158/2462 / 631/181/27 / Aluminum Silicates / Animals / Archaeology / Australia / Bones / Calibration / Caves / Chronostratigraphy / Discovery and exploration / Fossils / Geologic Sediments - analysis / Glass / Hominidae / Hominids / Homo floresiensis / Humanities and Social Sciences / Humans / Identification and classification / Indonesia / letter / Methods / multidisciplinary / Natural history / Paleontology, Stratigraphic / Pleistocene / Potassium Compounds / Quartz / Radiometric Dating / Science / Sediments / Stratigraphy / Time Factors / Uncertainty