Age and context of the oldest known hominin fossils from Flores

• Adam Brumm
• , Gerrit D. van den Bergh
• , Michael Storey
• , Iwan Kurniawan
• , Brent V. Alloway
• , Ruly Setiawan
• , Erick Setiyabudi
• , Rainer Grün
• , Mark W. Moore
• , Dida Yurnaldi
• , Mika R. Puspaningrum
• , Unggul P. Wibowo
• , Halmi Insani
• , Indra Sutisna
• , John A. Westgate
• , Nick J. G. Pearce
• , Mathieu Duval
• , Hanneke J. M. Meijer
• , Fachroel Aziz
• , Thomas Sutikna
• , Sander van der Kaars
• , Stephanie Flude
•  & Michael J. Morwood

Nature volume 534, pages 249–253 (09 June 2016) | Download Citation

Abstract

Recent excavations at the early Middle Pleistocene site of Mata Menge in the So’a Basin of central Flores, Indonesia, have yielded hominin fossils¹ attributed to a population ancestral to Late Pleistocene Homo floresiensis². Here we describe the age and context of the Mata Menge hominin specimens and associated archaeological findings.

The fluvial sandstone layer from which the in situ fossils were excavated in 2014 was deposited in a small valley stream around 700 thousand years ago, as indicated by ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar and fission track dates on stratigraphically bracketing volcanic ash and pyroclastic density current deposits, in combination with coupled uranium-series and electron spin resonance dating of fossil teeth. 

Palaeoenvironmental data indicate a relatively dry climate in the So’a Basin during the early Middle Pleistocene, while various lines of evidence suggest the hominins inhabited a savannah-like open grassland habitat with a wetland component. The hominin fossils occur alongside the remains of an insular fauna and a simple stone technology that is markedly similar to that associated with Late Pleistocene H. floresiensis.