• 2.
    et al. A new small-bodied hominin from the Late Pleistocene of Flores, Indonesia. Nature 431, 1055–1061 (2004)

  • 3.
    , , & Fission-track ages of stone tools and fossils on the east Indonesian island of Flores. Nature 392, 173–176 (1998)

  • 4.
    et al. Archaeological implications of the geology and chronology of the Soa Basin, Flores, Indonesia. Geology 29, 607–610 (2001)

  • 5.
    & . Die Steinartefakte aus der Stegodon-Fossilschicht von Mengeruda auf Flores, Indonesien. Anthropos 65, 229–247 (1970)

  • 6.
    & Die Oberflächenfunde aus dem Fossilgebiet von Mengeruda und Olabula auf Flores, Indonesien. Anthropos 65, 530–546 (1970)

  • 7.
    et al. Middle Pleistocene faunal turn-over and colonisation of Flores (Indonesia) by Homo erectus. C. R. Acad. Sci. 319, 1255–1262 (1994)

  • 8.
    et al. Stone artefacts from the 1994 excavation at Mata Menge, West Central Flores, Indonesia. Aust. Archaeol . 44, 26–34 (1997)

  • 9.
    The Late Neogene Elephantoid-Bearing Faunas of Indonesia and their Palaeozoogeographic Implications. A Study of the Terrestrial Faunal Succession of Sulawesi, Flores and Java, including Evidence for Early Hominid Dispersal East of Wallace’s Line (Scripta Geologica 117, Nationaal Natuurhistorisch Museum, 1997)

  • 10.
    et al. Did Homo erectus reach the island of Flores? Bull. Indo. Pac. Pre. Hi. 14, 27–36 (1996)

  • 11.
    et al. Archaeological and palaeontological research in central Flores, east Indonesia: results of fieldwork 1997–98. Antiquity 73, 273–286 (1999)

  • 12.
    & in Pleistocene Geology, Palaeontology and Archaeology of the Soa Basin, Central Flores, Indonesia (eds , & ) 1–18 (Spec. Publ. 36, Geological Survey Institute, 2009)

  • 13.
    et al. Early stone technology on Flores and its implications for Homo floresiensis. Nature 441, 624–628 (2006)

  • 14.
    et al. Hominins on Flores, Indonesia, by one million years ago. Nature 464, 748–752 (2010)

  • 15.
    The giant rat of Flores and its relatives east of Borneo and Bali. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 169, 67–176 (1981)

  • 16.
    et al. Taphonomy of Stegodon florensis remains from the early Middle Pleistocene archaeological site Mata Menge, Flores, Indonesia. Abstract book of the VIth International Conference on Mammoths and their relatives. S.A.S.G., Special Volume 102, 207–208 (2014)

  • 17.
    et al. The youngest Stegodon remains in Southeast Asia from the Late Pleistocene archaeological site Liang Bua, Flores, Indonesia. Quat. Int. 182, 16–48 (2008)

  • 18.
    et al. Avian remains from the Early/Middle Pleistocene of the So’a Basin, central Flores, Indonesia, and their palaeoenvironmental significance. Palaeogeogr. Palaeocl. 440, 161–171 (2015)

  • 19.
    Artifact abrasion, fluvial processes, and ‘‘living floors’’ from the Early Paleolithic site of ’Ubeidiya (Jordan Valley, Israel). Geoarchaeology 14, 191–207 (1999)

  • 20.
    The design space of stone flaking: implications for cognitive evolution. World Archaeol. 43, 702–715 (2011)

  • 21.
    et al. Stone technology at the Middle Pleistocene site of Mata Menge, Flores, Indonesia. J. Arch. Sci. 37, 451–473 (2010)

  • 22.
    & Stone artifacts and hominins in island Southeast Asia: new insights from Flores, eastern Indonesia. J. Hum. Evol. 52, 85–102 (2007)

  • 23.
    & Homo floresiensis and the African Oldowan in Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Oldowan (eds & ) 61–69 (Springer, 2009)

  • 24.
    et al. Continuities in stone flaking technology at Liang Bua, Flores, Indonesia. J. Hum. Evol. 57, 503–526 (2009)

  • 25.
    et al. Archaeology and age of a new hominin from Flores in eastern Indonesia. Nature 431, 1087–1091 (2004)

  • 26.
    et al. Revised stratigraphy and chronology for Homo floresiensis at Liang Bua in Indonesia. Nature 532, 366–369 (2016)

  • 27.
    & Biface distributions and the Movius Line: a Southeast Asian perspective. Aust. Archaeol . 74, 32–46 (2012)

  • 28.
    et al. The characteristics and chronology of the earliest Acheulean at Konso, Ethiopia. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 110, 1584–1591 (2013)

  • 29.
    Archaeology and cognitive evolution. Behav. Brain Sci. 25, 389–402 (2002)

  • 30.
    The elements of design form in Acheulian bifaces: modes, modalities, rules and language, in Axe Age: Acheulian Tool-making From Quarry to Discard (eds & ) 203–221 (Equinox, 2006)

  • 31.
    Isothermal plateau fission-track ages of hydrated glass shards from silicic tephra beds. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 95, 226–234 (1989)

  • 32.
    Fission track dating of volcanic glass, in Encyclopedia of Scientific Dating Methods (eds. & ) 1–60 (Springer Dordrecht, 2014)

  • 33.
    , & Fission-track dating, in The Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science (ed. ) 643–662 (Elsevier, 2013)

  • 34.
    , & New ages for the climactic eruptions of Yellowstone: single-crystal 40Ar/39Ar dating identifies contamination. Geology 26, 343–346 (1998)

  • 35.
    & The correlation between reduction in fission-track diameter and areal track density in volcanic glass shards and its application in dating tephra beds. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 131, 289–299 (1995)

  • 36.
    et al. 40Ar/39Ar laser probe dating of the Central European tektite-producing impact event. Meteorit. Planet. Sci. 38, 887–893 (2003)

  • 37.
    et al. New constraints on ages of glasses proposed as reference materials for fission-track dating. Geostand. Geoanal. Res. 31, 105–124 (2007)

  • 38.
    et al. Individual glass shard trace element analyses confirm that all known Toba tephra reported from India is from the c. 75-ka Youngest Toba eruption. Journ. Quat. Sci . 29, 729–734 (2014)

  • 39.
    & Quaternary tephrochronology of the Toba tuffs and its significance with respect to archaeological studies in peninsular India, in Issues in Indian Archaeology: Prehistory to Early History (ed. ) (Primus Books New Delhi, in press)

  • 40.
    et al. A compilation of new and published major and trace element data for NIST SRM 610 and NIST SRM 612 glass reference materials. Geost. Newslet . 21, 115–144 (1997)

  • 41.
    et al. Trace-element analysis by LA-ICP-MS: the quest for comprehensive chemical characterisation of single sub-10 μm volcanic glass shards. Quat. Int. 246, 57–81 (2011)

  • 42.
    et al. MPI-DING reference glasses for in-situ microanalysis: new reference values for element concentrations and isotope ratios. Geochem. Geophys. Geosys . 7, Q02008 (2006)

  • 43.
    et al. Alder Creek sandidine (ACs-2): a Quaternary 40Ar/39Ar dating standard tied to the Cobb Mountain geomagnetic event. Chem. Geol. 218, 315–338 (2005)

  • 44.
    , , & Age intercalibration of 40Ar/39Ar sanidine and chemically distinct U/Pb zircon populations from the Alder Creek Rhyolite Quaternary geochronology standard. Chem. Geol. 345, 87–98 (2013)

  • 45.
    , & Astronomically calibrated 40Ar/39Ar age for the Toba supereruption and global synchronization of late Quaternary records. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 109, 18684–18688 (2012)

  • 46.
    et al. Laser ablation U-series analysis of fossil bones and teeth. Palaeogeogr. Palaeocl . 416, 150–167 (2014)

  • 47.
    et al. The challenge of dating Early Pleistocene fossil teeth by the combined uranium series–electron spin resonance method: the Venta Micena palaeontological site (Orce, Spain). J. Quaternary Sci. 26, 603–615 (2011)

  • 48.
    Methods of dose determination using ESR spectra of tooth enamel. Radiat. Meas. 32, 767–772 (2000)

  • 49.
    & The assessment of errors in past radiation doses extrapolated from ESR/TL dose-response data. Radiat. Meas. 23, 307–315 (1994)

  • 50.
    & Are published ESR dose assessments on fossil tooth enamel reliable? Quat. Geochronol. 31, 19–27 (2016)

  • 51.
    & An alpha irradiator for ESR dating. Ancient TL 12, 35–38 (1994)

  • 52.
    Beta-gradient Isochrons Using Electron Paramagnetic Resonance: Towards a New Dating Method in Archaeology. MSc thesis, McMaster University ( 1999)

  • 53.
    & Dose-rate conversion factors: update. Ancient TL 16, 37–50 (1998)

  • 54.
    The DATA program for the calculation of ESR age estimates on tooth enamel. Quat. Geochronol. 4, 231–232 (2009)

  • 55.
    , & ESR dating of tooth enamel: coupled correction for U-uptake and U-series disequilibrium. Nucl. Tracks Radiat. Meas. 14, 237–241 (1988)

  • 56.
    Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) dating of fossil tooth enamel, in Encyclopedia of Scientific Dating Methods (eds. & ) 1–11 (Springer Dordrecht, 2015)

  • 57.
    & Age-probability spectra for examination of single-crystal 40Ar/39Ar dating results: examples from Olorgesailie, southern Kenya Rift. Quat. Int. 13–14, 47–53 (1992)

  • 58.
    , & Improving isochron calculations with robust statistics and the bootstrap. Chem. Geol. 185, 191–204 (2002)

  • 59.
    et al. A redetermination of the isotopic abundances of atmospheric Ar. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 70, 4507–4512 (2006)

  • 60.
    et al. Continuities in stone flaking technology at Liang Bua, Flores, Indonesia. J. Hum. Evol. 57, 503–526 (2009)

    • Acknowledgements

    The So’a Basin project was funded by an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery grant (DP1093342) awarded to M.J.M. and A.B., and directed by M.J.M. (2010–2013) and G.v.d.B. (2013–2015). The Geological Survey Institute (GSI) of Bandung, Indonesia, provided additional financial and technical support. G.v.d.B.’s research was also supported by ARC Future Fellowship FT100100384. M.W.M. was funded by ARC grant DP1096558. Quadlab is funded by a grant to M.S. from the Villum Foundation. M.D. received funding from a Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship of the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013), awarded under REA Grant Agreement No. PIOF-GA-2013-626474. B.V.A. received funding from a Victoria University of Wellington Science Faculty Research Grant (201255). For permission to undertake this research, we thank the Indonesian State Ministry of Research and Technology (RISTEK), the former Heads of the Geological Agency (R. Sukyiar and Surono), the successive directors of the GSI (S. Permanandewi, Y. Kusumahbrata (formerly) and A. Pribadi) and Bandung’s Geology Museum (S. Baskoro and O. Abdurahman). Local research permissions were issued by the provincial government of East Nusa Tenggara at Kupang, and the Ngada and Nage Keo administrations. We also thank the Ngada Tourism and Culture and Education Departments for their ongoing support. In addition, we acknowledge support and advice provided by I. Setiadi, D. Pribadi, and Suyono (GSI), the Pusat Penelitian Arkeologi Nasional (ARKENAS) in Jakarta, and J. T. Solo of the provincial Culture and Tourism office in Kupang. Scientific and technical personnel involved in the fieldwork included: T. Suryana, S. Sonjaya, H. Oktariana, I. Sutisna, A. Rahman, S. Bronto, E. Sukandar, A. Gunawan, Widji, A. T. Hascaryo, Jatmiko, S. Wasisto, R. A. Due, S. Hayes, Y. Perston, B. Pillans, K. Grant, M. Marsh, D. McGahan, A. M. Saiful, B. Burhan, L. Siagian, D. Susanti, P. D. Moi, M. Tocheri, A. R. Chivas, and A. Cahyana. F. Wesselingh identified gastropod remains. Sidarto (GSI) provided digital elevation model data used in Fig. 1b. Geodetic surveys and measurements were conducted by E. E. Laksmana, A. Rahmadi, Y. Sofyan, and G. Hazell. J. Noblett constructed the Mata Menge 3D model, based on drone aerial photographs taken by K. Riza, T. P. Ertanto, and M. Faizal. The research team was supported by ~100 excavators and support personnel from the Ngada and Nage Keo districts. We thank L. Kinsley, Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, for assistance with mass spectrometric measurements.

    Author information

      • Adam Brumm
      • , Gerrit D. van den Bergh
      •  & Iwan Kurniawan
      These authors contributed equally to this work.
      • Michael J. Morwood
      Deceased.

    Affiliations

    1. Research Centre of Human Evolution, Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University, Nathan, Queensland 4111, Australia

      • Adam Brumm
      •  & Rainer Grün

    2. School of Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales 2522, Australia

      • Adam Brumm

    3. Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales 2522, Australia

      • Gerrit D. van den Bergh
      • , Brent V. Alloway
      • , Ruly Setiawan
      • , Dida Yurnaldi
      • , Mika R. Puspaningrum
      • , Unggul P. Wibowo
      • , Thomas Sutikna
      •  & Michael J. Morwood

    4. Quadlab, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, DK-1350 Copenhagen, Denmark

      • Michael Storey

    5. Geology Museum, Bandung 40122, Indonesia

      • Iwan Kurniawan
      • , Erick Setiyabudi
      • , Unggul P. Wibowo
      • , Halmi Insani
      • , Indra Sutisna
      •  & Fachroel Aziz

    6. School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, Victoria University, Wellington 6012, New Zealand

      • Brent V. Alloway

    7. Center for Geological Survey, Geological Agency, Bandung 40122, Indonesia

      • Ruly Setiawan
      •  & Dida Yurnaldi

    8. Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 2601, Australia

      • Rainer Grün

    9. Stone Tools and Cognition Hub, Archaeology, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales 2351, Australia

      • Mark W. Moore

    10. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3B1, Canada

      • John A. Westgate

    11. Department of Geography & Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth SY23 3DB, UK

      • Nick J. G. Pearce

    12. Geochronology, Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Paseo de Atapuerca, 3, 09002-Burgos, Spain

      • Mathieu Duval

    13. University Museum of Bergen, University of Bergen, 5007 Bergen, Norway

      • Hanneke J. M. Meijer

    14. Pusat Penelitian Arkeologi Nasional (ARKENAS), Jakarta 12510, Indonesia

      • Thomas Sutikna

    15. Cluster Earth & Climate, Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands

      • Sander van der Kaars

    16. School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia

      • Sander van der Kaars

    17. School of Geosciences, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9AD, UK

      • Stephanie Flude

    Contributions

    A.B., G.D.v.d.B., I.K. and M.J.M. directed the Mata Menge excavations. M.S., B.V.A. and R.S. collected tephra samples and M.S. undertook 40Ar/39Ar dating. G.D.v.d.B. described the site stratigraphy, with R.S., D.Y., S.F. and B.V.A. ITPFT-dating of T3 was jointly conducted by J.A.W. and B.V.A., while EMP analyses of all So’a Basin tephra were conducted by B.V.A. and R.S. Comparative trace element analyses of interregional tephra markers were jointly undertaken by J.A.W., N.J.G.P. and B.V.A. E.S., F.A. and T.S. oversaw key aspects of the field project. M.W.M. analysed the stone assemblage, and G.D.v.d.B., H.I., I.S., M.R.P., U.P.W. and H.J.M.M. analysed the fauna. M.R.P. conducted isotopic analyses, R.G. and M.D. undertook U/Th and ESR analyses of faunal remains, and S.v.d.K. carried out the palynological analysis. A.B. and G.D.v.d.B. prepared the manuscript, with contributions from other authors.

    Competing interests

    The authors declare no competing financial interests.

    Corresponding authors

    Correspondence to Adam Brumm or Gerrit D. van den Bergh.

    Extended data

    Extended data figures

    1. 1.

      Hominin fossil find-locality at Mata Menge.

    2. 2.

      Plan and baulk profiles of Excavation 32A-F showing distribution of finds.

    3. 3.

      Glass shard geochemistry.

    4. 4.

      40Ar/39Ar dating results.

    5. 5.

      40Ar/39Ar dating results.

    6. 6.

      40Ar/39Ar dating results.

    7. 7.

      U-series and ESR samples and dating results.

    8. 8.

      Carbon and oxygen isotope analysis of dental enamel.

    9. 9.

      Analytical data for the Mata Menge stone technology.

    Supplementary information

    PDF files

    1. 1.

      Supplementary Information

      This file contains Supplementary Text and Data, Supplementary References, Supplementary Tables 1,3 and 6-8 and legends for Supplementary Tables 1-9 (see separate excel files for Supplementary Tables 2,4, 5 and 9)

    Excel files

    1. 1.

      Supplementary Table 2

      Glass shard isothermal plateau fission-track (ITPFT) ages of T3 at both the Kopowatu (UT2382) and Lowo Mali (UT2383) sites within the So’a Basin (see Supplementary Information file for full legend).
    2. 2.

      Supplementary Table 4

      Glass shard trace element analyses of T3 correlatives from Mata Menge, Lowo Mali and Kopowatu, and T6 from Mata Menge (see Supplementary Information file for full legend).
    3. 3.

      Supplementary Table 5

      40Ar/39Ar dating results for Mata Menge samples (see Supplementary Information file for full legend).
    4. 4.

      Supplementary Table 9

      Results of the pollen and phytolith analysis, Mata Menge (see Supplementary Information file for full legend).