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Age and context of the oldest known hominin fossils from Flores

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.

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Figure 1: Context and chronology of the hominin fossils at Mata Menge.
Figure 2: Stone artefacts and fossils from Mata Menge.

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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.

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Authors and Affiliations

Authors

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.

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

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Extended data figures and tables

Extended Data Figure 1 Hominin fossil find-locality at Mata Menge.

a, View of Excavation 32 (trench E-32) in 2014, taken towards the north-north-west. The dip slope visible in the background is the eastern flank of the Welas Caldera, which was the source for many of the volcanic products deposited in the So’a Basin. b, trench E-32A to E viewed towards the southwest, in October 2015. c, E-32D to E-32E viewed towards the southwest. The irregular erosional upper surface of the reddish brown palaeosol (Layer III) formed the hardened bedding of a small stream. The sandy fossil-bearing Layer II infills depressions formed on this bedding surface. A sequence of mudflows (Layer I/a–f) rapidly covered the entire river bedding and its exposed banks. d, Mould of a freshwater gastropod (Cerithidea) from sandy Layer II. e, Detail of the locally developed, gradual boundary between sandy Layers II and muddy Layer I. Note the abundance of muddy rip clasts around the transition. At other places, the boundary is sharp. f, West baulk of E-32C. Large Stegodon florensis bones occur at the boundary between Layers II and I.

Extended Data Figure 2 Plan and baulk profiles of Excavation 32A-F showing distribution of finds.

The horizontal plan (lower left corner) shows the horizontal coordinates of individual fossil finds (green crosses) and stone artefacts (blue diamonds). The position of hominin fossils is indicated with red stars. In the trench baulk profiles (top and right) only the projected positions of fossil finds occurring within one meter of the baulks are plotted. All hominin fossils were recovered from the top of sandy Layer II. The basal part of the mudflow unit (Layers Ia–e) also contains fossils, stone artefacts, gastropods, and pebbles. The thick brown dotted line indicates the western margin of the ancient stream bed.

Extended Data Figure 3 Glass shard geochemistry.

ac, Selected major element compositions (weight percent FeO vs K2O, FeO vs CaO and SiO2 vs K2O) of glass shards from key rhyolitic pyroclastic density current (PDC) and airfall deposits at Mata Menge. dh, Weight percent FeO versus CaO composition of glass shards from key rhyolitic pyroclastic density current (PDC) and airfall deposits at Mata Menge (in stratigraphic sequence from youngest to oldest) compared with correlatives from adjacent So’a Basin sites. While the major element glass compositions of T-WSI, T-T and T-Pu are all geochemically indistinguishable (they are most likely from the same eruptive source) the major element data for each of the tephra consistently occupies different overlapping fields. Moreover, while subtle geochemical differences exist between T-WSI, T-T, and T-Pu, these tephra can also be readily distinguished in the field by a combination of stratigraphic position and association, as well as by morphological expression. i, j, Selected trace element compositions Sr versus Th and Zr, and km, Y versus Nb, Ce and Th of glass shards from T3 correlatives at Mata Menge, Lowo Mali and Kopowatu as well as T6 (uppermost inter-regional marker) from Mata Menge. All trace element concentrations are in ppm unless otherwise stated. The data are plotted against equivalent elemental mean and standard deviation (represented as ± 1σ error bars) reference data from potential distal tephra correlatives (that is, Youngest Toba Tuff (YTT), Middle Toba Tuff (MTT), Oldest Toba Tuff (OTT) and Unit E from ODP-758) acquired on the same instrument using the same standards and under the same analytical conditions41,42. (YTT data source: Pearce, N. J. G., Westgate, J. A. & Gatti, E., Multiple magma batches recorded in tephra deposits from the Toba complex, Sumatra. V51F-3102, AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, 14-18 December 2015). Trace element data indicate that the upper (T6) and lower (T3) inter-regional marker beds occurring at Mata Menge cannot be geochemically related to any known Toba-sourced tephra. On this basis, the eruptive sources of T6 and T3 currently remain unknown. However, this absence of eruptive source does not diminish their importance within the overall So’a Basin stratigraphy.

Extended Data Figure 4 40Ar/39Ar dating results.

a, Age probability plot for single crystal laser fusion data for hornblende from the Pu Maso ignimbrite (sample FLO-15-15; Supplementary Information Table 5); the vertical scale is a relative probability measure of a given age occurring in the sample57. We applied an outlier-rejection scheme to the main population to discard ages with normalized median absolute deviations of >1.5 (ref. 58) and these are shown as open circles. %40Ar* refers to the proportion of radiogenic 40Ar released for individual analyses. The weighted mean age of the filtered hornblende data for the Pu Maso ignimbrite is 0.81 ± 0.04 Ma (1σ; mean square of the weighted deviates (mswd) = 0.59, prob = 0.93; n = 23/29). b, An inverse isochron plot for these 23 analyses gives a statistically overlapping age of 0.78 ± 0.07 Ma (1σ; mswd = 0.6, prob. = 0.92). The 40Ar/36Ar intercept of 303 ± 10 is statistically indistinguishable from the atmospheric ratio of 298.6 ± 0.3 (ref. 59), thus supporting the more precise weighted mean age result.

Extended Data Figure 5 40Ar/39Ar dating results.

a, Age probability plot for single crystal laser fusion data for hornblende from the PGT-2 tephra (sample T XII 252-261; Supplementary Information Table 5). 40Ar* ranges from <10% to nearly 60%. The weighted mean age of the filtered hornblende data for the PGT-2 tephra is 0.65 ± 0.02 Ma (1σ; mean square of the weighted deviates (mswd) = 0.78, prob = 0.71; n = 17/24). b, An inverse isochron plot gives a statistically overlapping, but less precise, age of 0.61 ± 0.04 Ma (1σ; mswd = 1, P = 0.19).

Extended Data Figure 6 40Ar/39Ar dating results.

a, Age probability plot for single crystal laser fusion data for anorthoclase from the T6 upper inter-regional rhyolitic tephra (sample FLO15-09/2; Supplementary Information Table 5). 40Ar* ranges from 20% to nearly 100%. The weighted mean age of the filtered feldspar data for the T6 tephra is 0.51 ± 0.03 Ma (1σ; mswd = 0.20, prob = 0.94; n = 5/8). An inverse isochron plot (b) gives a statistically overlapping, but less precise, age of 0.45 ± 0.04 Ma (1σ; mswd = 0.8, P = 0.54).

Extended Data Figure 7 U-series and ESR samples and dating results.

a, b, Hominin incisor (SOA-MM6) crown and root samples (number 3543A and number 3543B, respectively) from Layer II, Mata Menge. ce, U-series laser tracks for Stegodon molar samples from Layer II. f, g, Dose response curves obtained for the two powder enamel samples from number 3541 and number 3544, respectively. Fitting was carried out with a SSE function through the pooled mean ESR intensities derived from each repeated measurement. Given the magnitude of the DE values, the correct DE value was obtained for 5 > Dmax/DE > 10 (ref. 50).

Extended Data Figure 8 Carbon and oxygen isotope analysis of dental enamel.

a, 13C and 18O values of Stegodon florensis and murine rodent tooth enamel. All but one of the δ13C ratios correspond to a C4 diet, indicating that the analysed Stegodon and murine rodents were predominantly grazers. The positive shift observed in 18O of the younger Stegodon samples (from the hominin-bearing Layer II) is more difficult to interpret with the limited data available, but could mean a distinct source of drinking water (i.e., run-off versus lacustrine) and/or warmer conditions. b, Benferroni corrected P values for a pairwise Mann–Whitney statistical analysis to test for similarity of δ13C between subsamples. c, Benferroni corrected P values for a pairwise Mann–Whitney statistical analysis to test for similarity of δ18O between subsamples; P values showing significant differences in median values are in bold.

Extended Data Figure 9 Analytical data for the Mata Menge stone technology.

a, Artefact counts and provenance, trench E-32 (artefact definitions after ref. 60). b, raw materials used to manufacture the stone tool assemblage, trench E-32. c, Platform types on flakes and modified flakes, E-32. Cortical: the blow was struck onto the cortical surface of a cobble. Single-facet: the blow was struck on a scar produced by previous reduction. Dihedral: the blow was struck on the ridge between two scars produced by previous reduction. Multifacet: the blow was struck on the surface of multiple small scars produced by previous reduction. Edge: the blow was struck on the edge of the core and a platform surface is not retained on the flake. d, Cortex coverage on the dorsal surface of complete unmodified flakes, E-32. Percent cortex coverage refers to the proportion of the dorsal surface covered in cortex. e, Artefact counts, trenches E-32 and E-23/27 (artefact definitions after ref. 60). f, Sizes of artefacts and attributes, E-32 and E-23/27. g, Raw materials used to manufacture the stone tool assemblage, E-32 and E-23/27. h, Scatterplot of complete flake sizes, E-32 (total sample size n = 68 complete flakes) and E-23/27 (n = 443). With regards to raw materials, coarse- and medium-grained materials include andesite, basalt, rhyolite, and tuff. Fine-grained materials include silicified tuff, chalcedony, and opal.

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Supplementary information

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) (PDF 2723 kb)

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). (XLS 32 kb)

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). (XLSX 95 kb)

Supplementary Table 5

40Ar/39Ar dating results for Mata Menge samples (see Supplementary Information file for full legend). (XLS 377 kb)

Supplementary Table 9

Results of the pollen and phytolith analysis, Mata Menge (see Supplementary Information file for full legend). (XLS 26 kb)

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Brumm, A., van den Bergh, G., Storey, M. et al. Age and context of the oldest known hominin fossils from Flores. Nature 534, 249–253 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature17663

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