Age of the Earliest Known Hominids in Java, Indonesia

Swisher, C.C.; Curtis, Garniss H.; Jacob, Teuku; Getty, AG; Suprijo, Agus; Widiasmoro,

doi:10.1126/science.8108729

Cited by 521 publications

(196 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…The genus Homo evolved in Africa at some time ca. 2 Ma [all older contenders to Homo status are debatable (3,4)], then rapidly spread out of its natal continent to populate Eurasia for the first time (5,6). The first truly cosmopolitan species of Homo, Homo heidelbergensis, is first known from Africa at ca.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Human origins: Out of Africa

Tattersall

2009

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

116

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Our species, Homo sapiens, is highly autapomorphic (uniquely derived) among hominids in the structure of its skull and postcranial skeleton. It is also sharply distinguished from other organisms by its unique symbolic mode of cognition. The fossil and archaeological records combine to show fairly clearly that our physical and cognitive attributes both first appeared in Africa, but at different times. Essentially modern bony conformation was established in that continent by the 200 -150 Ka range (a dating in good agreement with dates for the origin of H. sapiens derived from modern molecular diversity). The event concerned was apparently shortterm because it is essentially unanticipated in the fossil record. In contrast, the first convincing stirrings of symbolic behavior are not currently detectable until (possibly well) after 100 Ka. The radical reorganization of gene expression that underwrote the distinctive physical appearance of H. sapiens was probably also responsible for the neural substrate that permits symbolic cognition. This exaptively acquired potential lay unexploited until it was ''discovered'' via a cultural stimulus, plausibly the invention of language. Modern humans appear to have definitively exited Africa to populate the rest of the globe only after both their physical and cognitive peculiarities had been acquired within that continent.Homo sapiens ͉ evolution ͉ fossil record ͉ symbolic cognition

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Human origins: Out of Africa

Tattersall

2009

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

116

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“…Movius, 1948; Beltwood, 1985; Keates, 1994) and that other mammals, including carnivores, megaherbivores, bovids, and equids dispersed between Africa and Asia without aid of Acheulean technology (Kurten, 1968; Antures, 1989; Opdyke, 1995). Likewise, hints from radiometric dating suggested that ex-African hominid sites existed in Southeast Asia much in excess of 1.0 Ma (Jacob & Curtis, 1971).Recent work in Java has confirmed not only the greatest age of 1.81 Ma for Mojokerto (Perning I), but has also shown that the main hominid bearing strata at Sangiran are all older than 1.0 Ma (Swisher et al, 1994;Swisher, 1996). Other Asian and West Asian sites have also been suggested to predate 1.0 Ma including Longuppo (China, 1.8 Ma), Dmanisi (Georgia, 1.7 Ma), and Ubeidiya (Israel, 1.3-1.4 Ma; Tchernov 1987;Huang et al, 1995).…”

mentioning

confidence: 82%

“…Recent work in Java has confirmed not only the greatest age of 1.81 Ma for Mojokerto (Perning I), but has also shown that the main hominid bearing strata at Sangiran are all older than 1.0 Ma (Swisher et al, 1994;Swisher, 1996). Other Asian and West Asian sites have also been suggested to predate 1.0 Ma including Longuppo (China, 1.8 Ma), Dmanisi (Georgia, 1.7 Ma), and Ubeidiya (Israel, 1.3-1.4 Ma; Tchernov 1987;Huang et al, 1995).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Humanity from African Naissance to Coming Millennia

Tobias¹,

Raath²,

Moggi‐Cecchi³

et al. 2001

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The first 2.5 million years of hominid history is characterized by limited dispersals similar to those of the living great apes whose home range sizes very little between years. Unlike our closest relative Pan, who are particulary vulnerable during dispersal because the distribution of their resources is highly habitat specific and predation takes a relatively higher toll than it does in r-selected animals, hominids are widely dispersed after 1.8 Ma. Hominid dispersal must have entailed either a shift in the types of resources exploited or a technological advance to ensure resource availability or both. Using data from ecology, geochronology, morphology, and paleontology we assess the initial hominid dispersal from Africa and the relationship to patterns of dispersal in nonhuman primates and large mammals of both 'widely dispersing' and 'non-dispersing' species. The dispersal rates of Plio/Pleistocene hominids differ from those of nonhuman primates and are typical of widely-dispersing large mammals. In fact, H. erectus first appears in Java almost immediately after its appearence in Africa, yet its first appearence in Java is contemporaneous with that of Colobus, Macaca, and Pongo that had already inhabited mainland Asia for millions of years. Although the timing of the first hominid dispersal pre-dates significant technological advances, the energy required by larger hominid body/brain sizes suggest a shift to exploitation of highprotein packages that, according to correlation between faunal and chronometric sequences, is itself dispersing. These data suggest that it is at the origin of H. erectus (sensu lato) that our uniquely human dispersal capabilities began to emerge and that this dispersal is not primarily due to the technological innovation of the Acheulean tradition. IntroductionThe global distribution of Homo sapiens contrasts with the restricted ranges of our closest living primate relative, Pan. Yet for some three million years after our lineages diverged, both were apparently exclusively African phenomena, as Pan remains today. These current biogeographic differences are reflected in home range (HR) sizes that are some 15 to 100 times greater in recent human huntergatherers than in Pan. (23 hectares in Pan, 330-2600 in humans; Leonard and Robertson, 2000). Although an extensive literature considers the significance of the behavioral repertoire that allows the final, relatively late, dispersal of Homo sapiens into Australasia, North and South America, and Siberia (e.g., Lindly & Clark, 1990;Roberts et al., 1991; Davidson & Noble, 1992; Jelinek, 1994; Waters et al., 1997), the origin of this difference in dispersal patterns is not well understood.The original hominid dispersal from Africa has been viewed as a largely hominid (technologically) driven rather than ecologically driven phenomenon. Such scenarios are based on the idea that widely dispersed ex-African hominids are not found before 1.0 ma (Pope, 1983) or are not found before the development of the Acheulean (Wolpoff, 1999), and thus that th...

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“…The long chronology suggests that the oldest hominin fossils are >1.5 Ma in the Sangiran dome and 1.8 Ma at Modjokerto according to 40 Ar/ 39 Ar analysis of hornblende samples (Swisher et al, 1994;Larick et al, 2001). At Sangiran, a high-resolution paleomagnetic record that documents the MatuyamaBrunhes transition (Hyodo et al, 2011), fission-track dating (Suzuki and Wikarno, 1982;Suzuki et al, 1985), faunal analysis (van den Bergh et al, 2001), and dating of tektites contradict this long chronology.…”

Section: Geochronologymentioning

confidence: 99%