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An early modern human presence in Sumatra 73,000-63,000 years ago
Westaway K.E., Louys J., Awe R.D., Morwood M.J., Price G.J., Zhao J.-X., Aubert M., Joannes-Boyau R., Smith T.M., Skinner M.M., Compton T., Bailey R.M., Van Den Bergh G.D., De Vos J., Pike A.W.G., Stringer C., Saptomo E.W., Rizal Y., Zaim J., Santoso W.D., Trihascaryo A., Kinsley L., Sulistyanto B.
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_separator css=”.vc_custom_1624529070653{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner layout=”boxed”][vc_column_inner width=”3/4″ css=”.vc_custom_1624695412187{border-right-width: 1px !important;border-right-color: #dddddd !important;border-right-style: solid !important;border-radius: 1px !important;}”][vc_empty_space][megatron_heading title=”Abstract” size=”size-sm” text_align=”text-left”][vc_column_text]© 2017 Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature.Genetic evidence for anatomically modern humans (AMH) out of Africa before 75 thousand years ago (ka) and in island southeast Asia (ISEA) before 60 ka (93-61 ka) predates accepted archaeological records of occupation in the region. Claims that AMH arrived in ISEA before 60 ka (ref. 4) have been supported only by equivocal or non-skeletal evidence. AMH evidence from this period is rare and lacks robust chronologies owing to a lack of direct dating applications, poor preservation and/or excavation strategies and questionable taxonomic identifications. Lida Ajer is a Sumatran Pleistocene cave with a rich rainforest fauna associated with fossil human teeth. The importance of the site is unclear owing to unsupported taxonomic identification of these fossils and uncertainties regarding the age of the deposit, therefore it is rarely considered in models of human dispersal. Here we reinvestigate Lida Ajer to identify the teeth confidently and establish a robust chronology using an integrated dating approach. Using enamel-dentine junction morphology, enamel thickness and comparative morphology, we show that the teeth are unequivocally AMH. Luminescence and uranium-series techniques applied to bone-bearing sediments and speleothems, and coupled uranium-series and electron spin resonance dating of mammalian teeth, place modern humans in Sumatra between 73 and 63 ka. This age is consistent with biostratigraphic estimations, palaeoclimate and sea-level reconstructions, and genetic evidence for a pre-60 ka arrival of AMH into ISEA. Lida Ajer represents, to our knowledge, the earliest evidence of rainforest occupation by AMH, and underscores the importance of reassessing the timing and environmental context of the dispersal of modern humans out of Africa.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_separator css=”.vc_custom_1624528584150{padding-top: 25px !important;padding-bottom: 25px !important;}”][vc_empty_space][megatron_heading title=”Author keywords” size=”size-sm” text_align=”text-left”][vc_column_text]Caves,Electron Spin Resonance Spectroscopy,Fossils,History, Ancient,Human Migration,Humans,Indonesia,Luminescence,Rainforest,Tooth,Uranium[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_separator css=”.vc_custom_1624528584150{padding-top: 25px !important;padding-bottom: 25px !important;}”][vc_empty_space][megatron_heading title=”Indexed keywords” size=”size-sm” text_align=”text-left”][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_separator css=”.vc_custom_1624528584150{padding-top: 25px !important;padding-bottom: 25px !important;}”][vc_empty_space][megatron_heading title=”Funding details” size=”size-sm” text_align=”text-left”][vc_column_text]Acknowledgements This research was funded by Australian Research Council Discovery grants (DP1093049, DP140100919, and DP120101752 to K.E.W., R.J.-B., and G.J.P. et al., respectively) and a Leaky Foundation grant and Research School of Asia and the Pacific Grant Development Support grant to J.L. C.S.’s research is supported by the Human Origins Research Fund and the Calleva Foundation. We acknowledge the Max Planck Society for funding micro-CT scanning of the teeth, A. Olejnicak and J. P. Zermeno for assistance with section preparation, and support provided by the Centre from Archaeology in Padang Sumatra and ARKENAS in Jakarta and for allowing access to the site and four fossil faunal teeth for dating. We thank the Department of Geology, Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, The Netherlands for providing access to Dubois’s fieldnote book, excavation details, the two modern human teeth for scanning and the Pongo tooth for dating, and we thank C. Bronk Ramsey for assistance with age modelling.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_separator css=”.vc_custom_1624528584150{padding-top: 25px !important;padding-bottom: 25px !important;}”][vc_empty_space][megatron_heading title=”DOI” size=”size-sm” text_align=”text-left”][vc_column_text]https://doi.org/10.1038/nature23452[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_column_text]Widget Plumx[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator css=”.vc_custom_1624528584150{padding-top: 25px !important;padding-bottom: 25px !important;}”][/vc_column][/vc_row]