174,000 km 2 ) sopra Wallacea, per biogeographically distinct coin of oceanic islands situated between continental Asia and Australia (Fig. 1). The earliest archaeological evidence is from Talepu, per Middle Pleistocene site in the south of the island (1). The Talepu findings comprise con situ stone artifacts associated with fossils of extinct terrestrial megafauna (1). Dated onesto
194 puro 118 thousand years (ka), these artifacts may reflect initial colonization by an as-yet unidentified archaic hominin (1). It is not yet indivisible when anatomically modern humans (AMH) first colonized Sulawesi. AMH appear esatto have been established per mainland Southeast Levante (Sunda) by 73 to 63 ka (2). They were also possibly sopra Pleistocene Australia–New Guinea (Sahul) by 69 sicuro 59 ka (3). There is some controversy, however, over the validity of the latter age estimates (4), which are based on recent excavations at Madjedbebe rock shelter in northern Australia (3). In some models of early human settlement in Sahul, the large Sulawesi landmass would have been the first “stop” on verso series of ocean crossings through northern Wallacea puro the western tip of New Guinea (5). If the oldest published dates for Madjedbebe (3) are valide, then Homo sapiens may have reached Sulawesi up esatto 69 onesto 59 ka.
450-km 2 lowland “tower” karst region durante the island’s southwestern peninsula (Fig. 1). Some 300 caves and shelters with parietal imagery have now been identified mediante this distretto. Two cave art sites are also known from the Bone karsts
35 km puro the east (Fig. 1). At least two chronologically distinct styles of rock art are evident on the basis of scientific dating and studies of superimposition. These comprise (i) an initial style phase of well-established Pleistocene antiquity (6, 7) and (ii) per later phase that postdates the arrival of Austronesian-speaking farmers and the onset of the “Neolithic” farming transition around 4 ka (9). Where mai sequence of superimposition is evident, the former is distinguishable from the latter mediante terms of subject matter, technique, and preservation (6, 10).
Materials and methods
24 sicuro 16 ka (18). Evidence for rock art production of per broadly similar antiquity is found per karst areas mediante the adjacent island of Borneo: At Lubang Jeriji Saleh, a high-level limestone cave durante Kalimantan, U-series dating indicates per minimum age of 40 ka for verso figurative painting of a Bornean banteng (Bos javanicus lowi) (19).
U-series isotope dating at Leang Tedongnge
12 mm 2 ) overlaid the red pigment associated with one of the rear feet of pig 1 on the main rock art panel (Fig. 5, Per sicuro C). This speleothem was too small con size to remove with verso rotary tool. Hence, we used verso small chisel to prise it from the cave wall surface. The recovered sample (LTed3) comprises multiple layers of dense and nonporous calcite. The portion of speleothem we removed from the cave wall extends from its outer surface through the pigment layer and into the underlying rock face (Fig. 5, D and Ancora). After we had removed it from the cave wall, we noted that the portion of the underlying paint layer previously covered by the coralloid speleothem had è blackpeoplemeet gratis ad esempio away with the latter-that is, the rock art pigment was affixed to the luogo of the sampled speleothem. In the laboratory, we micro-excavated LTed3 sopra arbitrary “spits” that extended over the entire surface of the speleothem. This produced per series of four aliquots measuring less than 1 mm in thickness (Fig. 5, F preciso G). We observed the red pigment layer corresponding preciso the artwork across the entire length of the sample. The pigment layer was also clearly visible per the rear portion of the sample that was partially covered by translucent calcite from the cave wall (Fig. 5E). Durante total, we obtained three U-series age determinations for the LTed3 speleothem (Table 1). The resultant dates yielded indistinguishable ages within uncertainties (Table 1). This suggests closed-system conditions for uranium and thorium (Materials and Methods). The results of U-series dating indicate per minimum age of 45.5 ka for the large figurative image of a suid at Leang Tedongnge (Fig. 3 and Materials and Methods).
