The Indonesian archipelago is host to some of the earliest known rock art in the world1-5. Previously, secure Pleistocene dates were reported for figurative cave art and stencils of human hands in two areas in Indonesia-the Maros-Pangkep karsts in the southwestern peninsula of the island of Sulawesi1,3-5 and the Sangkulirang-Mangkalihat region of eastern Kalimantan, Borneo2. Here we describe a series of early dated rock art motifs from the southeastern portion of Sulawesi. Among this assemblage of Pleistocene (and possibly more recent) motifs, laser-ablation U-series (LA-U-series) dating of calcite overlying a hand stencil from Liang Metanduno on Muna Island yielded a U-series date of 71.6 ± 3.8 thousand years ago (ka), providing a minimum-age constraint of 67.8 ka for the underlying motif. The Muna minimum (67.8 ± 3.8 ka) exceeds the published minimum for rock art in Maros-Pangkep by 16.6 thousand years (kyr) (ref. 5) and is 1.1 kyr greater than the published minimum for a hand stencil from Spain attributed to Neanderthals6, which until now represented the oldest demonstrated minimum-age constraint for cave art worldwide. Moreover, the presence of this extremely old art in Sulawesi suggests that the initial peopling of Sahul about 65 ka7 involved maritime journeys between Borneo and Papua, a region that remains poorly explored from an archaeological perspective.

Prior research has indicated that the Indonesian island of Sulawesi was host to archaic hominins of unknown taxonomic affinity from at least 1.04 million years ago (Ma), while members of our own species (Homo sapiens) were probably established on this Wallacean landmass from at least 51.2 thousand years ago (ka), and possibly as early as 65 ka. Despite this, the paucity of well-dated Pleistocene archaeological sites from Sulawesi means that very little has been known about the pattern and timing of early human occupation of the island, including whether there is any evidence for overlap between archaic hominins and modern humans, and when and how the former went extinct. Here, we report the results of multiple seasons of deep-trench excavations at Leang Bulu Bettue, a limestone cave rock-shelter complex in the Maros-Pangkep karst region of South Sulawesi. Leang Bulu Bettue is the only site presently known on the island with an archaeological record ranging in age from the Middle to Late Pleistocene to late Holocene periods. Investigations at this site since 2013 have revealed an extensive sequence of stratified deposits down to a depth of about 8 m below the surface. Notably, there is evidence for animal butchery and stone artefact production including a stone 'pick' at around 132.3-208.4 ka followed by a major shift in human cultural activity during the Late Pleistocene. By around 40 ka, an earlier occupation phase (Phase I) characterised by a straightforward cobble-based core and flake technology and faunal assemblages dominated by extant dwarf bovids (Bubalus sp., anoas), but including now-extinct proboscideans, had been replaced by an entirely new occupation phase (Phase II) with a markedly distinct archaeological signature, including the first evidence for artistic expression and symbolic culture. We consider the implications of this behavioural disconformity for our understanding of the history of humans on Sulawesi, including the possibility it reflects the replacement of archaic hominins by modern humans.

The dispersal of archaic hominins beyond mainland Southeast Asia (Sunda)1 represents the earliest evidence for humans crossing ocean barriers to reach isolated landmasses2-4. Previously, the oldest indication of hominins in Wallacea, the oceanic island zone east of Sunda, comprised flaked stone artefacts deposited at least 1.02 ± 0.02 million years ago (Ma) at Wolo Sege on Flores5. Early hominins were also established on the oceanic island of Luzon (Philippines), as indicated by both stone artefacts and cut marks on faunal remains dating to between 777 and 631 thousand years ago (ka) at Kalinga6. Moreover, fossils of extinct, small-bodied hominins occur on Flores (Homo floresiensis)7-12 and Luzon (Homo luzonensis)13. On Sulawesi, the largest Wallacean island, previous excavations revealed stone artefacts with a minimum age of 194 ka at the open site of Talepu in the Walanae Depression14, long preceding the earliest known presence of modern humans (Homo sapiens) in the region (73-63 ka in Sunda)15. Here we show that stone artefacts also occur at the nearby site of Calio in fossiliferous layers dated to at least 1.04 Ma and possibly up to 1.48 Ma, using palaeomagnetic dating of sedimentary rocks and coupled Uranium-series (U-series) and electron-spin resonance (US-ESR) dating of fossil teeth. The discovery of Early Pleistocene artefacts at Calio suggests that Sulawesi was populated by hominins at around the same time as Flores, if not earlier.

AbstractUntil recent years, most western scholars had overlooked the existence of rock art in Indonesia or viewed it as being of limited antiquity and of largely regional-interest only. In 2014, however, an Indonesian-Australian team announced the results of a program of Uranium-series (U-series) dating of rock art in Maros-Pangkep, Sulawesi, including a surprisingly early antiquity of at least 39.9 ka for a hand stencil and 35.4 ka for a figurative animal painting. U-series dating more recently has yielded minimum ages for figurative animal painting of 40 ka in Kalimantan and 45.5 ka in Maros-Pangkep, with the latter presently constituting the world’s oldest dated example of representational art. Indonesia’s previously little-known rock art has been propelled to the global stage. Here, we examine how scholars are grappling with the implications of ‘ice age art’ in Indonesia and its integration, for the first time, into models of early human artistic culture in other parts of the world. In particular, we discuss the seemingly close stylistic parallels between Late Pleistocene figurative animal art in Indonesia and early representational depictions of animals in the Arnhem Land and Kimberley regions of northern Australia. We consider scenarios that could explain these similarities, including the idea that a single figurative rock art style spread into Australia from Wallacea during the early movements of our species in the region.

Previous dating research indicated that the Indonesian island of Sulawesi is host to some of the oldest known rock art1-3. That work was based on solution uranium-series (U-series) analysis of calcite deposits overlying rock art in the limestone caves of Maros-Pangkep, South Sulawesi1-3. Here we use a novel application of this approach-laser-ablation U-series imaging-to re-date some of the earliest cave art in this karst area and to determine the age of stylistically similar motifs at other Maros-Pangkep sites. This method provides enhanced spatial accuracy, resulting in older minimum ages for previously dated art. We show that a hunting scene from Leang Bulu' Sipong 4, which was originally dated using the previous approach to a minimum of 43,900 thousand years ago (ka)3, has a minimum age of 50.2 +/- 2.2 ka, and so is at least 4,040 years older than thought. Using the imaging approach, we also assign a minimum age of 53.5 +/- 2.3 ka to a newly described cave art scene at Leang Karampuang. Painted at least 51,200 years ago, this narrative composition, which depicts human-like figures interacting with a pig, is now the earliest known surviving example of representational art, and visual storytelling, in the world3. Our findings show that figurative portrayals of anthropomorphic figures and animals have a deeper origin in the history of modern human (Homo sapiens) image-making than recognized to date, as does their representation in composed scenes. A cave art scene at Leang Karampuang, Indonesia, dated to at least 51,200 years ago using laser-ablation uranium-series imaging, depicts human-like figures interacting with a pig.

Cultural objects composed of composite materials with differing physical properties are often differentially preserved in archaeological records favouring those materials less susceptible to taphonomic processes. Using microscopically observed wear patterns to decipher a model of socioeconomic roles for composite beaded objects, this study examines the rich marine shell bead assemblage excavated from Liang Jon in East Kalimantan, Borneo. Assessment of this 16,700-year sequence provides a unique context for discussing collection, transport, manufacture, and use of marine shell beads; spanning the biogeographical change associated with sea level rise 11,700 years ago creating the island of Borneo. Quantifying differences in bead wear patterning and distribution has revealed changes across 11,000 years of human occupation-detail seldom exposed in Island South East Asian archaeology. Results demonstrate marine species belonging to the families Nassariidae and Cypraeidae were targeted for the manufacture of beads. Whole shells and removed dorsa indicate some onsite manufacture occurred, while patterns of wear and residues including pigments, suggest most beads originated from different varieties of composite objects brought to the site and maintained in different contexts of daily life. Our model reveals a novel picture of Holocene social complexity broadly associated with dated rock art, providing a unique link between parts of the rich archaeological record at the Liang Jon, circumventing popular modes of ethnographic analogy less appropriate for this region.

This paper presents preliminary results from the 2019 excavations at Walufeni Cave, at the eastern end of the Great Papuan Plateau (GPP) in western Papua New Guinea. Preliminary dating and analysis of the unfinished excavations at Walufeni Cave span the Holocene and probably continue into the Late Pleistocene, confirming the presence of people on the Plateau from at least the Early Holocene and potentially much earlier. The data presented here offer a site-specific model of early intensive site use from at least 10,000 years ago, then ephemeral use, followed by a sustained Late Holocene occupation. Although there are significant changes in the quantity of material discard over time, there is little evidence for significant change in the subsistence base or technology, reflecting a degree of relative homogeneity until the Late Holocene, when we see the introduction of pig, a change of focus in the plant economy and the presence of marine shell from the southern coast.

Development of projectile hunting tools remains a significant tenant associated with modern humans' adaptive and migratory success. Technological innovations which accompanied the human odyssey between the now submerged ice-age shelves of Sunda and Sahul (the first major sea crossings by our species) are amongst the most decisive topics of human evolution today. With recent discoveries affirming the Indonesian archipelago's importance as a hub for these studies, technological records remain essential to reveal details of early human life across this strategic region. One such adaption, projectile technology, may appear quintessentially an early human technology, although this review shows projectile tools are poorly documented across Island South East Asia (ISEA), prior to the onset of major climatic change at the close of the last ice-age. Records of hunting and subsistence related to projectile technology, include flaked stone and osseous tools, rock art, and historical records – each reviewed here, to produce a vanguard methodological approach for identification of projectile tools in the early archaeological records of ISEA. Traceology backed by empirical data and contextualised within tool life histories, are found to be of dire need to advance the archaeological understanding of technological adaptations. Methodological advances elsewhere, outlay the latest techniques in recognising projectile tools, here adapted to the unique and globally relevant study area, spanning the extant lands and islands of Eastern Sunda, to Sahul.

Abstract The prevailing view regarding the evolution of medicine is that the emergence of agricultural societies around 10,000 years ago (the ‘Neolithic Revolution’) gave rise to a host of health problems that were previously unknown among non-sedentary foraging populations, stimulating the first major innovations in prehistoric medico-socio-cultural practices1,2. Such changes included the development of more advanced surgical procedures, with the oldest known indication of an ‘operation’ formerly held to consist of a farmer with a surgically amputated arm from a Neolithic site in France, dating to around 7,000 years ago3. This accepted case of amputation would have required comprehensive knowledge of human anatomy and considerable technical skill and has thus been viewed as the earliest evidence in world history for a complex medical act3. Here, however, we report the discovery of skeletal remains from Borneo of a young individual who had their lower left leg surgically amputated, probably as a child, at least 31,000 years ago. The individual survived the surgical procedure, living for at least another six to nine years before intentional burial within Liang Tebo cave—located in East Kalimantan, in a limestone karst area that hosts some of the world’s earliest dated rock art4. This unexpectedly early evidence for successful limb amputation implies that modern human foraging groups had developed sophisticated medical knowledge and skills long before the Neolithic farming transition.

Correction to: Chapter 6 in: E. Ch’ng et al. (eds.), Visual Heritage: Digital Approaches in Heritage Science, Springer Series on Cultural Computing, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77028-0_6

Recent archaeological excavations at Liang Jon, a limestone rockshelter in the East Kalimantan province of Indonesian Borneo, have revealed a cultural sequence covering the period from around 16,700 calibrated radiocarbon years before present (16.7 kyr cal BP) until the late Holocene-a time of dynamic environmental, social, and economic change throughout Island Southeast Asia. There are few published archaeological sequences from this period of human history from Borneo, a geographically strategic region in the wider early human settlement of the region, highlighting the importance of our initial finds and dating work at Liang Jon. We describe our excavation and present chronostratigraphic and initial summary data to outline the significance this cultural sequence has in reconciling archaeological evidence and dated rock art records from early human cultural behaviour at the easternmost margin of the Late Pleistocene continental landmass of Sunda. Summary data, including stone artefacts, marine shell beads, faunal remains, and a pre-Austronesian burial, contributes to our understanding of regional trends associated with widespread cultural and technological change during the Pleistocene to Holocene transition, when the present-day island of Borneo was formed. (C) 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

The prevailing view regarding the evolution of medicine is that the emergence of settled agricultural societies around 10,000 years ago (the Neolithic Revolution) gave rise to a host of health problems that had previously been unknown among non-sedentary foraging populations, stimulating the first major innovations in prehistoric medical practices1,2. Such changes included the development of more advanced surgical procedures, with the oldest known indication of an 'operation' formerly thought to have consisted of the skeletal remains of a European Neolithic farmer (found in Buthiers-Boulancourt, France) whose left forearm had been surgically removed and then partially healed3. Dating to around 7,000 years ago, this accepted case of amputation would have required comprehensive knowledge of human anatomy and considerable technical skill, and has thus been viewed as the earliest evidence of a complex medical act3. Here, however, we report the discovery of skeletal remains of a young individual from Borneo who had the distal third of their left lower leg surgically amputated, probably as a child, at least 31,000 years ago. The individual survived the procedure and lived for another 6-9 years, before their remains were intentionally buried in Liang Tebo cave, which is located in East Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo, in a limestone karst area that contains some of the world's earliest dated rock art4. This unexpectedly early evidence of a successful limb amputation suggests that at least some modern human foraging groups in tropical Asia had developed sophisticated medical knowledge and skills long before the Neolithic farming transition.