174,000 km 2 ) per Wallacea, verso biogeographically distinct boule of oceanic islands situated between continental Levante and Australia (Fig. 1). The earliest archaeological evidence is from Talepu, per Middle Pleistocene site durante the south of the island (1). The Talepu findings comprise mediante situ stone artifacts associated with fossils of extinct terrestrial megafauna (1). Dated to
194 onesto 118 thousand years (ka), these artifacts may reflect initial colonization by an as-yet unidentified archaic hominin (1). It is not yet insecable when anatomically modern humans (AMH) first colonized Sulawesi. AMH appear preciso have been established con mainland Southeast Asia (Sunda) by 73 sicuro 63 ka (2). They were also possibly per 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 con northern Australia (3). Sopra some models of early human settlement in Sahul, the large Sulawesi landmass would have been the first “stop” on per series of ocean crossings through northern Wallacea onesto the western tip of New Guinea (5). If the oldest published dates for Madjedbebe (3) are affermisse, then Homo sapiens may have reached Sulawesi up to 69 to 59 ka.
450-km 2 lowland “tower” karst region sopra the island’s southwestern peninsula (Fig. 1). Some 300 caves and shelters with parietal imagery have now been identified in this settore. Two cave art sites are also known from the Bone karsts
35 km esatto 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 per niente sequence of superimposition is evident, the former is distinguishable from the latter sopra terms of subject matter, technique, and preservation (6, 10).
Materials and methods
24 onesto 16 ka (18). Evidence for rock art production of a broadly similar antiquity is found con karst areas per the adjacent island of Borneo: At Lubang Jeriji Saleh, a high-level limestone cave mediante Kalimantan, U-series dating indicates per minimum age of 40 ka for a figurative painting of per 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 onesto C). This speleothem was too small sopra size esatto remove with per rotary tool. Hence, we used per small chisel preciso prise it from the cave wall surface. The recovered sample (LTed3) comprises multiple layers of dense and nonporous calcite. The portion of https://datingranking.net/it/adultspace-review/ 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 ad esempio away with the latter-that is, the rock art pigment was affixed esatto the punto of the sampled speleothem. Sopra the laboratory, we micro-excavated LTed3 in arbitrary “spits” that extended over the entire surface of the speleothem. This produced verso series of four aliquots measuring less than 1 mm mediante thickness (Fig. 5, F preciso G). We observed the red pigment layer corresponding onesto the artwork across the entire length of the sample. The pigment layer was also clearly visible sopra the rear portion of the sample that was partially covered by translucent calcite from the cave wall (Fig. 5E). Per 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 per suid at Leang Tedongnge (Fig. 3 and Materials and Methods).