Geoarchaeological finds below Liang Bua (Flores, Indonesia): A split-level cave system for Homo floresiensis?

MK Gagan; LK Ayliffe; GK Smith; JC Hellstrom; H Scott-Gagan; RN Drysdale; N Anderson; BW Suwargadi; KP Aplin; JX Zhao; CW Groves; WS Hantoro; T Djubiantono

Journal article

Geoarchaeological finds below Liang Bua (Flores, Indonesia): A split-level cave system for Homo floresiensis?

MK Gagan, LK Ayliffe, GK Smith, JC Hellstrom, H Scott-Gagan, RN Drysdale, N Anderson, BW Suwargadi, KP Aplin, JX Zhao, CW Groves, WS Hantoro, T Djubiantono

Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology | ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV | Published : 2015

DOI: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2015.09.021

Abstract

We report on new geoarchaeological finds in a recently discovered cave-chamber (Liang Bawah, "Cave Underneath") positioned below Liang Bua on the island of Flores, Indonesia, where the type specimen for Homo floresiensis was recovered from Late Pleistocene sediment. At the rear of Liang Bua, a 23-m-long shaft, inclined at 60°, leads to a lower chamber measuring 23m ×24m. ×5m high (about half the size of Liang Bua). Stone artefacts and bones were found shallowly buried in rubble at the base of the shaft, and around a 5-m-high mud mound that fills the northwest sector of Liang Bawah. We recovered 17 stone artefacts made from chert and volcanics, and more than 220 well-preserved bone elements b..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

John Hellstrom Author

Russell Drysdale Author

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Grants

Awarded by Australian Research Council

Funding Acknowledgements

We dedicate this paper to the memory of Mike Morwood who inspired the discovery of H. floresiensis and eagerly supported our work in Liang Bawah. We particularly thank ARKENAS for their permission to study Liang Bawah, and Wahyu Saptomo, Rokus Awe Due and Jatmiko for helpful discussions at Liang Bua. The fieldwork was carried out in collaboration with the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) under LIPI Research Permit numbers 04057/SU/KS/2006 and 2748/SU3/KS/2007, and greatly benefited from caving expertise and scientific input given by Jodie Rutledge, Eko Yulianto, Alan Cooper, Kira Westaway, Carol Lentfer, Emma St Pierre, Michael Griffiths, and Sophie Lewis. Yue-xing Feng kindly performed the TIMS U-Th dating of three stalagmites at the University of Queensland. We thank the people of Rampasasa village for their generous support of the fieldwork, including the superb logistical services of Pious, Kornelius Podha and Agus Mangga. The work was supported by Australian Research Council Discovery grants DP0663274 and DP1095673 to M.K.G., R.N.D., J.-x.Z., J.C.H. and W.S.H.