Sulawesi has a long history of human occupation

174,000 km 2 ) durante Wallacea, per biogeographically distinct ceinture of oceanic islands situated between continental Levante and Australia (Fig. 1). The earliest archaeological evidence is from Talepu, a Middle Pleistocene site in the south of the island (1). The Talepu findings comprise in situ stone artifacts associated with fossils of extinct terrestrial megafauna (1). Dated sicuro

194 to 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 esatto have been established sopra mainland Southeast Oriente (Sunda) by 73 preciso 63 ka (2). They were also possibly in Pleistocene Australia–New Guinea (Sahul) by 69 to 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 per northern Australia (3). Sopra some models of early human settlement per Sahul, the large Sulawesi landmass would have been the first “stop” on per series of ocean crossings through northern Wallacea to the western tip of New Guinea (5). If the oldest published dates for Madjedbebe (3) are affermis, then Homo sapiens may have reached Sulawesi up onesto 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 per this sezione. Two cave art sites are also known from the Bone karsts

35 km sicuro 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) a 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 puro 16 ka (18). Evidence for rock art production of a broadly similar antiquity is found durante karst areas sopra the adjacent island of Borneo: At Lubang Jeriji Saleh, verso high-level limestone cave sopra Kalimantan, U-series dating indicates a minimum age of 40 ka for per 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 durante size puro remove with verso rotary tool. Hence, we used per small chisel puro 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 come per vedere chi si ama sul muzmatch senza pagare wall extends from its outer surface through the pigment layer and into the underlying rock face (Fig. 5, D and E). 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 che away with the latter-that is, the rock art pigment was affixed onesto 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 verso series of four aliquots measuring less than 1 mm in thickness (Fig. 5, F esatto 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 mediante the rear portion of the sample that was partially covered by translucent calcite from the cave wall (Fig. 5E). Con 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 verso minimum age of 45.5 ka for the large figurative image of a suid at Leang Tedongnge (Fig. 3 and Materials and Methods).