1.5 million-year-old stone tools found in Indonesia rewrite human history
Indonesia 's Sulawesi island they say may be evidence of humans living 1.5 million years ago on islands between Asia and Australia, the earliest known humans in the Wallacea region.
Archaeologists from
Australia and Indonesia found the small, chipped tools, used to cut little animals and carve rocks, under the soil in the region of Soppeng in South Sulawesi. Radioactive tracing of these tools and the teeth of animals found around the site was dated at up to 1.48 million years ago.
The findings could transform theories of early human migrations, according to an article the archaeologists published in the journal Nature this month.
Excavations at Calio in southern Sulawesi, Indonesia. Photo: BRIN/Handout
The earliest Wallacean humans, prehistoric persons known as Homo erectus, were thought to have only settled in Indonesia's Flores island and
the Philippines ' Luzon island around 1.02 million years ago, as they were thought to be incapable of distant sea travel, proving the significance of the Sulawesi findings in theories of migration.
'These were artefacts made by ancient humans who lived on the earth long before the evolution of our species, Homo sapiens,' said Adam Brumm, lead archaeologist from Griffith University in Queensland, Australia.
'We think Homo erectus somehow got from the Asian mainland across a significant ocean gap to this island, Sulawesi, at least 1 million years ago.'
Wallacea is a region in Eastern Indonesia, including several islands such as Sulawesi, Lombok, Flores, Timor and Sumbawa that lie between Borneo and Java and Australia and New Guinea.
The region is named for the naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace, who studied the fauna and flora of the area.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
3 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
New Chinese see-through brain technique offers clearest view of its inner workings
Chinese scientists have developed a technology that can make organs such as the brain or the heart transparent, allowing an exceptionally clear view of their inner workings. The new method produced 'highly accurate and vivid' 3D images of organs by preserving the integrity of their biological structures and enhancing the brightness of the fluorescent dyes scientists use to highlight cells and molecules. The Tsinghua University-led team wrote in the journal Cell that this method was capable of unravelling individual human neurons' micro-connectivity in the brain as well as allowing them to study mouse organs '[The method] prepares ionic glassy tissue that is highly transparent while maintaining the original tissue morphology,' they wrote. They added that at low temperatures the tissues formed a glassy solid that maintained its structural integrity and could be stored over the long-term.
South China Morning Post
a day ago
- South China Morning Post
How to boost your immune system naturally, from exercise and diet to vaccines
Tim Friede, a US truck mechanic turned self-taught snake expert, has what has been described as 'super immunity' to snake venom: he has been bitten more than 200 times over nearly two decades by some of the world's most poisonous snakes. Advertisement Globally, snake bites kill more than 100,000 people and cause 300,000 permanent disabilities every year. Friede has teamed up with scientists to use his blood to help develop a broad antivenom that could save the lives of people living in remote rural locations around the world. How did he develop immunity to snake venom that should kill a human in minutes? Not only has he been bitten often, he has also exposed himself repeatedly to toxins, injecting himself with small amounts of diluted venom more than 700 times. Snake bites kill more than 100,000 people globally every year. Photo: Shutterstock Vaccines work on the same principle: a small amount of the offending virus or bacteria is introduced to the system – not enough to kill or make a person sick, just enough that the body recognises an enemy and begins to produce protective antibodies. Advertisement
South China Morning Post
a day ago
- South China Morning Post
‘Demon rabbits': why are bunnies growing ‘horns' in Colorado?
A group of rabbits in Colorado with grotesque, hornlike growths may seem straight out of a low-budget horror film, but scientists say there is no reason to be spooked – the furry creatures merely have a relatively common virus. The cottontails recently spotted in Fort Collins are infected with the mostly harmless Shope papillomavirus, which causes wart-like growths that protrude from their faces like metastasising horns. Viral photos have inspired a fluffle of unflattering nicknames, including 'Frankenstein bunnies', 'demon rabbits' and 'zombie rabbits'. But their affliction is nothing new, with the virus inspiring ancient folklore and fuelling scientific research nearly 100 years ago. The virus is likely to have influenced the centuries-old jackalope myth in North America, which told of a rabbit with antlers or horns, among other animal variations. The disease in rabbits also contributed to scientists' knowledge about the connection between viruses and cancer, such as the human papillomavirus that causes cervical cancer. A rabbit infected with the Shope papillomavirus is seen in Fort Collins, Colorado, in August. Photo: Amanda Gilbert via AP The virus in rabbits was named after Richard E. Shope, a professor at The Rockefeller University who discovered the disease in cottontails in the 1930s.
