174,000 km 2 ) per Wallacea, per biogeographically distinct boule of oceanic islands situated between continental Levante and Australia (Fig. 1). The earliest archaeological evidence is from Talepu, verso Middle Pleistocene site per the south of the island (1). The Talepu findings comprise in situ stone artifacts associated with fossils of extinct terrestrial megafauna (1). Dated puro
194 to 118 thousand years (ka), these artifacts may reflect initial colonization by an as-yet unidentified archaic hominin (1). It is not yet un when anatomically modern humans (AMH) first colonized Sulawesi. AMH appear esatto have been established con mainland Southeast Levante (Sunda) by 73 onesto 63 ka (2). They were also possibly durante 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). Durante some models of early human settlement in Sahul, the large Sulawesi landmass would have been the first “stop” on a series of ocean crossings through northern Wallacea puro the western tip of New Guinea (5). If the oldest published dates for Madjedbebe (3) are affecte, then Homo sapiens may have reached Sulawesi up puro 69 onesto 59 ka.
450-km 2 lowland “tower” karst region in the island’s southwestern peninsula (Fig. 1). Some 300 caves and shelters with parietal imagery have now been identified in this sezione. Two cave art sites are also known from the Bone karsts
35 km to 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) verso later phase that postdates the arrival of Austronesian-speaking farmers and the onset of the “Neolithic” farming transition around 4 ka (9). Where no sequence of superimposition is evident, the former is distinguishable from the latter durante terms of subject matter, technique, and preservation (6, 10).
Materials and methods
24 to 16 ka (18). Evidence for rock art production of a broadly similar antiquity is found per karst areas per the adjacent island of Borneo: At Lubang Jeriji Saleh, a high-level limestone cave sopra Kalimantan, U-series dating indicates a minimum age of 40 ka for verso 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, A onesto C). This speleothem was too small con 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 wall extends from its outer surface through the pigment layer Come eliminare l’account bronymate and into the underlying rock face (Fig. 5, D and Anche). 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 razza di away with the latter-that is, the rock art pigment was affixed esatto the punto of the sampled speleothem. In the laboratory, we micro-excavated LTed3 durante arbitrary “spits” that extended over the entire surface of the speleothem. This produced verso series of four aliquots measuring less than 1 mm durante thickness (Fig. 5, F onesto G). We observed the red pigment layer corresponding to 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). Sopra 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 per suid at Leang Tedongnge (Fig. 3 and Materials and Methods).
