Liang Bua

Liang Bua
Liang Bua
	Cave where the remains of Homo floresiensis were found
Location	Flores, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia
Length	50 meters
Discovery	1950s
Geology	Limestone
Entrances	1

Last updated May 19, 2024

Liang Bua is a limestone cave on the island of Flores, Indonesia, slightly north of the town of Ruteng in Manggarai Regency, East Nusa Tenggara. The cave demonstrated archaeological and paleontological potential in the 1950s and 1960s as described by the Dutch missionary and archaeologist Theodor L. Verhoeven.^[1]

In September 2003, an Indonesian field team and its coordinator of the excavation team, Thomas Sutikna, uncovered the first indications of a skull. Initially, the archeologists only analyzed the top of the cranium and due to the small size believed that the skull belonged to a small child. However, Sutikna and his colleagues soon discovered that its teeth were permanent and mature, revealing that it actually belonged to a fully grown adult.^[2] After a few weeks, the team had discovered most of this particular hominid's skeleton and later was coded LB1, LB2, etc., after the name of the cave.^[2] This skeleton later became the holotype specimen of Homo floresiensis, also known as the "hobbit."^[3] Despite the small stature and brain size, Homo floresiensis was capable of using stone tools, hunting animals such as small elephants and rodents, and dealing with many predators such as large komodo dragons.^[4] As of 2022, excavations are still being conducted and additional findings such as teeth are being discovered and analyzed.

History of discoveries

Theodor L. Verhoeven, a Dutch missionary and archaeologist, was living in Flores in the 1950s and 60s. Verhoeven had been a keen student of archeology at the University of Utrecht. During this time, he worked at a Catholic seminary and in his free time would explore many archeological sites and perform many excavations in Flores. He discovered stone tools and suspected that Homo erectus from Java had made these.^[5] However, Verhoeven's work was not acknowledged by many paleoanthropologists at this time. After 30 years, an Indonesian-Dutch excavation team discovered new evidence that suggest that Verhoeven's predictions were correct.^[6]

In 2001, an Indonesian-Australian team began excavations in Liang Bua. Their goal was to excavate deeper into the cave hoping to see if modern or pre-modern humans were using Liang Bua.^[2] They were led by Indonesian field coordinator, Thomas Sutikna.^[2]

In 2003, Benyamin Tarus, a locally hired worker, was excavating a 2 by 2 meter square and found the first indication of a skull at a depth of 6 meters.^[2] At that point, many archeologists stepped in to help carefully remove sediment from the top of the skull. Rokus Due Awe, an Indonesian faunal expert, was called in to help inspect the excavated top portion of the skull.^[7] By looking at just the top of the skull, Awe believed it belonged to a small child due to the small size of the cranium. However, after several days of excavating, more of the cranium and mandible became exposed. This allowed Awe to further analyze the age and condition of the skull. They discovered that its teeth were permanent, revealing that this skull actually belonged to an adult.^[2] The team had discovered most of this particular hominid's skeleton and many stone tools that they may have created and used. They were later coded LB1, LB2, etc., after the name of the cave.

Peter Brown, an expert on cranial, mandibular, and dental anatomy of early and modern humans, was asked to help identify and analyze this new discovery. The skeletal evidence indicates that the adults of these species weighed around 66 to 86 pounds, had an average height of 106 cm (3'6") tall, and had very small brains (400 ml).^[8] Brown concluded that the proportions between the humerus and femur were very similar to the proportions in Australopithecus and Homo habilis.^[8] The characteristics of this skeleton appeared more similar to those of early hominins like Australopithecus afarensis than to those of modern humans.^[2] This skeleton later became the holotype specimen of Homo floresiensis.

The key specimens that many researchers focus on are LB1 and LB6. LB1 was discovered unfossilized in September 2003 and consisted of an almost complete skull and partial skeleton. Scientists assume that LB1 was a female of about 30 years old, about one metre tall, had a brain volume of about 380 to 420 ml, and weighed approximately 55 pounds.^[9] On the other hand, LB6 consisted of a partial skeleton that appeared shorter than LB1 and its jaw was significantly different as it was more V-shaped. Scientists assume that LB6 was a child and was approximately five years old.^[9]

In 2004 Kira Westaway, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Wollongong, analyzed a thick blanket of sediment that the fossils were found in and discovered that these bones ranged from 18,000 to 38,000 years old.^[10] This suggests that these species at Liang Bua were alive during modern times and could have possibly shared this island with modern humans for approximately 30,000 years.^[10]

Further research and findings

In 2010 and 2011, archaeologists discovered two hominin teeth in the cave that did not come from Homo floresiensis. According to Sutikna, the teeth date to around 46,000 BP and Sutkina and his team speculate that the teeth are likely to have come from Homo sapiens .^[11] Sutikna proposed that Homo sapiens could have coexisted with the "hobbits" for thousands of years and he also proposed that Homo sapiens could have led to the extinction of Homo floresiensis. However, there is no evidence to indicate that and as of 2016 research was still being conducted to prove his hypothesis.^[11]

In 2013, a 3D model of the cave created via laser scanning was made available online by the Smithsonian Institution.^[12]

In 2016, scientists discovered a lower jaw and teeth from at least one adult and potentially two children in Mata Menge, about 70 km east of Liang Bua. These findings are dated to about 700,000 years BP and could possibly be an early form of Homo floresiensis.^[9] Additionally in 2016, Sutikna, Smithsonian researcher Matt Tocheri, and other researchers announced that they concluded that the skeletal remains at Liang Bua became extinct around 50,000 years ago, much earlier than many researchers had originally thought.^[13] In addition, archaeologists discovered stone tools in the cave that were used from 190,000 to 50,000 years BP.^[2]

Chronology

Stone tools at the cave span back to around 190,000 years ago, while bone remains span from around 100,000 to 50,000 years ago. Beginning around 46,000 years ago, there is a hiatus in the cave sedimentation, which resumes around 23,000 years ago. In the sediments above the hiatus bone deposition resumes, though Homo floresiensis,Stegodon, the giant stork and the vulture no longer occur, while there is clear evidence of modern human activity.^[14] Change in material used in creating stone tools suggests that stone tools made from 46,000 years ago onwards were produced by modern humans, and not H. floresiensis. These stone tools provide the earliest evidence for modern human arrival on Flores.^[15]

Palaeofauna

After^[16]^[17]

Homo floresiensis
Stegodon florensis insularis , extinct dwarfed stegodontid proboscidean
Papagomys theodorverhoeveni , extinct giant rat
Papagomys armandvillei , giant rat
Spelaeomys florensis, extinct giant rat
Hooijeromysnusatenggara medium-sized rat
Komodomysrintjanus small rat
Rattus exulans (Polynesian rat)
Rattus hainaldi small rat
Varanus komodoensis , (Komodo dragon)
Varanus hooijeri extinct frugivorous monitor lizard
Leptoptilos robustus , extinct giant stork
Trigonoceps sp., extinct vulture

Related Research Articles

Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia. Administratively, it forms the largest island in the East Nusa Tenggara Province. Including Komodo and Rinca islands off its west coast, the land area is 14,731.67 km², and the population was 1,878,875 in the 2020 Census ; the official estimate as of mid-2023 was 1,962,405. The largest towns are Maumere and Ende. The name Flores is of Portuguese origin, meaning "Flowers".

Homo floresiensis( also known as "Flores Man") is an extinct species of small archaic human that inhabited the island of Flores, Indonesia, until the arrival of modern humans about 50,000 years ago.

Stegodon is an extinct genus of proboscidean, related to elephants. It was originally assigned to the family Elephantidae along with modern elephants but is now placed in the extinct family Stegodontidae. Like elephants, Stegodon had teeth with plate-like lophs that are different from those of more primitive proboscideans like gomphotheres and mammutids. The oldest fossils of the genus are found in Late Miocene strata in Asia, likely originating from the more archaic Stegolophodon, subsequently migrating into Africa. While the genus became extinct in Africa during the Pliocene, Stegodon remained widespread in South, Southeast and East Asia until the end of the Pleistocene.

The Flores giant rat is a rodent of the family Muridae that occurs on the island of Flores in Indonesia. It has been recorded in Rutong Protection Forest. The species is found in primary, secondary and disturbed forest over a wide range of elevations. Its head and body length is 41–45 cm (16–17.5 in) and its tail length is 33–70 cm (13–27.5 in). These dimensions are about twice as large as those of a typical brown rat, which suggests about eight times the body mass.

Papagomys is a genus of very large rats in the tribe Rattini of the subfamily Murinae, with body masses of 600–2,500 grams (1.3–5.5 lb). It contains two species, which are known only from the Indonesian island of Flores:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Verhoeven's giant rat</span> Species of rodent

Verhoeven's giant rat is an extinct rat of subfamily Murinae that lived on Flores in Indonesia. It was judged to be extinct in 1996. However, experts believe that it died out before 1500 AD. The species is known only from several subfossil fragments. It was named after Dutch priest Theodor Verhoeven. A 1974 report of a recent specimen has been judged to represent P. armandvillei instead. It was somewhat smaller than P. armandivillei, with an estimated body mass of around 0.6–1.6 kilograms (1.3–3.5 lb). It is assumed to have been terrestrial, and to have been an omnivore, consuming fruit and invertebrates.

Paulamys is a genus of rat. Its only known member is Paulamys naso a species endemic to Flores Island, Indonesia. Paulamys naso was first described from subfossil fragments collected in the 1950s by Theodor Verhoeven and was named Floresomys naso by Guy Musser in 1981. Since Floresomys was preoccupied, Musser changed the name to Paulamys, after Verhoeven's life partner Paula Hamerlinck. A living specimen was reported from the montane forest of western Flores in 1989. It is recorded as common between 1,000 and 2,000 m above sea level on the volcanic mountain Gunung Ranakah, but is believed to be threatened by habitat destruction. It is thought to prefer closed habitats.

Spelaeomys florensis, also known as the Flores cave rat, is an extinct species of rat that was formerly endemic to the island of Flores, Indonesia. MacPhee and Flemming assessed this species to be extinct in 1996, but believed it probably died out before 1500. This specimen is only known from subfossil remains, including at Liang Bua cave. It is the only member of the genus Spelaeomys. It was large sized species with a body mass of around 0.6–1.6 kilograms (1.3–3.5 lb). It is suggested to have been arboreal animal that lived in closed forests, and to have been herbivorous, consuming leaves and flowers.

Dean Falk is an American academic neuroanthropologist who specializes in the evolution of the brain and cognition in higher primates. She is the Hale G. Smith Professor of Anthropology and a Distinguished Research Professor at Florida State University.

Theodorus (Theo) Lambertus Verhoeven, SVD, was a Dutch missionary and archaeologist who has become famous by his discovery of stone tools on the Indonesian island of Flores, in association with the c. 800,000-year-old fossils of stegodontids, or dwarf elephants, from which he concluded that islands in Wallacea had been reached by Homo erectus before modern humans appeared there.

The Komodo rat is a species of rodent in the family Muridae endemic to the surrounding islands of Flores in Indonesia, and formerly Flores itself. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests.It is threatened by habitat loss. It is thought to prefer open habitats. It has a body mass of around 100–200 grams (0.22–0.44 lb).

Rattus hainaldi is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found only on Flores Island in Indonesia, including on Mount Ranaka. Part of its habitat is protected within the Kelimutu National Park. It is a small sized-species, with a body mass of around 40–100 grams (1.4–3.5 oz), and is thought to be terrestrial and a nest builder that prefers closed, forested, montane habitats.

William L. Jungers was an American anthropologist, Distinguished Teaching Professor and the Chair of the Department of Anatomical Sciences at State University of New York at Stony Brook on Long Island, New York. He is best known for his work on the biomechanics of bipedal locomotion in hominids such as the 3.4-million-year-old Lucy, and the 6.1- to 5.8-million-year-old Millennium Man Orrorin tugenensis. He devoted much of his career to the study of the lemurs of Madagascar, especially giant extinct subfossil forms such as Megaladapis. More recently, Jungers has been a subject of media attention due to his analysis of the remains of Homo floresiensis, which he believed to be legitimate members of a newly discovered species based on remains of the shoulder, the wrist, and the feet.

Prehistoric Indonesia is a prehistoric period in the Indonesian archipelago that spanned from the Pleistocene period to about the 4th century CE when the Kutai people produced the earliest known stone inscriptions in Indonesia. Unlike the clear distinction between prehistoric and historical periods in Europe and the Middle East, the division is muddled in Indonesia. This is mostly because Indonesia's geographical conditions as a vast archipelago caused some parts — especially the interiors of distant islands — to be virtually isolated from the rest of the world. West Java and coastal Eastern Borneo, for example, began their historical periods in the early 4th century, but megalithic culture still flourished and script was unknown in the rest of Indonesia, including in Nias and Toraja. The Papuans on the Indonesian part of New Guinea island lived virtually in the Stone Age until their first contacts with modern world in the early 20th century. Even today living megalithic traditions still can be found on the island of Sumba and Nias.

<i>Homo luzonensis</i> Archaic human from Luzon, Philippines

Homo luzonensis, also locally called "Ubag" after a mythical caveman, is an extinct, possibly pygmy, species of archaic human from the Late Pleistocene of Luzon, the Philippines. Their remains, teeth and phalanges, are known only from Callao Cave in the northern part of the island dating to before 50,000 years ago. They were initially identified as belonging to modern humans in 2010, but in 2019, after the discovery of more specimens, they were placed into a new species based on the presence of a wide range of traits similar to modern humans as well as to Australopithecus and early Homo. In 2023, a study revealed that the fossilized remains of the Callao Man has been found out to be years old and much older than previously known.

Leptoptilos robustus is an extinct species of large-bodied stork belonging to the genus Leptoptilos that lived on the island of Flores in Indonesia during the Pleistocene epoch. It stood at about 1.8 metres (5.9 ft) tall and weighed up to an estimated 16 kilograms (35 lb). The majority of the discoveries are concentrated in Liang Bua cave located slightly north of Ruteng in the East Nusa Tenggara province.

Professor Michael John Morwood was a New Zealand archaeologist best known for discovering Homo floresiensis. In 2012, he received the Rhys Jones Medal by the Australian Archaeological Association.

Mata Menge is an early Middle Pleistocene paleoanthropological site located in the Ola Bula Formation in the So'a Basin on the island of Flores, Indonesia. Lithic artefacts and hominin remains have been discovered at the site. The level of sophistication of the Mata Menge lithic artefacts is described as being 'simple'.

The region of Southeast Asia is considered a possible place for the evidence of archaic human remains that could be found due to the pathway between Australia and mainland Southeast Asia, where the migration of multiple early humans has occurred out of Africa. One of many pieces of evidence is of the early human found in central Java of Indonesia in the late 19th century by Eugene Dubois, and later in 1937 at Sangiran site by G.H.R. van Koenigswald. These skull and fossil materials are Homo erectus, named Pithecanthropus erectus by Dubois and Meganthropus palaeojavanicus by van Koenigswald. They were dated to c. 1.88 and 1.66 Ma, as suggested by Swisher et al. by analysis of volcanic rocks.

Varanus hooijeri is an extinct species of medium-sized monitor lizard found in Liang Bua on Flores and possibly also Sumba, dating to the Late Pleistocene and Holocene.

References

↑ For Verhoeven, see: Knepper, Gert M. (2019): Floresmens - Het leven van Theo Verhoeven, missionaris en archeoloog, ISBN 978-9-46-3892476 (Boekscout, Soest, Netherlands) (i.e. Verhoeven's biography, in Dutch)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "'Hobbits' on Flores, Indonesia". The Smithsonian Institution's Human Origins Program. Retrieved 2022-04-28.
↑ Morwood, M. J.; Brown, P.; Jatmiko; Sutikna, T.; Wahyu Saptomo, E.; Westaway, K. E.; Awe Due, Rokus; Roberts, R. G.; Maeda, T.; Wasisto, S.; Djubiantono, T. (October 2005). "Further evidence for small-bodied hominins from the Late Pleistocene of Flores, Indonesia". Nature. 437 (7061): 1012–1017. Bibcode:2005Natur.437.1012M. doi:10.1038/nature04022. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 16229067. S2CID 4302539.
↑ "Homo floresiensis". The Smithsonian Institution's Human Origins Program. Retrieved 2022-05-18.
↑ "The long search for the earliest inhabitants of Flores". the Guardian. 2016-06-09. Retrieved 2022-05-18.
↑ Collins, Richard (2016-06-27). "New evidence on human evolution on the Indonesian island of Flores". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 2022-05-18.
↑ Callaway, Ewen (2014-10-01). "The discovery of Homo floresiensis: Tales of the hobbit". Nature. 514 (7523): 422–426. doi: 10.1038/514422a . ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 25341771.
1 2 Brown, Peter; Maeda, Tomoko (2009-11-01). "Liang Bua Homo floresiensis mandibles and mandibular teeth: a contribution to the comparative morphology of a new hominin species". Journal of Human Evolution. Paleoanthropological Research at Liang Bua, Flores, Indonesia. 57 (5): 571–596. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2009.06.002. ISSN 0047-2484. PMID 19589559.
1 2 3 "Homo floresiensis". The Australian Museum. Retrieved 2022-05-18.
1 2 "The woman who dates Hobbits and giant apes". cosmosmagazine.com. 2017-10-13. Retrieved 2022-06-02.
1 2 Callaway, Ewen (2016-09-21). "Human remains found in hobbit cave". Nature. doi:10.1038/nature.2016.20656. ISSN 1476-4687. S2CID 89272546.
↑ "Liang Bua | 3D Digitization". 3d.si.edu. Retrieved 2022-05-18.
↑ "The 'hobbit' was a separate species of human, new dating reveals". www.science.org. Retrieved 2022-05-18.
↑ Sutikna, Thomas; Tocheri, Matthew W.; Morwood, Michael J.; Saptomo, E. Wahyu; Jatmiko; Awe, Rokus Due; Wasisto, Sri; Westaway, Kira E.; Aubert, Maxime; Li, Bo; Zhao, Jian-xin; Storey, Michael; Alloway, Brent V.; Morley, Mike W.; Meijer, Hanneke J. M. (2016-04-21). "Revised stratigraphy and chronology for Homo floresiensis at Liang Bua in Indonesia". Nature. 532 (7599): 366–369. doi:10.1038/nature17179. ISSN 0028-0836.
↑ Sutikna, Thomas; Tocheri, Matthew W.; Faith, J. Tyler; Jatmiko; Due Awe, Rokus; Meijer, Hanneke J.M.; Wahyu Saptomo, E.; Roberts, Richard G. (November 2018). "The spatio-temporal distribution of archaeological and faunal finds at Liang Bua (Flores, Indonesia) in light of the revised chronology for Homo floresiensis". Journal of Human Evolution. 124: 52–74. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.07.001.
↑ van den Bergh, Gerrit D.; Alloway, Brent V.; Storey, Michael; Setiawan, Ruly; Yurnaldi, Dida; Kurniawan, Iwan; Moore, Mark W.; Jatmiko; Brumm, Adam; Flude, Stephanie; Sutikna, Thomas; Setiyabudi, Erick; Prasetyo, Unggul W.; Puspaningrum, Mika R.; Yoga, Ifan (October 2022). "An integrative geochronological framework for the Pleistocene So'a basin (Flores, Indonesia), and its implications for faunal turnover and hominin arrival". Quaternary Science Reviews. 294: 107721. Bibcode:2022QSRv..29407721V. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107721. hdl: 10072/418777 . S2CID 252290750.
↑ Veatch, E. Grace; Tocheri, Matthew W.; Sutikna, Thomas; McGrath, Kate; Wahyu Saptomo, E.; Jatmiko; Helgen, Kristofer M. (May 2019). "Temporal shifts in the distribution of murine rodent body size classes at Liang Bua (Flores, Indonesia) reveal new insights into the paleoecology of Homo floresiensis and associated fauna". Journal of Human Evolution. 130: 45–60. doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.02.002 . hdl: 2440/121139 .