140,000-Year-Old Fossils Unearthed in Indonesia’s Madura Strait
Near Indonesia’s shores, in the deep Madura Strait, researchers have found evidence of an ancient civilization. Among the fragments of Homo erectus are also the bones of Komodo dragons, buffalo, deer and Stegodon.
The find of these fossils near Surabaya is the first indication we have of Sundaland which linked Southeast Asia together in a large tropical plain long in the past. Evidence going back over 140,000 years means these findings add new understandings of that period and show what was once a lively ecosystem, now covered by the sea.
The first signs were found in 2011 when sand mining near Java and Madura Strait yielded more than 6,000 vertebrate fossils, among them two skull fragments—a frontal and a parietal bone, both Homo erectus. Only after Harold Berghuis and his team from the University of Leiden reviewed the fossils have researchers confirmed their age and significance.
Using OSL on quartz grains, the researchers showed that the sediment layers date to between 162,000 and 119,000 years ago, agreeing with late Middle Pleistocene findings. “There is a strong showing of different hominin species, as well as movements of hominins in this period,” according to Berghuis, who spoke about the richness of the fossils for understanding early man’s migration.
The fossils from the Madura Strait show the remains of a buried system of valleys made by the ancient Solo River flowing across the Sunda Shelf. Using data from sedimentary layers, researchers demonstrated that the area was rich with animal and human life thanks to a thriving river.
The presence of fossils here challenges earlier assumptions about where Homo erectus lived, making this the first known underwater hominin site in Sundaland. These skull remnants, a close match to Homo erectus from Java’s Sambungmacan site, prove that early humans once lived in areas that sea levels later covered.
The melting of glaciers between 14,000 and 7,000 years ago raised the sea level by more than 120 meters, covering part of Sundaland’s valley region. The inland communities may have all fled, so there are now no visible remains of what they left behind in the sea.
Underwater archaeology is more important than ever for revealing information about human history. Thanks to new technology, researchers expect to learn a lot more about the lives and tools used by the ancient people of Sundaland, providing valuable details about human evolution and movements across Southeast Asia.
Header image: Underwater image. Source: Pixabay
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