Characterization of Bone Surface Modifications On
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
University of Wollongong Research Online Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: Part B Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health 1-1-2019 Characterization of bone surface modifications on an Early ot Middle Pleistocene bird assemblage from Mata Menge (Flores, Indonesia) using multifocus and confocal microscopy Hanneke J.M Meijer Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Naturalis Biodiversity Center, University of Bergen, [email protected] Francesco d'Errico University of Bordeaux, University of Bergen Alain Queffelec University of Bordeaux Iwan Kurniawan Geology Museum, Indonesia, Geological Survey Institute, Indonesia Erick Setiabudi Geology Museum, Indonesia See next page for additional authors Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.uow.edu.au/smhpapers1 Publication Details Citation Meijer, H. J., d'Errico, F., Queffelec, A., Kurniawan, I., Setiabudi, E., Sutisna, I., Brumm, A. R., & van den Bergh, G. D. (2019). Characterization of bone surface modifications on an Early ot Middle Pleistocene bird assemblage from Mata Menge (Flores, Indonesia) using multifocus and confocal microscopy. Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: Part B. Retrieved from https://ro.uow.edu.au/smhpapers1/743 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] Characterization of bone surface modifications on an Early ot Middle Pleistocene bird assemblage from Mata Menge (Flores, Indonesia) using multifocus and confocal microscopy Abstract Island Southeast Asia (ISEA)is a key region for the study of human evolution. New fossil and archaeological evidence, from several islands, suggests an Early to Middle Pleistocene colonisation date by hominins. A taphonomic framework, however, such as that exists for Africa, is currently lacking, and taphonomical studies of ISEA vertebrate assemblages are very limited. In this paper, we apply multifocus and confocal microscopy to surface modifications on an Early ot Middle Pleistocene avian assemblage from Mata Menge, in the So'a Basin of central Flores, Indonesia, with the aim of characterizing material and testing the relevance of 3D reconstructions to study the taphonomy of ISEA bone assemblages. Our observations document a number of bone surface modifications, including individual parallel grooves, overlapping spindle-like striations, elongated impacts, short composite grooves, and rows of pits. These features suggest that several taphonomic agents were at play during and after the accumulation of the Mata Menge small vertebrate assemblage. We find no unambiguous videncee for the exploitation of birds by the So'a Basin hominins, or for hominins being a significant accumulating agent of viana remains at Mata Menge. However, our work should be seen as preliminary, as direct comparative data on relevant biological agents are lacking. The markedly distinct faunal composition and climatic regimes of many Southeast Asian islands, and the potential use of different tools by hominins, warrants the development of a comprehensive taphonomical framework that is specifically eler vant for ISEA. Keywords indonesia), (flores, menge, mata, assemblage, bird, multifocus, pleistocene, microscopy, middle, early, modifications, surface, bone, characterization, confocal Publication Details Meijer, H. J.M., d'Errico, F., Queffelec, A., Kurniawan, I., Setiabudi, E., Sutisna, I., Brumm, A. & van Den Bergh, G. D. (2019). Characterization of bone surface modifications on an Early ot Middle Pleistocene bird assemblage from Mata Menge (Flores, Indonesia) using multifocus and confocal microscopy. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 529 1-11. Authors Hanneke J.M Meijer, Francesco d'Errico, Alain Queffelec, Iwan Kurniawan, Erick Setiabudi, Indra Sutisna, Adam R. Brumm, and Gerrit D. van den Bergh This journal article is available at Research Online: https://ro.uow.edu.au/smhpapers1/743 Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 529 (2019) 1–11 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/palaeo Characterization of bone surface modifications on an Early to Middle T Pleistocene bird assemblage from Mata Menge (Flores, Indonesia) using multifocus and confocal microscopy ⁎ Hanneke J.M. Meijera,b, , Francesco d'Erricoc,d, Alain Queffelecc, Iwan Kurniawane, Erick Setiabudie, Indra Sutisnae, Adam Brummf, Gerrit D. van den Berghg a University Museum of Bergen, Department of Natural History, University of Bergen, Postbox 7800, 5020 Bergen, Norway b Human Origins Program, Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, United States of America c Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR 5199 –PACEA, Université de Bordeaux, Pessac CEDEX, France d SFF Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE), University of Bergen, Norway e Geology Museum, Bandung 40122, Indonesia f Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland 4111, Australia g Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales 2522, Australia ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Keywords: Island Southeast Asia (ISEA) is a key region for the study of human evolution. New fossil and archaeological Aves evidence, from several islands, suggests an Early to Middle Pleistocene colonisation date by hominins. A ta- Hominin phonomic framework, however, such as that exists for Africa, is currently lacking, and taphonomical studies of Insular Southeast Asia ISEA vertebrate assemblages are very limited. In this paper, we apply multifocus and confocal microscopy to Quaternary surface modifications on an Early to Middle Pleistocene avian assemblage from Mata Menge, in the So'aBasinof Taphonomy central Flores, Indonesia, with the aim of characterizing material and testing the relevance of 3D reconstructions to study the taphonomy of ISEA bone assemblages. Our observations document a number of bone surface modifications, including individual parallel grooves, overlapping spindle-like striations, elongated impacts, short composite grooves, and rows of pits. These features suggest that several taphonomic agents were at play during and after the accumulation of the Mata Menge small vertebrate assemblage. We find no unambiguous evidence for the exploitation of birds by the So'a Basin hominins, or for hominins being a significant accumulating agent of avian remains at Mata Menge. However, our work should be seen as preliminary, as direct comparative data on relevant biological agents are lacking. The markedly distinct faunal composition and climatic regimes of many Southeast Asian islands, and the potential use of different tools by hominins, warrants the development ofa comprehensive taphonomical framework that is specifically relevant for ISEA. 1. Introduction small hominin species very similar, and probably ancestral, to Homo floresiensis, known from the Late Pleistocene deposits at Liang Bua, The late Early to early Middle Pleistocene (1.0–0.7 Ma) fossil- 74 km northwest of the So'a Basin (van den Bergh et al., 2016; Brumm bearing localities in the So'a Basin (Fig. 1) of central Flores, Indonesia, et al., 2016). contain the earliest evidence for hominins in Wallacea (van den Bergh To date, over 28,000 faunal remains have been excavated from two et al., 2016). The Dutch priest and archaeologist Theo Verhoeven was superimposed stratigraphic fossil-bearing beds, or intervals, at Mata the first Western observer to discover and report stone tools associated Menge, both reflecting the same impoverished, insular fauna consisting with fossils of the extinct elephant Stegodon near Mengeruda in the So'a of the intermediate-sized proboscidean Stegodon florensis, a giant rat Basin in central Flores (Maringer and Verhoeven, 1970). However, it Hooijeromys nusatenggara, Komodo dragons Varanus komodoensis, cro- took until 2014 before the first hominin remains were discovered atthe codiles, birds, frogs, and freshwater gastropods (Meijer et al., 2015; early Middle Pleistocene So'a Basin site Mata Menge. The fossil remains Brumm et al., 2016). So far, all hominin fossils were found in the upper – isolated adult and infant teeth and a mandible fragment – indicate a fossil-bearing interval in a single fluvial sandy layer. Several lines of ⁎ Corresponding author at: University Museum of Bergen, Department of Natural History, University of Bergen, Postbox 7800, 5020 Bergen, Norway. E-mail address: [email protected] (H.J.M. Meijer). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2019.05.025 Received 14 January 2019; Received in revised form 14 May 2019; Accepted 14 May 2019 Available online 16 May 2019 0031-0182/ © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/BY-NC-ND/4.0/). H.J.M. Meijer, et al. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 529 (2019) 1–11 Fig. 1. Location of study site. (A) Position of Flores in Southeast Asia; (B) map of Flores with location of the studied region enlarged in C shown by box; (C) aerial view (source: Google Earth). Location of central Flores, the Mata Menge site in the So'a Basin and the location of Flores. palaeoenvironmental evidence suggest that the Mata Menge hominins Timor (Hawkins et al., 2017) and Tron Bon Lei on Alor (Hawkins