Sulawesi has a long history of human occupation

174,000 km 2 ) durante Wallacea, per biogeographically distinct champ of oceanic islands situated between continental Oriente and Australia (Fig. 1). The earliest archaeological evidence is from Talepu, a Middle Pleistocene site in the south of the island (1). The Talepu findings comprise mediante situ stone artifacts associated with fossils of extinct terrestrial megafauna (1). Dated sicuro

194 esatto 118 thousand years (ka), these artifacts may reflect initial colonization by an as-yet unidentified archaic hominin (1). It is not yet certain when anatomically modern humans (AMH) first colonized Sulawesi. AMH appear puro have been established mediante mainland Southeast Levante (Sunda) by 73 to 63 ka (2). They were also possibly con Pleistocene Australia–New Guinea (Sahul) by 69 to 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 durante northern Australia (3). Sopra some models of early human settlement mediante Sahul, the large Sulawesi landmass would have been the first “stop” on per series of ocean crossings through northern Wallacea esatto the western tip of New Guinea (5). If the oldest published dates for Madjedbebe (3) are acceptable, then Homo sapiens may have reached Sulawesi up preciso 69 to 59 ka.

450-km 2 lowland “tower” karst region sopra the island’s southwestern peninsula (Fig. 1). Some 300 caves and shelters with parietal imagery have now been identified con this reparto. Two cave art sites are also known from the Bone karsts

35 km sicuro 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) a later phase that postdates the arrival of Austronesian-speaking farmers and the onset of the “Neolithic” farming transition around 4 ka (9). Where per niente sequence of superimposition is evident, the former is distinguishable from the latter sopra terms of subject matter, technique, and preservation (6, 10).

Materials and methods

24 puro 16 ka (18). Evidence for rock art production of verso broadly similar antiquity is found mediante karst areas con the adjacent island of Borneo: At Lubang Jeriji Saleh, per high-level limestone cave per Kalimantan, U-series dating indicates verso minimum age of 40 ka for a figurative painting of verso 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 esatto C). This speleothem was too small mediante size preciso remove with a rotary tool. Hence, we used a small chisel preciso 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 and into the underlying rock face (Fig. 5, D and Addirittura). 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 ad esempio away with the latter-that is, the rock art pigment was affixed sicuro the base of the sampled speleothem. Durante the laboratory, we micro-excavated LTed3 per arbitrary “spits” that extended over the entire surface of the speleothem. This produced per series of four aliquots measuring less than 1 mm mediante thickness (Fig. 5, F puro G). We observed the red pigment layer corresponding esatto the artwork across the entire length of the sample. The pigment layer was also clearly visible con the rear portion of the sample that was partially covered by translucent calcite from the cave wall (Fig. 5E). Con 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 per minimum age of 45.5 ka for the large figurative image of verso suid at Leang Tedongnge (Fig. 3 and Materials and Methods).