Java Man's First Tools

[Daryl Habel]

Listed among the abstracts for the 18th Congress of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association CLICK HERE, held in Manila 20-26 March 2006 is a presentation by Indonesian archaeologist Harry Widianto

Widianto, Harry                                 Balai Arkeologi, Yogyakarta, Indonesia  4K 
The oldest Homo erectus stone tools in Java: from the Lower Pleistocene Pucangan Formation in Sangiran

The discovery of stone tools in the grenzbank in Sangiran, dated back to at least 0.8 million years (as announced in the Melaka IPPA Congress), relates certainly to Homo erectus of the early Middle Pleistocene. From the Pucangan black clay layer of the Lower Pleistocene come fossils of archaic Homo erectus, these being the oldest hominids ever found in Sangiran, dated to 1.0-1.5 million years ago. But their material culture has never been found.

The discovery in September-October 2004 of an assemblage of the Sangiran flake industry, mostly made from chalcedony, in the fluvio-volcanic layers situated 3 meters below the Pucangan black clay in Dayu, sheds new light on the existence of Lower Pleistocene material culture in Sangiran. Some 180 flakes were found in a 3 x 3 m square, through a thickness of 1 meter, and are believed to be the culture of archaic Homo erectus. They are the oldest Homo erectus cultural discoveries in Indonesia, deposited in an ancient river among the swampy environments in Sangiran, some 1.2 million years ago.

These stone tools are rather important, since as recently as 1997, Australian archaeologist Peter Bellwood was prompted by the lack of unequivocally associated stone tools with the Java Homo erectus fossil hominins to write, "The possibility arises that the Javanese Homo erectus, unlike contemporary Africans and Chinese, did not make tools of stone" (Bellwood 1997:56)

Bellwood, P. (1997). Prehistory of the Indo-Malaysian Archipelago. Revised Edition. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.

Of course, Bellwood added, "Such a situation would be unusual to say the least, and the evidence, which at present is quite vague, deserves careful consideration."  After consideration of the Pacitanian industry, which Bellwood seems to agree with Bartstra's view that it is dated to near the Middle-Late Pleistocene boundary (i.e. ~130 ka), Bellwood discusses the "Sangiran Flake Industry" discovered by von Koenigswald in 1934 and all the controversies which have followed regarding the age of these artifacts.  Finally, in the last paragraph of the "Sangiran Flake Industry" (Bellwood 1997:65) discusses some more recent finds in the Kabuh deposits between 4.5 and 9m above the Grenzbank at Ngebung, quoting Bellwood here, "two small cores, fifteen flakes, and two blades (Semah et al. 1992; Simanjuntak and Semah 1996; see also Soejono 1982a for earlier finds at Ngebung) and there are references to bolas stones and a quartz hammer stone.  If the claims are sustained, then the question, "Did Javan Homo erectus make stone tools?" might be answered in the affirmative.  The evidence is small, but I see no reason to doubt its authenticity" (Bellwood 1997:65).

The question seems to be answered in the affirmative with confirmation by Widianto's presentation to the 2006 IPPA.  This news also has been reported this week in the journal Science:

Science 21 April 2006:
Vol. 312. no. 5772, p. 361
DOI: 10.1126/science.312.5772.361
News Focus
MEETING BRIEFS:
Java Man's First Tools
Richard Stone

INDO-PACIFIC PREHISTORY ASSOCIATION CONGRESS, 20-26 MARCH 2006, MANILA
About 1.7 million years ago, a leggy human ancestor, Homo erectus, began prowling the steamy swamps and uplands of Java. That much is known from the bones of more than 100 individuals dug up on the Indonesian island since 1891. But the culture of early "Java Man" has been a mystery: No artifacts older than 1 million years had been found--until now.
At the meeting, archaeologist Harry Widianto of the National Research Centre of Archaeology in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, wowed colleagues with slides showing stone tools found in sediments that he says were laid down 1.2 million years ago and could be as old as 1.6 million years. The find, at a famous hominid site called Sangiran in the Solo Basin of Central Java, "opens up a whole new window into the lifeways of Java Man," says paleoanthropologist Russell L. Ciochon of the University of Iowa in Iowa City.....(more)

The entire article, free to all, with a nice photograph of  some examples of the stone tools, as well as a pdf download option, is available at: CLICK HERE.

Previously, here at Palanth, Jacques Cinq-Mars brought our attention to the schedule and abstracts for the 2006 IPPA Congress in Manila HERE.

Dar

 

[Robert Henvell]

There is also an article on the discovery of a  circa 2Ka old wood,coffin boat,which was found in clay deposits near the Red River in north Vietnam,[maybe some kind person will attach a link,because that is beyond the meager computer skills of the scribe].The wood planks were joined by tenons and mortise.A similar technique was used  in the eastern Mediterranean from circa 1300 BCE to 50ADE.The residents of Hemuda,who lived on the east  coast of China south of Shanghai [5000-4500 BCE] in an aquatic environment,used
mortise and tenons to expertly join the wood planks of their homes.One wooden pile structure was  23m long,[J Liu,1985,1993].They subsequently abandoned the village,
when it was inundated by a rise in sea level.

[Eric P Giese]

Thanks for that additional info, Robert.  Here's the story link:
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/sci;312/5772/360b

again, here is the list of abstracts for the associated conference:
http://arts.anu.edu.au/arcworld/ippa/Manila%20Program.htm

big thanks to Dar and Jacques Cinq-Mars for bringing this to our attention
-Eric

[Jacques Cinq-Mars]

There is also an article on the discovery of a  circa 2Ka old wood,coffin boat,which was found in clay deposits near the Red River in north Vietnam,[maybe some kind person will attach a link,because that is beyond the meager computer skills of the scribe].The wood planks were joined by tenons and mortise.A similar technique was used  in the eastern Mediterranean from circa 1300 BCE to 50ADE.The residents of Hemuda,who lived on the east  coast of China south of Shanghai [5000-4500 BCE] in an aquatic environment,used
mortise and tenons to expertly join the wood planks of their homes.One wooden pile structure was  23m long,[J Liu,1985,1993].They subsequently abandoned the village,
when it was inundated by a rise in sea level.

Bob,

Well, you now have the link you asked for, but, for the life of me, I cannot figure out what this otherwise interesting story has got to do with 'Java Man's First Tools'!

Jacques