Revised age and stratigraphy of the classic Homo erectus-bearing succession at Trinil (Java, Indonesia)
Hilgen, Sander L.; Pop, Eduard; Adhityatama, Shinatria; Veldkamp, Tom A.; Berghuis, Harold W.K.; Sutisna, Indra; Yurnaldi, Dida; Dupont-Nivet, Guillaume; Reimann, Tony; Nowaczyk, Norbert; Kuiper, Klaudia F.; Krijgsman, Wout; Vonhof, Hubert B.; Ekowati, Dian Rahayu; Alink, Gerrit; Hafsari, Ni Luh Gde Dyah Mega; Drespriputra, Olafianto; Verpoorte, Alexander; Bos, Remco; Simanjuntak, Truman; Prasetyo, Bagyo; Joordens, Josephine C.A.
(2023) Quaternary Science Reviews, volume 301, pp. 1 - 18
(Article)
Abstract
Obtaining accurate age control for fossils found on Java (Indonesia) has been and remains challenging due to geochronologic and stratigraphic uncertainties. In the 1890s, Dubois excavated numerous faunal fossils—including the first remains of Homo erectus—in sediments exposed along the Solo River at Trinil. Since then, various, and often contradictory age
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estimates have been proposed for the Trinil site and its fossils. However, the age of the fossil-bearing layers and the fossil assemblage remains inconclusive. This study constructs a chronostratigraphic framework for the Trinil site by documenting new stratigraphic sections and test pits, and by applying 40Ar/39Ar, paleomagnetic, and luminescence (pIRIR290) dating methods. Our study identifies two distinct, highly fossiliferous channel fills at the Trinil site. The stratigraphically lower Bone-Bearing Channel 1 (BBC-1) dates to 830–773 ka, while Bone-Bearing Channel 2 (BBC-2) is substantially younger with a maximum age of 450 ± 110 ka and an inferred minimum age of 430 ± 50 ka. Furthermore, significantly younger T2 terrace deposits are present at similar low elevations as BBC-1 and BBC-2. Our results demonstrate the presence of Early and Middle Pleistocene, and potentially even late Middle to Late Pleistocene fossiliferous sediments within the historical excavation area, suggesting that Dubois excavated fossils from at least three highly fossiliferous units with different ages. Moreover, evidence for reworking suggests that material found in the fossil-rich strata may originate from older deposits, introducing an additional source of temporal heterogeneity in the Trinil fossil assemblage. This challenges the current assumption that the Trinil H.K. fauna –which includes Homo erectus-is a homogeneous biostratigraphic unit. Furthermore, this scenario might explain why the Trinil skullcap collected by Dubois is tentatively grouped with Homo erectus fossils from Early Pleistocene sediments at Sangiran, while Trinil Femur I shares affinities with hominin fossils of Late Pleistocene age.
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Keywords: Ar/Ar, Biostratigraphy, Hominin evolution, Luminescence dating, Paleomagnetism, Pleistocene, Global and Planetary Change, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Archaeology, Archaeology, Geology
ISSN: 0277-3791
Publisher: Elsevier Limited
Note: Funding Information: Along with demagnetization behaviors, Curie balance thermomagnetic measurements enabled us to better assess the origin and reliability of the ChRM (SOM Fig. S8; SOM Table S5; SOM Text S6). The results mainly show reversible heating-cooling curves with most of the magnetization decrease around 500 °C, typical of magnetite. This, in view of the volcanic lithologies and the generally high intensities and low coercivities, suggests that magnetite of a volcanic origin holds a major component of the remanence. Generally, the rock magnetic behaviors support our interpretation of a secondary origin for the LCC/LTC from very low coercivity magnetite-like carriers, while the HCC/HTC more likely represent a primary magnetization from more stable magnetite-like carriers.TS, JJ, and SA conceived and designed the project. JJ aquired the funding. SH, SA, EP, TV, TS, HB and JJ conceptualized the research. BP, SA, DRE, MH and TS ensured embedding in the Indonesian research infrastructure, and MH and DRE conducted project and fieldwork administration. SH, EP, SA, MH, IS, DY, TR, HB, TV, DRE, AV, GA, OD, RB, MH and JJ participated in the fieldwork, that was overall supervised by SA and JJ. EP, SA and AV directed the excavations. IS, OD and GA excavated, curated and analyzed faunal fossils. SH, TV, DY, HB, HV, EP, RB and JJ did the geological investigation and analysis. SH and KK conducted the Ar/Ar dating. SH, DY, GD-N, WK and NN measured and interpreted the paleomagnetic samples. SH and TR conducted the luminescence dating. SH designed the figures and wrote the manuscript with EP, KK, SA and JJ. All authors contributed to the writing, review and editing of the manuscript.This study was carried out with the permission of the Indonesian Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education (RISTEK research permits: 263/SIP/FRP/ES/Dit.KI/VII/2016, 33/SIP/FRP/E5/Dit.KI/II/2018 and 12/E5/E5.4/SIP.EXT/2019 of Josephine Joordens; 8 B/TKPIPA/E5/Dit.KI/VIII/2018 and 2/TKPIPA/E5/Dit.KI/II/2019 of Sander Hilgen) under the project ‘Studying Human Origin in East Java’. We thank Arkenas (Pusat Penelitian Arkeologi Nasional) and in particular Dr. I Made Geria, Priyatno Hadi Sulistyarto, and Marlon Ririmasse for facilitating and supporting our collaborative research. We would also like to thank BPCB Jawa Timur and the Government Regency of Ngawi for giving us support and permission to do research in Trinil. We are grateful to the people of Trinil, Kawu and Ngancar and the staff of the Trinil Museum for their hospitality and support. We thank our 2016, 2018 and 2019 fieldwork teams, notably collaborators and assistants Catur Hari Gumono, Agus Hadi Widianto and Suwono, and the Gadjah Mada University students Triastuti Puji Hapsari, Abdul Aziz and Nadia Shafira. We acknowledge Frank Huffman's contributions to the 2016 fieldwork campaign and the planning of the 2017–2019 fieldwork campaign. Alice Versendaal and Roel van Elsas are thanked for their technical support in the lab. The research was funded by the Treub Foundation (Maatschappij voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek in de Tropen), SNMAP (Stichting Nederlands Museum voor Anthropologie en Praehistorie), the Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, and the Dutch Research Council NWO (Grant number 016. Vidi.171.049 to Joordens). Funding Information: This study was carried out with the permission of the Indonesian Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education ( RISTEK research permits: 263/SIP/FRP/ES/Dit.KI/VII/2016 , 33/SIP/FRP/E5/Dit.KI/II/2018 and 12/E5/E5.4/SIP.EXT/2019 of Josephine Joordens ; 8 B/TKPIPA/E5/Dit.KI/VIII/2018 and 2/TKPIPA/E5/Dit.KI/II/2019 of Sander Hilgen) under the project ‘Studying Human Origin in East Java’. We thank Arkenas (Pusat Penelitian Arkeologi Nasional) and in particular Dr. I Made Geria, Priyatno Hadi Sulistyarto, and Marlon Ririmasse for facilitating and supporting our collaborative research. We would also like to thank BPCB Jawa Timur and the Government Regency of Ngawi for giving us support and permission to do research in Trinil. We are grateful to the people of Trinil, Kawu and Ngancar and the staff of the Trinil Museum for their hospitality and support. We thank our 2016, 2018 and 2019 fieldwork teams, notably collaborators and assistants Catur Hari Gumono, Agus Hadi Widianto and Suwono, and the Gadjah Mada University students Triastuti Puji Hapsari, Abdul Aziz and Nadia Shafira. We acknowledge Frank Huffman's contributions to the 2016 fieldwork campaign and the planning of the 2017–2019 fieldwork campaign. Alice Versendaal and Roel van Elsas are thanked for their technical support in the lab. The research was funded by the Treub Foundation (Maatschappij voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek in de Tropen), SNMAP (Stichting Nederlands Museum voor Anthropologie en Praehistorie), the Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University , and the Dutch Research Council NWO (Grant number 0 16. Vidi.171.049 to Joordens). Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Authors
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