Elsevier

Quaternary International

Volume 416, 19 September 2016, Pages 38-45
Quaternary International

The palaeoenvironmental context of the Palaeolithic of Java: A brief review

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2015.11.026Get rights and content

Abstract

The earliest Palaeolithic implements found in Java Island are older than 1 Ma, postdating the oldest Homo erectus fossils. The archaeological record subsequently documents Acheulean-like tools in early Middle Pleistocene deposits, a diversity of flake tools assemblages found in late Middle/early Upper Pleistocene sites, and the conspicuous development of cave occupations during the end of the Pleistocene and the early Holocene.

The environment, mostly forested during the Lower Pleistocene, underwent important changes during the setup of Mid-Pleistocene climatic conditions, then at the beginning of the Upper Pleistocene and at the boundary between MIS 2 and 1. Its reconstructions must also consider more local factors, e.g. the repetitive effects of the tectonic and volcanic activities, which had severe consequences on local climate, on the palaeogeography and the vegetal formations, or even isolation of faunistic and floristic groups.

Examples presented here broach the context of ancient human settlements and adaptation, from a multidisciplinary viewpoint that includes the study of the vegetal cover and the availability of lithic raw material. The associated vertebrate faunas, considered both as an environmental proxy and as a subsistence resource, reflect the contrasts between periods of contact with the mainland (increased biodiversity) and periods of isolation favouring endemism, and also the impact of local environmental constraints.

Section snippets

The early colonizers' adaptation and the chronology of human dispersals

Homo erectus, as attested by c. 1.5 Ma remains of archaic specimens discovered in the Solo sedimentary basin in Sangiran (Central Java, see for instance Swisher et al., 1994, Sémah et al., 2000), colonized new lands south of the Equator during the Lower Pleistocene, through land bridges (Fig. 1a) reaching the southernmost part of the Sunda shelf. These earliest islanders subsequently lived in isolated conditions during glacial periods, and had to adapt to several environments in which they had

The impact of climate and natural events: the broad picture

The links between climate, palaeogeography, environmental evolution patterns on the one hand and human biological and socio-cultural adaptation on the other is therefore critical in order to study human evolution in Island Southeast Asia. In the case of Java, these natural factors do not only include major climatic cycles driven impacts, as we must also take into account the severe consequences of volcano-tectonic activity (Bemmelen, 1949, Sémah, 1986). For instance, it is likely that, though

The Lower Pleistocene series in the Sangiran Dome

The Solo area was still covered by the sea at the dawn of the Quaternary period, when the present Sunda volcanic arc began to produce huge amounts of effluents (ashes then lahars) that progressively dammed shallow basins and lagoons. It is not easy in such a context, when studying the recessions of the sea and the palaeoenvironment on the inland, to discriminate the eustatic oscillations and the climate driven vegetal landscape evolution from the volcanic impact. Although the pollen record (

Towards an accurate palaeoenvironmental chronology

Field studies in continental environment do not provide as yet a detailed biostratigraphy or a continuous palaeoenvironmental record that can be fully correlated with the marine isotopic stratigraphy. The early biostratigraphical framework proposed by von Koenigswald (1949), partly grounded on collections lacking of stratigraphical control, was subsequently revised (Vos et al., 1982, Vos et al., 1994) and provides a sound although still schematic biozonation that must be refined according to

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