Browsing by Author "Taçon, PSC"

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    Enigmatic human remains from the Pleistocene-Holocene transition of southwest China and the complex evolutionary history of east Asians
    (Australian Geosciences Council, 2012-08-05) Curnoe, D; Ji, X; Herries, AIR; Bai, K; Taçon, PSC; Bao, Z; Fink, D; Zhu, Y; Hellstrom, JC; Luo, Y; Cassis, G; Su, B; Wroe, S; Hong, S; Parr, WCH; Huang, S; Rogers, N
    The Upper Pleistocene hominin fossil record of East Asia is poorly known due to a scarcity of well-described, reliably classified and accurately dated fossils. In 2008, we started a joint project involving six Chinese and five Australian institutions to examine the later Pleistocene human record from southwest China. The region has been identified from genetic research as a hotspot of human diversity, and has yielded a number of human remains thought to derive from Pleistocene deposits. We prepared, reconstructed, described and dated a new partial skeleton from a consolidated sediment block collected in 1979 from the site of Longlin Cave (Guangxi Province). We also undertook new excavations at Maludong (Yunnan Province) to clarify the stratigraphy and dating of a large sample of mostly undescribed human remains from the site. Both samples probably derive from the same population, exhibiting an unusual mixture of modern human traits, characters probably plesiomorphic for later Homo, and some unusual features. We dated charcoal with AMS radiocarbon dating and speleothem with the Uranium-series technique and the results show both samples to be from the Pleistocene-Holocene transition: ∼14.3–11.5 ka. At nearby sites, some modern humans had already begun the economic transition to agriculture by this time. We suggest the Longlin-Maludong humans represent either a late-surviving archaic population or a previously unknown modern human group who colonised East Asia probably without leaving descendants. The archaeological record of Maludong indicates these humans were engaging in complex behaviours, including ochring bones and shells and manufacturing containers from human skulls.
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    Human remains from the Pleistocene-Holocene transition of Southwest China suggest a complex evolutionary history for East Asians
    (PLOS, 2012-03-14) Curnoe, D; Ji, X; Herries, AIR; Kanning, B; Taçon, PSC; Zhende, B; Fink, D; Yunsheng, Z; Hellstrom, JC; Yun, L; Cassis, G; Bing, S; Wroe, S; Shi, H; Parr, WCH; Shengmin, H; Rogers, N
    Background Later Pleistocene human evolution in East Asia remains poorly understood owing to a scarcity of well described, reliably classified and accurately dated fossils. Southwest China has been identified from genetic research as a hotspot of human diversity, containing ancient mtDNA and Y-DNA lineages, and has yielded a number of human remains thought to derive from Pleistocene deposits. We have prepared, reconstructed, described and dated a new partial skull from a consolidated sediment block collected in 1979 from the site of Longlin Cave (Guangxi Province). We also undertook new excavations at Maludong (Yunnan Province) to clarify the stratigraphy and dating of a large sample of mostly undescribed human remains from the site. Methodology/Principal Findings We undertook a detailed comparison of cranial, including a virtual endocast for the Maludong calotte, mandibular and dental remains from these two localities. Both samples probably derive from the same population, exhibiting an unusual mixture of modern human traits, characters probably plesiomorphic for later Homo, and some unusual features. We dated charcoal with AMS radiocarbon dating and speleothem with the Uranium-series technique and the results show both samples to be from the Pleistocene-Holocene transition: ∼14.3-11.5 ka. Conclusions/Significance Our analysis suggests two plausible explanations for the morphology sampled at Longlin Cave and Maludong. First, it may represent a late-surviving archaic population, perhaps paralleling the situation seen in North Africa as indicated by remains from Dar-es-Soltane and Temara, and maybe also in southern China at Zhirendong. Alternatively, East Asia may have been colonised during multiple waves during the Pleistocene, with the Longlin-Maludong morphology possibly reflecting deep population substructure in Africa prior to modern humans dispersing into Eurasia. © 2012 Curnoe et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License
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    Mid-Holocene age obtained for nested diamond pattern petroglyph in the Billasurgam Cave complex, Kurnool District, southern India.
    (Academic Press Ltd - Elsevier Science Ltd., 2013-04-01) Taçon, PSC; Boivin, N; Petraglia, M; Blinkhorn, J; Chivas, A; Roberts, RG; Fink, D; Higham, T; Ditchfield, P; Korisettar, R; Zhao, JX
    India has one of the world's largest and most significant bodies of rock paintings and engravings, yet not a single rock art site or image has been directly and accurately dated using radiometric techniques. Here we report on results from the Billasurgam Cave complex near Kurnool in southern India. Although this cave complex has been investigated archaeologically since the late 1800s, it was not until 2008 that a large petroglyph, consisting of the remains of three nested diamond designs on a stalactite, was noted. In order to determine if this petroglyph had been made recently, flowstone was sampled from on top of and below the engraving. Radiocarbon dating revealed a mid-Holocene age of about 5000 cal BP for the petroglyph, but we cannot rule out the possibility that the engraving is several centuries younger. Similar nested diamond designs at some rock painting sites and on a chest core elsewhere in India have been assumed to be Mesolithic. Our result is consistent with this hypothesis, although we note that it also consistent with the creation of the petroglyph in the early Neolithic. We conclude that the Billasurgam engraved diamond design was probably made by Mesolithic foragers of the Kurnool region and is the oldest surviving form of rock art yet directly dated in southern India. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.
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    Palaeolithic cave art in Borneo
    (Springer Nature, 2018-11-11) Aubert, M; Setiawan, P; Oktaviana, AA; Brumm, A; Sulistyarto, PH; Saptomo, EW; Istiawan, B; Ma'rifat, TA; Wahyuono, VN; Atmoko, FT; Zhao, JX; Huntley, J; Taçon, PSC; Howard, DL; Brand, HEA
    Figurative cave paintings from the Indonesian island of Sulawesi date to at least 35,000 years ago (ka) and hand-stencil art from the same region has a minimum date of 40 ka1. Here we show that similar rock art was created during essentially the same time period on the adjacent island of Borneo. Uranium-series analysis of calcium carbonate deposits that overlie a large reddish-orange figurative painting of an animal at Lubang Jeriji Saléh—a limestone cave in East Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo—yielded a minimum date of 40 ka, which to our knowledge is currently the oldest date for figurative artwork from anywhere in the world. In addition, two reddish-orange-coloured hand stencils from the same site each yielded a minimum uranium-series date of 37.2 ka, and a third hand stencil of the same hue has a maximum date of 51.8 ka. We also obtained uranium-series determinations for cave art motifs from Lubang Jeriji Saléh and three other East Kalimantan karst caves, which enable us to constrain the chronology of a distinct younger phase of Pleistocene rock art production in this region. Dark-purple hand stencils, some of which are decorated with intricate motifs, date to about 21–20 ka and a rare Pleistocene depiction of a human figure—also coloured dark purple—has a minimum date of 13.6 ka. Our findings show that cave painting appeared in eastern Borneo between 52 and 40 ka and that a new style of parietal art arose during the Last Glacial Maximum. It is now evident that a major Palaeolithic cave art province existed in the eastern extremity of continental Eurasia and in adjacent Wallacea from at least 40 ka until the Last Glacial Maximum, which has implications for understanding how early rock art traditions emerged, developed and spread in Pleistocene Southeast Asia and further afield. © 2018 Springer Nature Limited