Tag Archive for 'Wallacea'

An archaic hominin. Image credit: Ninara / CC BY 2.0.

Mystery Archaic Hominins Lived in Sulawesi 1.04 Million Years Ago

Aug 7, 2025 by News Staff

The dispersal of archaic hominins beyond mainland Southeast Asia (Sunda) represents the earliest evidence for humans crossing ocean barriers to reach isolated...

Map of Wallacea, delineating Birdsell’s northern and southern migration routes. The map also highlights the oldest Pleistocene sites on each island. Along the northern route, the following sites are indicated: 1) Leang Karampuang, Leang Tedongnge, and Leang Bulu Sipong 4, 2) Goa Topogaro, 3) Leang Sarru, 4) Daeo 2, 5) Golo, and 6) Kelo 6. On the southern route, the following sites are highlighted: 7) Liang Bua, 8) Lua Meko, 9) Makpan, 10) Laili, 11) Asitau Kuru, Lene Hara, Matja Kuru 2, 12) Here Sorot Entapa, and 13) Elivavan. The last two sites represent connections to Sahul: 14) Leang Lemdubu, currently in the Aru Islands but once connected to the mainland during the Pleistocene, and 15) Madjedbebe, the oldest known site in Sahul. Image credit: Kaharudin et al., doi: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.108834.

New Archaeological Evidence from Tanimbar Islands Shows Human Occupation 42,000 Years Ago

Jul 19, 2024 by News Staff

Tanimbar is one of the main island groups in Wallacea (a group of mainly Indonesian islands separated by deep-water straits from the Asian and Australian...

Male Caprimulgus ritae, Wetar, on October 13, 2014. Image credit: James Eaton.

New Species of Bird Discovered on Lesser Sunda Islands

Jul 1, 2024 by Natali Anderson

A team of scientists from the Swedish Museum of Natural History and elsewhere has described a new species of nightjar living in the tropical forests of...

Map of Sahul showing the extent of the now-submerged continental shelf (dark gray), with the area of the Northwest Shelf demarcated by a dashed black box, and the present-day distribution of the Köppen climate groups (seasonal precipitation and temperature) showing the extent of modern-day Australia and New Guinea. The tropical distribution of Late Pleistocene sites containing early axe technology are shown as black circles, sites without early axe technology as gray circles, and sites demonstrating Late Pleistocene occupation of the now submerged continental shelves as white circles. Image credit: Peter Hiscock / Norman et al., doi: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2023.108418.

Up To Half Million People Once Lived on Now-Submerged Northwest Shelf of Sahul

Dec 20, 2023 by News Staff

The new-submerged Northwest Shelf of Sahul — the combined landmass of Australia and New Guinea at times of lower sea level — was a vast area...

The 45,500-year-old Sulawesi warty pig figure in the rock art panel at Leang Tedongnge cave, Sulawesi, Indonesia. Image credit: Brumm et al., doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abd4648.

45,500-Year-Old Sulawesi Warty Pig Painting Found in Indonesian Cave

Jan 14, 2021 by News Staff

A team of archaeologists from Australia and Indonesia has discovered two figurative paintings of the Sulawesi warty pig (Sus celebensis) — a species...

The Taliabu grasshopper-warbler (Locustella portenta). Image credit: James Eaton / Birdtour Asia.

Researchers Discover Ten New Bird Taxa in Indonesia

Jan 10, 2020 by Natali Anderson

An international team of ornithologists has discovered five new species and five new subspecies of songbirds on little-explored islands off the northeastern...

Reconstruction of Homo floresiensis. Image credit: Kinez Riza / Atelier Elisabeth Daynes, Sangiran Museum.

Humans Interbred with Four Extinct Hominin Species, Research Finds

Jul 29, 2019 by News Staff

As anatomically modern Homo sapiens migrated out of Africa and around the rest of the world, they met and interbred with at least four different hominin...

Archaic Hominins Arrived in Philippines as Early as 700,000 Years Ago

May 7, 2018 by News Staff

An international team of scientists has unearthed 57 stone tools and butchered animal bones at Kalinga in the Cagayan Valley of northern Luzon, the largest...