Scientists Befuddled After Finding First-Ever Hominin Fossils In Sundaland — It Could Rewrite Migration Patterns

Hominins took over the world after departing from Africa. However, what remains a mystery is how this expansion was facilitated, which places were chosen for settlement, and why. Fossil discoveries help experts paint an accurate picture. In a recent study published in Quaternary Environments and Humans, researchers explain which hominin species lived in Sundaland, a biogeographical region in Southeast Asia, based on these discoveries. It is partially submerged, and therefore, detecting fossils on it has been a challenging pursuit, according to Phys.org. However, a construction project helped experts get their hands on the remains, which eventually became the subject of this study. The hominin fossils uncovered from Sundaland are the first of their kind.

First-ever hominin remains from Sundaland

The wider area, "Sunda Shelf," which contains Sundaland, sports a rich Pleistocene hominin fossil record, as per past discoveries. This record indicates species such as archaic Homo, Homo Erectus, Homo floresiensis and Homo luzonensis lived in the area during that period. Sundaland, which is now partially submerged, was formed during the Pleistocene. It has been speculated that hominins also populated Sundaland at that time; however, their remains were out of reach for experts, as the landmass is mostly underwater. It made it challenging for experts to trace the evolutionary and migratory history of hominins that once inhabited the place.

Revelation through Construction Project

During a construction project aimed at building an artificial island in Indonesia, officials carried out a dredging operation in the area, according to Daily Galaxy. While clearing out the bed, the team discovered many ancient fossil remains, with over 6,700 vertebrate fossils in the collection. Amongst these vertebrate fossils, two were identified as hominin remains. These two were named Madura Strait 1 (MS1) and Madura Strait 2 (MS2). Both of them were the first ever hominin remains to be unearthed from Sundaland. 

Analysis revealed that MS1 shared most similarities with Homo Erectus specimens found in Java, which dated back to late Middle Pleistocene (around 140,000 to 92,000 years ago). It implies that Homo Erectus population was not confined to Java in Southeast Asia. They possibly expanded to the exposed lowland plains of Sundaland during the Pleistocene period. If the assertion is true then Homo Erectus had a broader geographical range than experts previously assumed. MS2 could not be identified with a particular hominin species, but was found to have certain characteristics akin to archaic Homo species.

Implications of this discovery

The site from which they unearthed fossils was dry and open during the Middle Pleistocene. This assertion was based on the discovery of a wide range of fossils from dredging. Along with the hominin specimens, experts detected remains of species, like "Axis lydekkeri," "Stegodon trigonocephalus," "Epileptobos groeneveldtii," and "Epileptobos groeneveldtii" in the collection. If such a massive variety could co-exist on the site, then it possibly had the aforementioned appealing conditions.

OSL dating of sediments in which the fossil was buried turned out to be 162 ± 31 and 119 ± 27 ka, according to Phys.org. It implied that the hominins lived in Sundaland at the Marine Isotope Stage 6 (MIS6) phase. In this phase, the place experienced significant fluctuations in sea levels. These fluctuations played a part in shaping the environment and the migration pattern of early humans. Hominin species living in the area during this phase indicate that early humans were capable of adapting to a host of environmental conditions. The adaptation enabled them to move across Sundaland and beyond. Researchers are hopeful that more collaborations with construction companies will be there in the future. At present, construction endeavors are the only way to get adequate funding for fossil extraction from seabeds. These relationships will enable experts to find the remains and learn more about the hominin species that inhabited the place.