The prehistoric humans in Wallacea

 According to recent discoveries that have been made in Sulawesi, Indonesia, it is claimed that the early settlement by human beings in the Wallacea region occurred about 1.5 million years ago.  In fact, stone tools that were found by archeologists have pointed to the fact that Homo erectus lived in islands between Asia and Australia much earlier than earlier postulated.  This throws doubt on the preconceived ideas of early migration patterns and nautical skills of the humans.

Discovery of the Stone Tools

Australian and Indonesian archaeologists found crumbly stone tools that were small fragments in Soppeng, South Sulawesi. The tools were utilised in carving rocks and chopping small animals. The artifacts that were buried in the layers of earth were dated using radioactive method, through which a date of up to 1.48 million years was discovered. The ages of the dating were supported by animal teeth found next to it.

Insignificance of the Results

It used to be thought that early settlement of Wallacea saw people living on adjacent islands such as Flores and Luzon roughly a million years ago. These new finds in Sulawesi have lengthened the chronology by more than a half a million years. Those suggest the possibility that Homo erectus could have crossed oceanic gaps at a much earlier period than it was assumed. This implies that early human beings were in position to island hop or travel on water.

Theories of Human Migration/Implications

The discovery throws doubt on the view that early human beings did not have the capability of crossing thick waters. It implies that the Homo erectus could have migrated to Wallacea islands long before it arrived at the Asian continent. This raises new arguments on the directions and mechanism through which the ancient humans dispersed in Australia and the Pacific.

With regards to the Wallacea Region

The islands that constitute Wallacea group in Eastern Indonesia include Sulawesi, Lombok, Flores, Timor and Sumbawa. It lies off Australasia and the eastern coast of New Guinea to one eastern side and large islands of Java and Borneo to the other western side. The name of the region honors the corresponding flora and fauna researcher Naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace. The biogeographical zone of Wallacea may have a mixture of Asian and Australasian species.

Homo Erectus and early Human species

Much before the appearance of Homo sapiens, there was an ancient form of a now-extinct species of humans; Homo erectus. They could themselves adjust to numerous environments and produce stone tools. The oldest evidence of their existence proves to be on the islands of Wallacea, through the Sulawesi implements, which show the advanced survival capabilities and adaptations.