Archaeologists in West Papua have discovered ancient resin that they say is the oldest evidence of humans reaching the Pacific Ocean. The team’s research, published earlier this month in the journal Antiquity, describes hardened tree resin from Mololo Cave on Waikio Island in the Raja Ampat Islands. Excavations in the cave have uncovered stone artefacts, animal bones, charcoal and resin, the last of which is crucial in determining when humans appeared in the area.
Dylan Gaffney, an archaeologist at the University of Oxford and lead author of the paper, said in a Phys press release: “Some of the bones in the sediment may be natural, including smaller rodents and microbats. “Other larger animals, such as land birds, marsupials and giant bats, are more likely the result of human predation. “
The team also found remains of marine animals in the cave – the teeth of carnivorous fish and sea urchins – suggesting ancient human occupants brought them to the cave from the coast (9.32 miles/15 kilometers away) and processed them.
The resin fragments the researchers found did not occur naturally. The resin is made by humans cutting bark from trees and then breaking the hardened resin into shape, according to the team, which described their work in an article in The Conversation. Although they are not sure how the resin was used, they speculate that it may have been the fuel source for the fire. Radiocarbon dating of the formation where the resin was found shows that humans were living in the caves as early as 55,000 years ago.
Exactly when and how humans migrated across Pacific islands remains a matter of debate. In ancient times, other humans such as The man stood up and small Homo floresiensis across the island (some researchers believe Homo floresiensis Just a smaller version Homo erectus). Although Mololo Cave is likely to be a smart manit is possible that this combination was created by humans more closely related to the Denisovans, a mysterious group of extinct ancient humans.
The Hopi on Flores became extinct around 50,000 years ago, and this study suggests that early modern humans may have arrived at Waigio around the same time, when Waitanta (ancient island, now Waigio The distance between the islands and the different islands of Batanta) and Batanta is only 1.55 miles (2.5 km) at its narrowest point on the ancient continent of Sahul.
“It is likely that Waitanta was first frequented by people living further west from Wallace, but it is also possible that humans initially entered Sahul via Australia and then moved rapidly northwest, from what is today New Guinea’s Bird’s Head Peninsula to Waitanta. Tanta, the study authors wrote.
The team also modeled potential routes that ancient humans might have entered New Guinea through the Raja Ampat Islands. Now they plan to further investigate sites on the archipelago to find out exactly when humans arrived and possibly identify the exact group of humans who were there at the time.
