The first bronzed Aussie?
The Age Tuesday 26 June 2001
By DENNIS SCHULZ
FLORES ISLAND
Australian and Indonesian archaeologists have found fossils believed to belong to this
extinct branch of humanity's family tree, Homo erectus, on a remote island that in ancient
times was only few hundred kilometres from the Australian mainland.
It is the first such find in eastern Indonesia, and could rewrite the history books,
showing that Homo erectus travelled much further, and was probably much brighter, than
previously thought.
The find also raises the possibility that this extinct human species travelled as far as
Australia before the first Homo sapiens, the ancestors of today's Aborigines, set foot on
the continent.
The excavation on Flores Island is being led by archaeologist Mike Morwood, of New England
University, in NSW, in a joint venture with Indonesia's Project Pusat Archaeology.
Situated in a limestone cave in the volcano land of central Flores, the excavation also
yielded the fossil remains of a variety of extinct animals and dozens of stone tools.
The scientists believe they have evidence that people had been sheltering in the cave for
tens of thousands of years.
"We've got a long sequence, and almost certainly have evidence for the arrival of
modern people here, and in that sequence are the ancestors of the first people to colonise
Australia," Dr Morwood said.
Initial dating of the site was undertaken by two of the world's most respected
archaeological dating experts, Jack Rink and Richard Roberts, both of Melbourne
University.
Indisputable dates of the site's antiquity are paramount before firm conclusions can be
drawn, but all agree that the presence of Homo erectus in Flores will rewrite the
prehistory of the region.
"That would make a strong case for Homo erectus being the first humans into northern
Australia and Homo sapiens simply following in their footsteps," Dr Roberts said.
"It can't be disputed at the present time because we have no skeletal remains from
the oldest sites in northern Australia."
END OF REPORT
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