Hominid Evolution in Southeast Asia: A Multidisciplinary Field Project in West Java, Indonesia

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This project will continue paleoanthropological, archaeological and geological fieldwork in West Java, Indonesia, during the summer of 1999. Preliminary surveys and excavations, undertaken at two sites in West Java during June 1997, brought to light numerous large mammal fossils similar to those found at the famous, early pleistocene fossil hominid site of Sangiran in Central Java. The island of Java, however, emerged from the sea from west to east, requiring mammals (including hominids) to migrate through western Java to reach its central and eastern portions. This fact is encouraging regarding the potential of our fieldwork to recover the first West Javan and possibly the most ancient non-African hominids yet found. Important paleoanthropological questions will be directly addressed by this research, including: 1) Who were, and when did, the first hominids migrate to southeastern Asia, 2) What were their behavioral capabilities, and 3) Did they leave any modern human descendants in the region? In addition to its anthropological value, this project presents an opportunity to reinforce and expand professional relationships between geologists, archaeologists and paleoanthropologists in Indonesia and the United States.