印尼弗洛勒斯島上的類人猿活動可以追溯到至少80萬年前，對位于Soa Basin中Mata Menge的考古點（這個地方的考古結果是在位于西邊的Liang Bua的“弗洛勒斯人”化石被發(fā)現(xiàn)之前發(fā)表的） 通過“裂變徑跡”法進行年代測定獲得的證據(jù)證明了這一點,。
在Soa Basin中另一地點進行的新的研究工作（關于這項工作的新聞報道,，利用更準確的40Ar/39Ar測年技術發(fā)現(xiàn),，類人猿100萬年前就在弗洛勒斯島上生活,。這個發(fā)現(xiàn)對認為類人猿的到來是造成一種巨龜和矮象大量死亡的一個因素的觀點提出了疑問,，相反它們的大量死亡可能與自然過程有關,。(生物谷Bioon.com)
Nature：西伯利亞發(fā)現(xiàn)約100萬年前古人種化石
Animal Cognition：類人猿擁有元認知的能力
Nature：早期類人猿的進化及分類
生物谷推薦原文出處：
Nature doi:10.1038/nature08844
Hominins on Flores, Indonesia, by one million years ago
Adam Brumm1, Gitte M. Jensen2, Gert D. van den Bergh1,3, Michael J. Morwood1, Iwan Kurniawan4, Fachroel Aziz4 & Michael Storey2
Previous excavations at Mata Menge and Boa Lesa in the Soa Basin of Flores, Indonesia, recovered stone artefacts in association with fossilized remains of the large-bodied Stegodon florensis florensis 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Zircon fission-track ages from these sites indicated that hominins had colonized the island by 0.88±0.07 million years (Myr) ago6. Here we describe the contents, context and age of Wolo Sege, a recently discovered archaeological site in the Soa Basin that has in situ stone artefacts and that lies stratigraphically below Mata Menge and immediately above the basement breccias of the basin. We show using 40Ar/39Ar dating that an ignimbrite overlying the artefact layers at Wolo Sege was erupted 1.02?±?0.02?Myr ago, providing a new minimum age for hominins on Flores. This predates the disappearance from the Soa Basin of ‘pygmy’ Stegodon sondaari and Geochelone spp. (giant tortoise), as evident at the nearby site of Tangi Talo, which has been dated to 0.90±0.07Myr ago10. It now seems that this extirpation or possible extinction event and the associated faunal turnover were the result of natural processes rather than the arrival of hominins9. It also appears that the volcanic and fluvio-lacustrine deposits infilling the Soa Basin may not be old enough to register the initial arrival of hominins on the island.
