Ngandong man: age and artifacts

Gert-Jan Bartstra Ngandong man: age and artifacts Biologisch-ArchaeoLogixch Instituut, Groningen, The Netherlands

Santosa Soegondho

Pusat Penelitian Arkeologi Nasional, Jakarta, Indonesia

Albert van der Wijk

Much attention has been given in recent years to the chronometric dating of the hominid-bearing deposits in Java, Indonesia. This paper contributes to this in giving U-series ages for vertebrate remains associated with the Ngandong hominids. A small discussion of stone tools from the same deposits is included.

Centrum uoor Isotopen Onderzoek, Gmningen, The Netherlands

Received 17 August 1987 Revision received 17 January 1988 and accepted 8 February 1988

Keywords: Homo erectus, Pleistocene man, stone artifacts, autochthonous, Solo High Terrace, Uranium-series dates.

Publication date June 1988 Joumai of Human &&ion, 17, 325-337

I

The localities of Homo erectus fossils in Island Southeast Asia (Trinil, Ngandong, Sambungmacan, Sangiran) are situated near the Solo, the largest river of Central Java (Figure 1). In the same region numerous stone tools are also to be found, but it is difficult to establish an association between particular industries and fossil human remains (Bartstra, 1982).

Dubois (1894) found Pithecanthropus erectus (now Homo erectus erectus) in the bank of the Solo river, near the village of Trinil. Dubois was always of the opinion that the stream

Figure 1. Central and East Java in Island Southeast Asia showing fossil locaiities and prehistoric sites referred to in the text.

0047-2484/88/030325 + 13 $03.00/O 0 1988 Academic Press Limited

326 GERT-JAN BARTSTRA ET AL.

sediments along the Solo all constitute a single stratigraphic unit. But one of his contemporaries, the geologist Elbert (1908), hinted 1 a ready at the existence of three distinct fluviatile units along the Solo in Central Java. Local sections reveal a lower unit laid down by pre-Solo streams, but incised by the present-day Solo (the so-called Kabuh layers’); a medium unit deposited by the incipient Solo (the so-called High Terrace); and an upper unit directly connected with the drainage pattern of the present-day Solo (the so-called Low Terrace). These three units can be traced nearly everywhere along the course of the Solo.

The Solo terraces were studied closely after the discovery of Homo (Jauanthropus) soloensis

(now Homo erectus soloensis) in a High Terrace fill near the village of Ngandong (Oppenoorth, 1932). Here the Solo river cuts through a range of hills, the so-called Kendeng ridge. On the valley-slopes remnants of lateral river terraces can be traced. Initially two terraces were distinguished (DuyfJes 1936; Lehmann 1936), later three (de Terra 1943) and still later as many as five (Sartono 1976). But ter Haar (1934), who actually discovered the fossil locality of Ngandong, pointed out that because of tilting and subsequent dissection and denudation, the currently visible terrace remnants no longer correspond to the original terrace levels. Analysis of the height of the present High Terrace surface thus says very little, especially since the surviving remnants are often only recognizable in dissected sloping gravel sheets.

Current re-study of the geological situation shows that only two distinct terraces can be discerned along the Solo in Central Java: a High and a Low Terrace (or, in Sartono’s 1976 designation, a Ngandong and a Jipangulu Terrace). Taking into account slides and slumps, it is possible to presume the existence of a few levels within the High Terrace, recognizable in weak breaks in the valley slopes.

It must be realized that the term High Terrace along the Solo has a geomorphological and a stratigraphical meaning. Failing to distinguish between the two has been the cause of confusion in the literature on the fluviatile sections along the Solo. In various places High Terrace remnants (in a geomorphological sense) are traceable against the valley slopes

(e.g., in the surroundings of Ngandong). Yet elsewhere, for example, where the river meanders in the lowland bordering the Kendeng ridge, High Terrace deposits (in a stratigraphical sense) dip below younger sediments.

The Solo High Terrace has been accorded an Upper Pleistocene age on the basis of in situ

vertebrate fossils (von Koenigswald, 1939). Th is age can be confirmed by means of geomorphological reasoning (history of the Solo drainage basin). From a stratigraphic point of view the High Terrace fills are younger than the Kabuh layers. An erosional unconformity exists between this lower fluviatile unit and superincumbent High Terrace,

whereas locally the so-called Notopuro-lahars are yet intercalated. In our opinion these lahars mark the end of the middle Pleistocene (Bartstra, in press; Bartstra & Basoeki, in press). Therefore, we do not yet accept Howell’s (1986) suggestion that a middle Pleistocene age might be considered for the Solo High Terrace. The Notopuro fission-track date on which he bases his opinion will be referred to later.

1 Recently new stratigraphical names have been introduced in the geological literature ofJava (e.g., Itihm et al., 19856). In principle, we agree with these authors and with e.g., Leinders etal., 1985, that objections exist to the use ofthe stratigraphic terminology inherited from the 193Os, and we certainly wish to consider caution in the use of these designations. But it must also be remembered that these traditional stratigraphic names are deeply entrenched in the literature and in the minds ofthe students ofJavanese Quaternary geology. Therefore, we prefer (at least in this paper) to maintain the original nomenclature, whilst explaining what is precisely meant with every term (Bartstra, 1984). In this paper “Kabuh layers” is used as a synonym for “lower fluviatile unit”.

NGANDONG MAN: AGE AND ARTIFACTS 327

II

The remains of Homo erectus soloensis were excavated during the 1930s. They consist of eleven skulls (calvaria and calottes) and two shin bones (tibiae; Day, 1986). In reports on the original excavations it is stated that the High Terrace at Ngandong has been dug away completely except for a small part that has been preserved for future research. Now, half a century later, it is not easy to locate this small area of High Terrace, but with the aid of a

few elderly villagers we have been able to do SO. In 1986 a small pit was dug in this

preserved remnant, in order to collect bone samples down to the bed-rock for U(ranium)-series dating.

Oppenoorth (1932, 1936) h as g iven a detailed stratigraphy of the High Terrace area near Ngandong. The terrace as he found it was several metres thick and was deposited on a bedrock of Neogene marl, the core of the Kendeng anticline. The base of the terrace lay on average 20 metres above the Solo river. The fill itself consisted of gravelly tuffaceous sand. In total, five strata could be distinguished. The top section appeared to be local alluvium, consisting of debris from the valley slopes higher up. Vertebrate remains were found in the lowermost section, about half a metre thick.

During the 1986 excavation it was possible to clarify Oppenoorth’s stratigraphy. We are of the opinion that he went rather too far in distinguishing five separate terrace strata: we recognized only three (note also the observations made at Ngandong by Itihara et al.,

19856). On the other hand, the stratigraphy that we observed represents only one small part of an original terrace surface of some tens of square metres in area, where local differences were undoubtedly present. Our pit measured 1 Yz X 1% metres. We had to go down 2Y2 metres before we reached the marly bedrock. The first bone fragments were encountered at a depth of more than 1 metre, below a top section with local debris (marly lumps). Vetebrate fragments were found irregularly distributed in the section below this local alluvium, right to the bottom of our pit.

The gravelly-sandy terrace fill near Ngandong is very distinct from the coarse cross-valley dipping gravels that are referred to as High Terrace elsewhere along the Solo. However, in many places it is obvious that these gravel-sheets (expanded as a result of creep) form the residue of a fill that was formerly much more varied, and from which the tines have now disappeared.

A few years ago a first attempt was made to determine the age of fossil vertebrate bones from terrace deposits along the Solo by means of the U(ranium)-series disequilibrium

method, yielding interesting though not conclusive results (previously announced in e.g., Orchiston & Siesser, 1982; and SCmah, 1986; see Trinil samples in Table 1).

Fossil bones show high U concentrations (l-1000 ppm), while in bones from freshly killed animals U usually does not exceed 0.1 ppm, indicating that U is taken up by bones post mortem, presumably from groundwater (Schwartz, 1982). If U-uptake ceases after a period of time that is relatively short compared to the age of the bone, and the bone subsequently behaves as a closed system for U and its radioactive daughter-product Th (orium), it should be possible to derive reliable *seThPU ages.

Although previous archaeometric studies indicated U uptake over a period of time in the order of 300 ka (300,000 years), Schwartz (1982) discussed the methods this was based on and concluded that the evidence of U increase with age is not substantiated. Furthermore,


Table 1 U-series data obtained from Java bone samples

Sample* Code**

U-COIl-

centration

(ppm)

23OTh/234U

age 2s”Th/‘s2Th (ka)

Ngandong B (surface) G-86656 C (l.lOm) G-86657 D(l.20m) G-86658 E(l.65m) G-86659

F(l.96m) G-86688

G (2.20 m) G-86689

H (2.30 m) G-86690

J (2.32m) G-8669 1

K (2.50 m) G-87037

Matar

L (HTchop) G-87038

P (HTtimur3) G-87039

Tapan

T (in situ G-87046 gravel)

Trinil TRI-4 79v290/*+

291 TRI-5 80MlOO TRI-6 80Bl51/152+*

8OMllO

45 12 18 82

128

68

54

74

48

153

94

70

139

155 99

1~092+0~011 0.375 + 0.033 1,150 f 0.015 0.342 + 0.035 1.112 + 0.013 0.323 z!z 0.028 1,207 * 0.007 0.344 + 0.040

1.417 + 0.005 0.409 f 0.058

1.280 ? 0.006 0.247 + 0.02 1

1.252 + O-006 0.540 * 0.040

1.427 t 0.006 0.489 k 0.044

1.164 + 0.011 0.617 + 0.041

1.039 ? 0.006 0.788 -t 0.053 232 & 78

1.114 + 0.007 0,343 + 0.027 140 + 70

I-145 ? 0.008 0.849 + 0.057

1.055+ 0.027+

1.088+ 0.228+ 1.166 + 0.007 0,588 t- 0.012

150+45 26? 7 27+ 6

120+36

cc

co

118+30

cc

93f31

65t 13

_++

_++ _++

51+ 5 45+ 5 42i- 4 45i 6

56+

31t ;

82t 7

70-t $

101 f ;:,

ca. 3

ca. 35 ca.94+ 3

Most bones were too fragmentary to make determination possible. However, sample D appeared to be a bovid cervical vertebra, and sample L contained amongst others a fragment of a bovid molar (det. Dr D. A. Hooijer). * For the Ngandong samples the depth is given in metres. For the other localities, see text. ** Codes starting with “G” denote analysis in Groningen; other codes (Trinil samples) denote analysis in

Amsterdam (ZWO Laboratorium voor Isotopen-geologie). + No errors were quoted. ++ Not determined. *+ Average of two analyses (79V290 and 79V291). +* Average of three analyses (808151, 80Bl52 and 80Ml10).

Szabo (1980) suggested, by comparing *saThPU ages with 1% ages, that U-uptake ceases after approximately 2-3 ka. In the case of the Ngandong terrace the main supply of U must have ended when the water table sank below the terrace level, as from that moment on the only water supply to the terrace was from U-free rain. Therefore, closed system behaviour could only have been disturbed by relocation of U and/or Th due to ion exchange or washing by percolating rainwater. In view of the strong binding of U in the

apatite crystal lattice washing of U seems rather unlikely. However, we cannot rule out the possibility of additional uptake of U, leached by percolating rainwater from surrounding gravel or mineral material.

The bone samples collected at Ngandong (as well as a few bone fragments from two other sites referred to later: Matar and Tapan) were analysed at the Centrum voor


Isotopen Onderzoek in Groningen, where the U-series disequilibrium dating technique

was being developed (van der Wijk, 1987). S mall pieces were crushed in a mortar and

transferred to a 250 ml beaker where drops of concentrated HCl (36% by weight) were added. Following total dissolution of the sample overnight the liquid was separated from the (hardly visible) remaining solids by centrifugation. A known quantity of a calibrated zsXJ/2*sTh spike was added to the solution from which U and Th were separated and purified, using chemical techniques that are described elsewhere (van der Wijk et al., 1986). Chemical yields for this method were acceptable for U (ca. 50%) but low for Th (ca. l-4%), due to the presence oflarge quantities ofphosphates obstructing and saturating the Th purifying ion exchange column. This results in relatively large uncertainties for the Th concentrations.

Based on the results of the radiometric determinations of the Ngandong bone samples (B-K, see Figure 2) some observations concerning closed-system behaviour can be put forward:

1 The variation in 234U/*3W activity ratio indicates that U was accumulated from sources that were separated either in place or in time. As the bones were all taken from one excavation it is likely that for each bone sample the period of U-uptake must have been limited in time to preserve its characteristic 234U/*ssU activity ratio.

0 50 100

Figure 2. U-series ages from the 1986 Ngandong dig plotted against depth


2. The rate of U accumulation, and hence the present-day U concentration, may be strongly bone-dependent. However, if continuous uptake of U is modelled as a first order kinetic process, one would expect a younger age at higher U concentration due to dilution of Th with respect to U. The measurements show no correlation between U concentration and deduced age, which is consistent with post-mortem U uptake over a limited period of time.

3. The extremely high *seTh/*s*Th activity ratios indicate that there has been no contamination with environmental Th.

4. For the Ngandong samples the deduced *sOTh/ss”U ages show a tendency to increase with depth which is consistent with the presumed stratigraphy (see Figure 2).

These considerations are all more or less consistent with closed system behaviour. The fact that the sources for U accumulation must have been separated in time leaves the possibility open that the main U supply came from the river. We have obtained no direct evidence that U-uptake has been limited in time, and consequently our deduced ages must be considered minimum ages. On the other hand the internal consistency between the ages at different depths in the terrace, regardless of the U concentration, is good, which tentatively leads us to conclude that the investigated bones from Ngandong resemble a closed system for U and Th.

The deduced *soTh/*s4U ages may thus approximate true age; they are in any case consistent with the outcome ofgeomorphic reasoning which indicates an upper Pleistocene age for the Solo High Terrace. At the same time we are painfully aware of the uncertainties which surround our dates, caused both by an inadequate field sample (one pit at one place) and an incipient laboratory procedure (whole bone versus outer surface analysis). So let us caution that at this stage our results are presented to wet the appetite of palaeontologists and palaeoanthropologists alike, in an attempt to answer Hutterer’s (1985) call for more information from Pleistocene Southeast Asia.

IV

The question now arises to what extent the fossil vertebrate bones in the High Terrace at

Ngandong are autochthonous or (partly) allochthonous, i.e., derived from the vertebrate

bearing Middle Pleistocene lower fluviatile unit or Kabuh layers, that the Solo has cut into further south.

In his study of the Ngandong skulls Santa Luca (1980) concludes that late Homo erectus

groups once must have been present in Java. But at the same time he harbours doubts about the Ngandong hominid remains, and he wonders whether they are perhaps derived from older sediments. Eye-witnesses of the original excavations have never doubted that the Ngandong skulls were contemporaneous with the excavated fauna. They all maintain that the state of preservation of the skulls were comparable to that of the associated fauna1 remains, and that the distribution of the skulls over the terrace area leaves no doubt as to an in situ position (e.g., von Koenigswald 1951). S ome weathering may have occurred

though, before the skulls became embedded in the stream sediments (de Terra, 1943). However, a few vertebrate bone fragments that we brought back from the Ngandong

area in 1986 yield a higher U-series age than the lowermost bones from our test-pit. This seemingly older fossil material comes from Matar, a locality about half a kilometre from our test-pit, on the other bank of the Solo (Figure 3).

The High Terrace area at Ngandong (or rather, the area where the High Terrace once

331 NGANDONG MAN: AGE AND ARTIFACTS

Figure 3. Immediate surroundings ofNgandong, Java, showing the place of the 1986 dig and the Matar sample localities.

was situated before the excavations in the 1930s began) borders a present-day outer

(concave) bend of the Solo river. At Matar, on the other side of the river, in the densely

wooded inner (convex) bend, High Terrace sediments may also be observed, at first sight

as sloping, coarse surface gravels. In a few erosional gulleys, however, this High Terrace

sediment appears to be l-l% metres thick, consisting of coarse sand with gravel lenses,

directly on top of the marly bedrock. From a geomorphological viewpoint the High Terrace

sediments at Matar should be younger than the High Terrace fill at Ngandong itself, in

which we dug our test-pit (inner versus outer bend). Yet the few vertebrate bone fragments

that we collected from a small section cleared in an erosional gulley at Matar, yield a higher

U-series age than the bones from our test-pit, namely 165 +30, -23 ka (see Matar sample

L in Table 1; sample P originates from another terrace remnant to the east; see Figure 3).

The first thing to consider is that at this stage our U-series dates are determined by a

whole bone analysis and not by a outer surface or periosteal probe. There appears to be

some disagreement in the present literature concerning the reliability of U-series

disequilibrium dating of bone. Where previously bone dates were commonly derived from

analysis of the total bone sample, Rae and Ivanovich (1986) have presented a chemical

model from which they conclude that in general more reliable dates may be derived from

analysis of an outer surface probe. In this stage ofour research we have preferred to confine

ourselves to whole bone analysis. This procedure may have led to erratic outcomes, and the

striking difference between the Matar and Ngandong ages may in fact not exist. We will

know more about this in the near future, for our present laboratory work is focused on

detecting possible differences between whole-bone and periosteal probe-analysis.

On the other hand one may not rule out the possibility of the presence of some bone


fragments derived from older deposits. The Matar (L) vertebrate fragments were taken from a coarse gravel lens, whereas the Ngandong test-pit specimens come from sandy deposits. Furthermore, the Matar bones are isolated specimens and appear to be abraded. It is possible, therefore, that the Matar fragments represent an allochthonous High Terrace fossil assemblage, deriving from the middle Pleistocene lower fluviatile unit, which the Solo is still eroding away further upstream. This lower fluviatile unit outcrops near the town of Ngawi, more than ten kilometres from Matar and Ngandong (and more than thirty along the meandering river track). It may be feasible that small bone fragments, such as found at Matar, could be carried along with the coarse channel load for such a distance, but we think it unlikely to be the case for the eleven hominid calvaria and calottes unearthed at Ngandong. In our opinion Homo erectus soloensis must still be considered autochthonous to the High Terrace.

In 1938, during a pilgrimage to the locality of Ngandong, von Koenigswald, together with De Terra, Movius, and Teilhard de Chardin, was able to collect humanly worked chalcedony flakes from outcropping High Terrace gravels along the Solo. These artifacts later appeared in the literature as the Ngandong culture (Movius, 1944, 1949) or Ngandong industry (van Heekeren, 1972).

Small stone implements (cores as well as flakes) can indeed be found in the High Terrace sediments, but they are less abundant than the literature would suggest. Moreover, they are difficult to recognize, because due to their so-called river-drift nature they are water-worn (from slightly rolled to very rolled on e.g., Wymer’s 1976 scale). The implements rarely exceed five cm in length. Apart from their water-worn appearance, they look distinctly crude. Many implements were manufactured from river-transported lumps of chalcedony, but chert and jasper also occur. Occasionally larger pebbles of volcanic material or fossil wood were transformed into heavier-duty chopping instruments. It seems as if in the selection of the raw material and in the fabrication of his stone tools fossil man was dependent to a great extent on what was offered on the floodplain of the ancient Solo.

We think that more information on the Solo High Terrace stone tools can be obtained in the area of Sangiran in Central Java (Figure 1). In the 1930s von Koenigswald (1939) was able to collect stone implements in Sangiran from gravel sheets covering some hills. As regards typology and technology these artifacts show a great similarity to the Solo High Terrace stone tools (von Koenigswald and Ghosh, 1973; Sartono, 1980). For various reasons they have been assigned an upper Pleistocene age (de Terra, 1943; Movius, 1949; van Heekeren, 1972). Recently the stratigraphy and geomorphology of von Koenigswald’s sites have been clarified further, and an upper Pleistocene age appears to be correct (Bartstra, 1985). At the same time the question was raised whether the implementiferous sediment (the so-called “Old River Gravel”) might well be a last remnant of a formerly far more extensive Solo (or Solo feeder) High Terrace fill.

Von Koenigswald’s sites are situated in the northwestern part of the Sangiran area. Towards the east, and thus towards the present course of the Solo river, implement-bearing sediments also occur. Most maps of the area indicate these sediments as “Notopuro layers” or “Notopuro Formation”, but in our opinion this collective term is unjustified. We prefer to restrict the term “Notopuro” to only those deposits that can be directly associated with


the onset of volcanic activity in the area. The so-called “Upper Lahar” in northern Sangiran, for example, is definitely “Notopuro”; but it is going too far to amalgamate and

designate “Notopuro” to all the fluviatile sands and gravels that are to be found on top of the Upper Lahar.

Geomorphological reconnaissances in Sangiran lead us to believe that many of these so-called “Notopuro” sands and gravels are in fact High Terrace remnants (in a stratigraphical sense), in many places strongly dissected by trenching of younger drainage systems. However, more fieldwork needs to be done before the complex stratigraphy of the Sangiran top section can be satisfactorily explained. In spite of meticulous research, geologists have still not yet worked this out (Itihara et al., 1985a), and they admit that at many localities problems arise in distinguishing between so-called “older Terrace deposits” (the “Old River Gravel” in Bartstra 1985) and the so-called “fluvial” Notopuro.

Unfortunately, the only known fission-track age for the “Notopuro layers” is of no assistance. An age of 250 ? 70 ka was obtained from pumice balls in the uppermost “fluvial” Notopuro part of the Sangiran section (Suzuki et al., 1985). However, whether or not these pumice balls have been derived from the lower-lying lahars requires additional investigation. The fission-track date might record the onset of the new volcanic activity in the area, rather than the age of the “fluvial” Notopuro. This new volcanic activity of which the Notopuro lahars are the first catastrophic signs, started towards the end of the middle Pleistocene or Brunhes normal (Notopuro normal polarity, Semah, 1982, 1986).

It is because of these still unanswered questions concerning stream transport that we do not yet dare draw any conclusions from the U-series age of 190 +40, -30 ka obtained for several vertebrate bone fragments found in situ in a gravel sediment in eastern Sangiran (see Tapan sample in Table 1). Geological maps of the area designate this gravel as (“fluvial”) Notopuro, but in our opinion it could just as well be High Terrace (see e.g., Figure 2 in Itihara et al., 1985~ area directly west ofTapan). As in Matar near Ngandong, the bone-bearing gravel sediment near Tapan in Sangiran is implementiferous: some flakes, a core, and two core-tools have been discovered (Figure 4). As far as typology and technology are concerned they correspond in all respects to the Solo High Terrace stone tools.

VI

The Solo High Terrace sediments thus contain stone implements; and as long as it cannot be established that the Ngandong hominid remains have been reworked these implements must be associated with Homo erectus soloensis.

The Solo High Terrace stone tools are distinctly different from the Acheulian and its technological aftermath often associated with Homo erectus in the West. Hand-axes are conspicuously absent in the Solo High Terrace tills. It has been suggested that hand-axes might reflect big-game hunting by their ancient manufacturers (Watanabe, 1985). On the other hand the view is held that in fact no proof exists for the idea of Homo erectus as a hunter (Binford & Stone 1986). Yet, an absence of hand-axes in artifact-bearing strata associated with Homo erectus is noteworthy. Pope (1984, 1985) is of the opinion that Homo erectus in Southeast Asia developed a distinctive non-Acheulian technology as a result of adaptation to the tropical forests. This could imply an impoverished inventory as far as stone tools are concerned (see also, Puech, 1983).


0 5cm f ’ ’ ’ ’ I

5cm O-

Figure 4. A small rolled core (top) and a core-tool (bottom) from supposedly High Terrace deposits in eastern Sangiran, Java. Raw material: chalcedony.


In any case, the Solo High Terrace stone tools clearly form no part of the so-called chopper/chopping-tool complex, as defined by Movius (1944, 1949). For not only the

hand-axes, but also the characteristic uni- and bifacial choppers, as well as the hand-adzes are absent in the terrace fills. It has to be emphasized that in our opinion the

chopper/chopping-tool complex in Island Southeast Asia has to be linked to Homo sapiens (Bartstra, in press; Bartstra & Basoeki, in press). It was Homo sapiens who brought the heavy core tools to Java, while they themselves settled in the “karst/riverine” niches, as defined by Gorman (1971; camp. Glover, 1973). This was in the second half of the Upper Pleistocene (camp. Shutler, 1984).

Acknowledgements

The research at Ngandong forms part of a long-term joint project between the Biologisch-Archaeologisch Instituut in Groningen (Netherlands) and the Pusat Penelitian Arkeologi Nasional in Jakarta (Indonesia). Recently the Centrum voor Isotopen Onderzoek in Groningen has joined this particular project, and the encouraging results obtained from the U-series analyses stimulate us to continue the research both in the field and in the laboratory. For the moment, the U-series-dated bone fragments from Ngandong have been handed over to Dr M. H. Day, who will subject them to Energy Dispersive Microanalysis (EDM). We wish to thank Dr N. A. I. M. Boelrijk for his endeavours to obtain the very first U-series dates for vertebrate bone samples from Central Java, and Dr D. A. Hooijer for his advice in palaeontological matters and critical reading of this manuscript. For this we are also indebted to Dr H. Veenstra. Furthermore we wish to mention Dr S. Sartono and Dr M. Ivanovich for stimulating discussions, and Dr R. P. Soejono and Mr Basoeki for their unwavering guidance. Mr J. Smit of the Biologisch-Archaeologisch Instituut in Groningen prepared the Figures 1 and 3; Table 1 was prepared by Mrs H. E. Dienen and Figure 2 by Mr B. de Jonge, both from the Laboratorium voor Algemene Natuurkunde in Groningen. Figure 4 was drawn by Mr P. Laurent of the Institut du Quaternaire in Bordeaux, who so unexpectedly and sadly died last year.

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Ngandong man: age and artifacts