HOBBIT, ERECTUS AND MODERN HUMANS: A VIRTUAL FIELDTRIP ACROSS INDONESIA
I’ve been fascinated with dating the past all my research career. The opportunity to contribute to understanding where we as a species came from is one of the most exciting and humbling things I’ve ever done.
Although the number of early human remains that have been found would literally fill a small tow truck, a major source of these bones is Indonesia; it’s here that the first remains of Homo erectus and more recently Homo floresiensis (‘the Hobbit’) have been discovered.
In Indonesia, I have been using the latest developments in radiocarbon dating (to date sites back to 60,000 years) and tephrochronology (using volcanic ash horizons to precisely link up sites) to date some of the fossil finds.
The following few pages are designed to give a taste of what some of the key sites look like on the ground. Embedded in the map links are short summaries of the important sites with images and movies. Click on the map numbers, or the movie files below, to go to the relevant page.
This work is been undertaken collaboratively with Australian and Indonesian colleagues at the following institutions without whom this work would not have been possible: Geological and Research Development Centre, Goethe University, Indonesian Centre for Archaeology, Institut Teknologi Bandung, the University of New England and the University of Wollongong.
Movie Specifications
The movies used on this site have been saved for the web but were originally filmed with a broadcast quality 3CCD Panasonic NV-GS120 Digital Video Camera. Parties interested in obtaining original footage should contact Chris at c.turney@unsw.edu.au.
The movies are in Quicktime format and you will require Apple's Quicktime 7 plugin to view them. This is a free download from the Apple website:
