Direct dating of Pleistocene stegodon from Timor Island, East Nusa Tenggara
Stegodons are a commonly recovered extinct proboscidean (elephants and allies) from the Pleistocene record of Southeast Asian oceanic islands. Estimates on when stegodons arrived on individual islands and the timings of their extinctions are poorly constrained due to few reported direct geochronolog...
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
PeerJ Inc.
2016-03-01
|
| Series: | PeerJ |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://peerj.com/articles/1788.pdf |
| _version_ | 1797424663486267392 |
|---|---|
| author | Julien Louys Gilbert J. Price Sue O’Connor |
| author_facet | Julien Louys Gilbert J. Price Sue O’Connor |
| author_sort | Julien Louys |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Stegodons are a commonly recovered extinct proboscidean (elephants and allies) from the Pleistocene record of Southeast Asian oceanic islands. Estimates on when stegodons arrived on individual islands and the timings of their extinctions are poorly constrained due to few reported direct geochronological analyses of their remains. Here we report on uranium-series dating of a stegodon tusk recovered from the Ainaro Gravels of Timor. The six dates obtained indicate the local presence of stegodons in Timor at or before 130 ka, significantly pre-dating the earliest evidence of humans on the island. On the basis of current data, we find no evidence for significant environmental changes or the presence of modern humans in the region during that time. Thus, we do not consider either of these factors to have contributed significantly to their extinction. In the absence of these, we propose that their extinction was possibly the result of long-term demographic and genetic declines associated with an isolated island population. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T08:05:04Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fe49eb4695ed4b3298dfce3832d45d06 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2167-8359 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T08:05:04Z |
| publishDate | 2016-03-01 |
| publisher | PeerJ Inc. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PeerJ |
| spelling | doaj.art-fe49eb4695ed4b3298dfce3832d45d062023-12-03T00:25:07ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592016-03-014e178810.7717/peerj.1788Direct dating of Pleistocene stegodon from Timor Island, East Nusa TenggaraJulien Louys0Gilbert J. Price1Sue O’Connor2Department of Archaeology and Natural History, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, AustraliaSchool of Earth Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, AustraliaDepartment of Archaeology and Natural History, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, AustraliaStegodons are a commonly recovered extinct proboscidean (elephants and allies) from the Pleistocene record of Southeast Asian oceanic islands. Estimates on when stegodons arrived on individual islands and the timings of their extinctions are poorly constrained due to few reported direct geochronological analyses of their remains. Here we report on uranium-series dating of a stegodon tusk recovered from the Ainaro Gravels of Timor. The six dates obtained indicate the local presence of stegodons in Timor at or before 130 ka, significantly pre-dating the earliest evidence of humans on the island. On the basis of current data, we find no evidence for significant environmental changes or the presence of modern humans in the region during that time. Thus, we do not consider either of these factors to have contributed significantly to their extinction. In the absence of these, we propose that their extinction was possibly the result of long-term demographic and genetic declines associated with an isolated island population.https://peerj.com/articles/1788.pdfGeochronologyProboscideanExtinctionIsland biogeography |
| spellingShingle | Julien Louys Gilbert J. Price Sue O’Connor Direct dating of Pleistocene stegodon from Timor Island, East Nusa Tenggara PeerJ Geochronology Proboscidean Extinction Island biogeography |
| title | Direct dating of Pleistocene stegodon from Timor Island, East Nusa Tenggara |
| title_full | Direct dating of Pleistocene stegodon from Timor Island, East Nusa Tenggara |
| title_fullStr | Direct dating of Pleistocene stegodon from Timor Island, East Nusa Tenggara |
| title_full_unstemmed | Direct dating of Pleistocene stegodon from Timor Island, East Nusa Tenggara |
| title_short | Direct dating of Pleistocene stegodon from Timor Island, East Nusa Tenggara |
| title_sort | direct dating of pleistocene stegodon from timor island east nusa tenggara |
| topic | Geochronology Proboscidean Extinction Island biogeography |
| url | https://peerj.com/articles/1788.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT julienlouys directdatingofpleistocenestegodonfromtimorislandeastnusatenggara AT gilbertjprice directdatingofpleistocenestegodonfromtimorislandeastnusatenggara AT sueoconnor directdatingofpleistocenestegodonfromtimorislandeastnusatenggara |