The Solo (Ngandong) Homo erectus assemblage: a taphonomic assessment

This paper explores the likely taphonomic history of the Ngandong assemblage of Homo erectus . Ngandong is clearly atypical of other discoveries of hominin remains in fluvial deposits because so many crania are present, but so few other skeletal elements. The absence of isolated teeth, mandibles, and the scarcity of post‐cranial elements cannot be attributed to lack of searching by the Dutch excavators in 1931–33. Although crania are preferentially transported along stream channels, and often occur as isolated finds in fluvial deposits, it is unlikely that 12 would end up in the same place through the downstream disarticulation of 12 corpses. Predators can also be excluded as responsible for this assemblage. It is concluded that the Ngandong hominins did not share the same taphonomic history as the other mammalian remains, and are thus unlikely to be of the same age. Three explanations are offered. The first, and most parsimonious, is that they were originally buried in a mass drowning event, and then re‐exposed; their crania, now disarticulated from their mandibles, were then transported a short distance and reburied. A variant on this scenario is that the Ngandong hominins were deliberately buried near the river, and their skeletons then re‐exposed; the crania would then have moved preferentially downstream. Both these scenarios imply that the hominins are older than the rest of the faunal assemblage. A third and probably unlikely possibility is that the hominin remains represent partial burials (or re‐burials) in the terrace, and are thus younger. Because it is most unlikely that the hominins remains share the same taphonomic history as the other fossils at Ngandong, it remains undemonstrated that H. erectus persisted in South East Asia after the arrival of H. sapiens .