Significance We provide global assessment of the possible link between Pleistocene hominin arrival and island extinction. The existing records on islands around the world do not support a significant and detrimental impact on island biotas following island colonization prior to the Holocene. This suggests that models using island extinctions as evidence in support of anthropogenic megafaunal overhunting, or as extensions of continental-level extinctions, need to be reconsidered.
Abstract Present-day elephants are excellent swimmers Gohnson 1978). The presence of Pleistocene fossil proboscidean remains on several islands surrounded by deep seas suggests that, in the past, proboscideans had a relatively high potential to cross sea barriers. It is not uncommon to find proboscideans in a fossil assemblage of impoverished endemic island faunas, sometimes as the only large mammal. In the Lesser Sunda Arc, Indonesia (Fig. 23.1), only Stegodontidae have been reported as large mammals on the islands Flores, Sumba, and Timor.
Island Southeast Asia (ISEA) is a key region for the study of human evolution. New fossil and archaeological evidence, from several islands, suggests an Early to Middle Pleistocene colonisation date by hominins. A taphonomic framework, however, such as that exists for Africa, is currently lacking, and taphonomical studies of ISEA vertebrate assemblages are very limited. In this paper, we apply multifocus and confocal microscopy to surface modifications on an Early to Middle Pleistocene avian assemblage from Mata Menge, in the So'a Basin of central Flores, Indonesia, with the aim of characterizing material and testing the relevance of 3D reconstructions to study the taphonomy of ISEA bone assemblages. Our observations document a number of bone surface modifications, including individual parallel grooves, overlapping spindle-like striations, elongated impacts, short composite grooves, and rows of pits. These features suggest that several taphonomic agents were at play during and after the accumulation of the Mata Menge small vertebrate assemblage. We find no unambiguous evidence for the exploitation of birds by the So'a Basin hominins, or for hominins being a significant accumulating agent of avian remains at Mata Menge. However, our work should be seen as preliminary, as direct comparative data on relevant biological agents are lacking. The markedly distinct faunal composition and climatic regimes of many Southeast Asian islands, and the potential use of different tools by hominins, warrants the development of a comprehensive taphonomical framework that is specifically relevant for ISEA.
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