PALAEOPEDOLOGICAL APPROACH OF THE ENVIRONMENT OF FOSSIL HOMINIDS FROM THE SANGIRAN DOME (CENTRAL JAVA, INDONESIA)

作者：Brasseur Boris^*; Semah Francois; Semah Anne Marie; Djubiantono Tony

来源：Quaternaire, 2011, 22(1): 13-34.

• micromorphology
• stratigraphy
• Homo erectus
• palaeosoils
• Java
• Pleistocene

PALAEOPEDOLOGICAL APPROACH OF THE ENVIRONMENT OF FOSSIL HOMINIDS FROM THE SANGIRAN DOME (CENTRAL JAVA, INDONESIA)
The thick fossiliferous volcano-sedimentary series of the Sangiran dome area (Kalibeng, Pucangan, Grenzbank, Kabuh and Notopuro) from central Java (Indonesia) were deposited throughout the Quaternary and represent a succession of coastal, marine and finally continental terrestrial environments. Palaeosoils from these series of Southeast Asia are good indicators of the successive landscapes in which early hominids lived and migrated during the Lower and early Middle Pleistocene. This palaeopedological study deals with seven localities distributed over an area of ca. 50 km(2). Six palaeosoil orders (histosol, gleysol, vertisol, argillisol, protosol, oxisol) are characterised and include 19 pedotypes. We investigated the south-eastern and northwestern fossiliferous regions, which show very different sedimentary sequences. The characterisation of successive pedoclimatic contexts and toposequences enables us to reconstruct the local palaeogeography and informs about the climate (mainly influenced by south-eastern Asia monsoon cycles) that prevailed during the periods of palaeosoil development. The first fully terrestrial levels were identified at the base of the upper Pucangan unit, corresponding to the development of an open landscape on earlier sites of wide coastal swamps. Higher up in the series, environments are indicative of a contrasted seasonal climate with a long dry season, alternate with periods of more humid palustrine conditions. Recurrent aridity proxies are then found in the overlying Grenzbank and Kabuh series (both have yield the most abundant hominid fossils). Soils from these series reflect a long dry season and an open vegetation landscape, in agreement with stratigraphical and palynological observations.

• 出版日期2011-3