Sundaland

Sundaland is a landmass that existed on Earth during the Last Ice Age (and probably during other glacial periods as well) while sea levels were significantly lower than they are today. During the Last Ice Age sea levels were 120m lower than they are today, exposing massive amounts of land now submerged, and significantly extending coastal regions around the world.

Sundaland (the name given to a now-underwater plateau) was probably the largest singular landmass exposed during the last ice age, existing between modern Indonesia, Java, Southeast Asia, and the Philippines. This was a vast, tropical plain that once connected much of Southeast Asia, before rising sea levels during the glacial meltdown between c.14–11 ka swallowed the plains beneath the waves.

Discoveries

In 2011, maritime sand miners working off the coast of Indonesia in the Madura Strait, discovered skull bones of homo erectus at the bottom of the ocean during marine sand mining operations between Java and Madura — the first physical evidence of Sundaland.

The skull bones were found alongside 6,000 animal fossils from 36 different species (including Komodo dragons, buffalo, elephant, and various species of deer, all suggested diverse and healthy populations). [1] Researchers also identified the remains of an extinct genus of large herbivore called the Stegodon, which could reach 13′ at the shoulder an weigh in excess of 10 tonnes.

The presence of antelope-like mammals suggests the landscape was once grassland or savanna-like, rather than dense forest or tropical jungle. [1]

Some of these fossils show deliberate cut marks, evidence that the Homo erectus who presumably hunted these animals, were practicing advanced hunting and food processing skills. [1] Alongside these fossils, at a reclamation site near Surabaya, the two Homo erectus skull fragments were found. [1]

Analysing the sediment layers where these fossils were found, researches uncovered a buried valley system from the ancient Solo River (which flowed eastwards across Sundaland across the Sunda Shelf). [1] Using Optically Stimulated Luminescence on quartz grains from the sediments that filled the valley and fossils, finding that the last time they were exposed to the sun was between 162–119 ka — firmly within the late Middle Pleistocene. [1]

The two Homo erectus skill fragments (a frontal and parietal bone) were compared with known specimens from the Sambungmacan site on Java, which matched closely with the Madura Straight fossils.

• GHK
• World History