Archaeologists have discovered stone tools on Sulawesi, an Indonesian island north of Flores, which is believed to date back around 1 million years. The findings suggest that ancient humans may have made oceanic crossings, using natural vegetation mats, rather than inventing boats. The tools were found at different depths below ground and range in age from 1.04 million years to 1.48 million years.
The discovery adds to the growing evidence of early human activity in Wallacea, a string of Indonesian islands separating Asia and Australia. Previous findings on Flores suggest that humans may have made similar crossings there around 1.02 million years ago.
It is unclear if the Sulawesi population was related to those found on Flores, but researchers believe it could be a key to understanding where early human species evolved. The team plans to search for direct remains of the tool makers and explore other sites to gain insight into human evolution.
The study published in Nature sheds new light on human migration patterns and challenges existing theories about how humans adapted to island life.
Source: https://www.sciencealert.com/ancient-tools-suggest-indonesian-hobbits-had-a-mysterious-neighbor