**3.1 Case 1: Archeological evidences from Leang Sarru Rockshelter, Talaud Islands**

Leang Sarru is a limestone rock shelter located along the eastern coast of Salibabu, part of the Talaud Islands (**Figure 1**). The site is situated in an uplifted coral limestone block about 15 m above sea level and about 400 m inland from the current coast of Salibabu. The Talaud Islands have been located over 100 km away from their neighboring islands since the late Pleistocene, thus the modern humans undertook sea crossings of over 100 km to reach the Leang Sarru site. It is uncertain, however, if the early people reached the islands by intentional voyage or just as a result of drifting or other unintentional voyage.

The site was first excavated by Tanudirjo [30, 31] who in 1995 opened two 1 1 m<sup>2</sup> test-pits (B2 and C2) and excavated in 10 cm spits to a depth of about 80–90 cm below ground surface. He identified four sedimentary layers with thousands of chert lithics and shell remains. Later, Ono and *Balai Arkeologi Manado* (Institute for Archeological Research in Manado) re-excavated the site opening 6 m<sup>2</sup> of 1 1 m grids (D2, D3, C3, C4, C5, C6) in 2004 [28, 29, 32]. This excavation revealed three cultural layers (corresponding to Tanudirjo's Layers 1 to 3) before reaching a hard, calcareous deposit (possibly corresponding to Tanudirjo's Layer 4). Thousands of lithic and shell remains were retrieved during the excavation, but no mammal and fish bones were found, similar to the previous excavation by Tanudirjo [30, 31]. The lack of mammal bones possibly indicates that edible animals were scarce in the Talaud Islands. In fact, the Talaud Islands in modern times have no land mammals other than about 14 species of bat, 5 species of rat, 4 species of flying fox (*Pteropus* spp.), and 2 species of cuscus (*Ailurops ursinus* and *Strigocuscus celebensis*).

The 14C dates on marine shell indicate that Layers 3 and 4 (in Tanudirjo's excavation) accumulated during the late Pleistocene between 35 and 32 ka and the lower part of Layer 2 accumulated during the final stage of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) around 21-18 ka. The upper part of Layer 2 and possibly the lower part of Layer 1 formed during the early Holocene, around 10-8 ka [28]. No 14C dates are available for the periods between 27 to 21 ka and 17 to 10 ka, thus it is possible that

Maluku Islands into the region of New Guinea and "southern" routes leading into northern Australia [20]. Along the southern routes, the previous archeological studies have been conducted in the islands of Flores, Alor, and Timor (mainly in Timor-Leste), and have so far discovered some early sites occupied by modern humans dating back to 44 and 42 ka [2, 21, 22]. The appearance of *Homo sapiens* at Liang Bua site in Flores Island (see **Figure 1**) could be as old as 50-48 ka [7], though there is no clear evidence of modern humans by this age yet. Since the site was occupied by *Homo floresiensis*, we need more solid data to confirm when this early human species disappeared or was replaced by modern humans in Flores. On the other hand, Asitau Kuru, formerly named Jerimalai Cave, located along the eastern coast of East Timor (**Figure 1**) is one the oldest prehistoric sites left by modern humans and is dated to 42-38 ka [3]. There is no direct fossil evidence of modern humans in Asitau Kuru, though the site produced the oldest evidence of pelagic fish exploitation from 42 to 38 ka and the oldest shell-made fishhooks dated to 23-16 ka

*Pleistocene Archaeology - Migration,Technology, and Adaptation*

[21, 23], thus the site is believed to have been used by modern humans.

for the arrival of *Homo sapiens*.

**Figure 2.**

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*Plan (A) and front view (B) of Leang Sarru with excavated units (C).*

Along the northern routes, on the other hand, excavations have been conducted in Talaud Islands, Sulawesi, and Northern Maluku Islands. Among them the oldest evidence for presence of AMH comes from South Sulawesi, from rock paintings at some cave sites and direct U-series dates as old as 43 ka [4, 24], with the earliest 14C dates in South Sulawesi dated to 36 ka [25]. Other sites older than 30 ka along the northern routes are Golo Cave in Gebe Island (**Figure 1**) dated to c. 36 ka [26, 27], Leang Sarru in the Talaud Islands (**Figures 1** and **2**) dated to 35 ka [28–32], and Bubog 1 in Mindoro Island (**Figure 1**) dated to >35 ka [9, 33]. None of these sites produced early modern human fossil remains, however, if the U-series dates of the rock paintings are correct, they can be considered as evidence of early modern human appearance in Sulawesi, as rock paintings are now recognized as a marker
