Page 42 - THE MELANESIA DIASPORA FILE CETAK ISI 10022017

The skull of Homo Wajakensis ago. In the Solomon Islands there was the Kilu Site at around 28,000 years ago (Gosden,
seen from different angles 1995, Hope and Gosden, 1995). The inhabitants of these sites were the ancestors of the
(Storm, 1995).
indigenous population residing in Melanesia right now.

Findings
The evidence for the existence of EMH in Indonesia within a time frame of 45,000-12,000
years ago is mostly restricted to tools. Few sites with human remains have been discovered
and so far are limited to that found in Wajak Village, Tulungagung and Leang Lembudu,
Aru (Veth et al., 1998). Outside Indonesia but still within the Southeast Asia, human remains
with Australid features have been found in Niah Cave, North Kalimantan in Malaysia and
Tabon Cave in the Philippines. This finding was the basis of the opinion that the EMH
inhabitants of Southeast Asia at around the end of Pleistocene belonged to the Australid
Race (Bellwood, 2000). A finding with a contested date was Homo Wajakensis from Wajak
Village, Tulungagung. Dubois estimated the age to be very old (a great Pleistocene age) on
the basis of the jaw density of Wajak 2 which was 40% higher than the fresh bone (Storm
et al., 2013). It has also been described as something contemporary or older than typical
for the Niah and Tabon people (Jacob, 1976). Another date was younger, around 10,560
± 75 years ago; 6,560 ± 140 years ago (Shutler, 1995). Recently, another, more likely date
has been proposed which is between 37,000-28,000 years ago (Marliac and Simanjuntak,
1998, Storm et al., 2013). Regarding the taxonomic identification, it has been grouped as
Proto-Australid, or alternatively as the mixture of Australid and Mongolic—the ancestors
of Proto-Malay and Australomelanesoid (Jacob, 1967). Other human remains found came

42 Chapter 1

MELANESIA BOOK FA LAYOUT 051216.indd 42 2/10/17 2:10 PM