Seven stone tools discovered on Sulawesi, Indonesia, represent the earliest proof of ancient humans navigating the ocean, with an estimated age of 1.4 million years.

These artifacts may shed light on how a diminutive human species known as the “Hobbit” reached neighboring Flores Island.

The first artifact was found embedded in a sandstone outcrop at a location called Calio Budiant Hakim. In 2019, excavations revealed six additional tools on the same outcrop, courtesy of the Indonesian National Research Innovation Agency.

Alongside the stone tools, Hakim and his team also discovered parts of an upper jaw, teeth, and remains of a large species of pig, Celebochoerus, along with fragments from unidentified young elephants.

While researchers couldn’t date the tools directly, sediment analysis combined with fossil pig teeth allowed them to estimate an age range between 1.04 million and 1.48 million years. Previously, the oldest human evidence in Sulawesi was dated to 194,000 years ago.

A least one of the new artifacts appears to be a flake removed from a larger piece, with its edges skillfully shaped, as noted by team member Adam Blum from Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia. While non-human primates such as chimpanzees utilize hammer-like stones to crack nuts, they don’t manipulate flakes to create tools.

“This represents an early form of cognitive ability from a species that has since vanished,” states Brumm. “We don’t ascertain the specific species, but these creations indicate human intellect at the Calio site.”

The distinct hominin species, Homo floresiensis, was unearthed in Flores in 2003. Archaeological findings suggest human presence on the island over a million years ago. However, the means by which these early humans reached the island remains a mystery.

Both Flores and Sulawesi were separated from mainland Southeast Asia by expansive oceanic barriers, even during periods of the lowest sea levels. According to Blum, the distance to Sulawesi is too great for swimming, leading to the conclusion that these early human species likely could not construct maritime vessels.

“It’s conceivable that a rare geological event, such as a tsunami, swept some early humans into the ocean, where they might have clung to floating trees or mats of vegetation, eventually reaching these islands to form isolated populations,” he suggests.

Martin Porr from the University of Western Australia identifies Homo erectus as the most probable candidate for seafaring at that time, given similarities between the tools found in Sulawesi and those associated with this species.

While the new finds support this theory, they raise numerous questions, particularly regarding whether the skills of these early human groups may need to be reassessed.

Led by the late archaeologist Mike Morwood, the team who first identified Homo floresiensis was the first to propose that Sulawesi could be crucial in understanding the ancestry of the Hobbit. As Kira Westaway from Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia mentions, “Sulawesi is positioned along a significant current that flows from Sulawesi to Flores.”

“Even Mike would have been astonished by the discovery of these ancient stone tools,” she remarks. “Though one might argue that seven tools are insufficient to support major claims, they undeniably represent the presence of early human activities.”

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