An article published one month ago (Burhan B, Hakim B, Sumantri I, Suryatman, Saiful AM, Oktaviana AA, et al. (2025). A near-continuous archaeological record of Pleistocene human occupation at Leang Bulu Bettue, Sulawesi, Indonesia. PLoS One 20(12): e0337993. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0337993. Dec. 23, 2025), reported that there was an archaic kind of hominin living in Sulawesi long before the arrival of modern humans to the island, and may have even coexisted there until they disappeared.
The study reported the presence of stone tools as old as 208,000 years ago, and surprisingly some of them were of a kind of tool known as "picks", which have appeared in some older sites in the region suggesting the presence of a well established culture of archaic hominins in this part of Asia long before H. sapiens arrived.
Below are some quotes from the paper
"Prior research has indicated that the Indonesian island of Sulawesi was host to archaic hominins of unknown taxonomic affinity from at least 1.04 million years ago (Ma), while members of our own species (Homo sapiens) were probably established on this Wallacean landmass from at least 51.2 thousand years ago (ka), and possibly as early as 65 ka.
... Here, we report the results of multiple seasons of deep-trench excavations at Leang Bulu Bettue, a limestone cave rock-shelter complex in the Maros-Pangkep karst region of South Sulawesi.
... Notably, there is evidence for animal butchery and stone artefact production including a stone ‘pick’ at around 132.3–208.4 ka followed by a major shift in human cultural activity during the Late Pleistocene. By around 40 ka, an earlier occupation phase (Phase I) characterised by a straightforward cobble-based core and flake technology ... had been replaced by an entirely new occupation phase (Phase II) with a markedly distinct archaeological signature, including the first evidence for artistic expression and symbolic culture. We consider the implications of this behavioural disconformity for our understanding of the history of humans on Sulawesi, including the possibility it reflects the replacement of archaic hominins by modern humans."
So the Phase I "cobble-based" core flake stone knapping technique and the "pick" cultural tradition vanished 40 ky ago, surely due to the replacement of the archaic people by modern humans.
The paper notes that stone tools were recently discovered in Sulawesi, not far from this site, at Talepyu (over 194 ky old) and at Calio (over 1 Million years old). They state that these archaic hominins are "of a yet unknwon taxonomy." These dates and those of this Leang Bulu Bettue site (132-208 ky ago) show that they were not made by modern humans.
The authors propose two scenarios to explain what took place here on Sulawesi:
- "The entirety of Phase I reflects the last period of a long history of occupation by a group of archaic hominins–as already noted, likely those responsible for the early lithic artefacts recovered from the Walanae Basin (Talepu and Calio) ~80 km to the northeast – that was replaced by an incoming group of modern humans around 40ka, with the arrival of the latter being the cause of the change in the LBB record (i.e., the onset of Phase II). The archaic hominins, based on the present state of knowledge from the wider region, could have been H. erectus and/or a taxon closely related to H. floresiensis, Denisovans, or an as-yet undocumented hominin species that is now extinct."
- ""The earliest H. sapiens in the region produced lithic technologies that more closely resembled the technology of the archaic hominins of the Walanae basin at least 200 ka to 1.04 Ma than those made by later H. sapiens, and that the technological disconnect cannot be described by a species-level replacement. The apparent technological continuity may be the result of contact between two groups, or simply a convergent response to the same resources and conditions. This situation is in keeping with the evidence for the behavioural flexibility of early modern humans as they spread out of Africa and began to colonise unfamiliar environments. The technological and faunal shift at around 40 ka, resulting in Phase II and the lithic Upper Industry, would therefore reflect an unknown local trigger, spontaneous innovation, and/or the arrival of a second wave of H. sapiens."
The Calio stone tools (Paper here, published in Aug. 2025) were dated to 1.04 million years, and "and possibly up to 1.48 Ma" this makes them as old, or even older than the stone tools found on Flores Island at Wolo Sege, which are 1.02 Ma. These are the oldest ones yet discovered in this region, and they mark a very early date for the presence of ancient hominins in this area. Much older than the previous date from Talepyu (paper here).
These ancient and now extinct hominins navigated open sea to cross the Wallace Line (an imaginary boundary that runs through the Lombok Strait in the Indonesian archipelago) and reach Sulawesi. Even during glacial maximums, with low sea levels, the shortest distance between Sulawesi and the closest continental Asian landmass was at least 50 km (31 miles).
An interesting paper modelled how these hominins could have crossed the sea: "Results indicate that crossings are facilitated by low sea level, but the possibility of crossings at high sea level cannot be discarded. All of the three analyzed departure areas could be considered feasible sources for arrivals at Sulawesi but, Borneo is by far the most likely source area and Mindanao departures more likely to arrive in Sulawesi than those from the Banda Arc. The shortest simulated period voyagers would have to survive at sea are 3–8 days, 14–19 days and 12–20 days for Borneo, Mindanao and Band Arc departures respectively...Our results suggest that Sulawesi could have been reached by accidental drift voyages and offer direct support to previous studies that inferred drift-based arrival at the island based on spatial distribution of fauna and hominin subsistence strategies over Wallacea. While successful drifts could have started from any of the three evaluated source areas, arrivals from Borneo are more likely than those from Mindanao and trips from Banda Arc."
So, these people drifted on a mat of vegetation from Borneo to Sulawesi, the same way that animals are supposed to have crossed the Wallace Line. They managed to survive the crossing which lasted between 3 and 14 days by chance and settled in Sulawesi.
We should consider the option that they made rafts, or canoes and carried their kits or gear with them, to fish or move along the coast. Perhaps they drifted to Sulawesi on these boats.
Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2026 by Austin Whittall ©
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