Abstract
Stegodons are a commonly recovered extinct proboscidean (elephants and allies) from
the Pleistocene record of Southeast Asian oceanic islands. Estimates on when stegodons
arrived on individual islands and the timings of their extinctions are poorly constrained
due to few reported direct geochronological analyses of their remains. Here we report on
uranium-series dating of a stegodon tusk recovered from the Ainaro Gravels of Timor.
The six dates obtained indicate the local presence of stegodons in Timor at or before 130
ka, significantly pre-dating the earliest evidence of humans on the island. On the basis of
current data, we find no evidence for significant environmental changes or the presence
of modern humans in the region during that time. Thus, we do not consider either of
these factors to have contributed significantly to their extinction. In the absence of these,
we propose that their extinction was possibly the result of long-term demographic and
genetic declines associated with an isolated island population.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | - |
Journal | PeerJ |
Volume | 4 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2016 |