Palaeoenvironmental setting of Mojokerto Homo erectus, the palynological expressions of Pleistocene marine deltas, open grasslands and volcanic mountains in East Java

Abstract

AbstractAimTo determine the vegetation and landscape experienced by Homo erectus populations which first inhabited Java.LocationPerning, near Mojokerto, East Java, the 1936 discovery locality of a fossil child's skull widely attributed to H. erectus, and laterally equivalent sediments at Jetis.TaxonTerrestrial, mangrove and aquatic plants.MethodsA comprehensive suite of samples was collected at close spacing through a coastal sedimentary succession analysed concurrently for its depositional origins. The section traversed particularly informative marine, delta front and delta plain deposits, including the bonebed in which the H. erectus was discovered.ResultsRich palynomorph recovery indicative of mangroves was obtained in the mud‐dominated marine Mollusk Member II at the base of the analysed section. The overlying deltaic strata are characterized by grass pollen and phytoliths, while still retaining mangrove and wetland signals in key samples near the level of the H. erectus bed.Main conclusionThe vertical stratigraphic series of facies in the Perning and adjacent Jetis sections indicates a landscape with four potential Homo habitats: muddy deltas with widespread Nypa swamps; a poorly vegetated sandy delta; extensive open savanna grasslands in the lowlands up river of the delta; and volcanoes in the upper reaches of the catchment with perhumid montane podocarp and broad‐leaf forests and probable open fire‐climax Casuarina junghuhniana forest. Palynological data support an Early Pleistocene geological age for Mojokerto H. erectus at about 1.43 Myr.