Southern Cross University research dates oldest human presence on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island

The discovery not only reshapes our understanding of early human expansion in southeast Asia but also highlights the global impact of cutting-edge research conducted at Southern Cross University.

The study, led by researchers from Indonesia’s BRIN agency and Griffith University, presents stone tools from the Calio site in southern Sulawesi, dated to at least 1.04 million years ago. This suggests early hominins, likely Homo erectus, made significant deep-sea crossings into the Wallacean archipelago much earlier than previously known.

Southern Cross University Professor Renaud Joannes-Boyau, a co-author on the paper and expert in geochronology, was responsible for the dating of the site.

“It’s always thrilling to contribute to discoveries that shift our understanding of human evolution,” said Professor Joannes-Boyau, who leads the University’s Geoarchaeology and Archaeometry Research Group (GARG).

“This study not only provides a new timeline for hominin expansion in Southeast Asia, but it also demonstrates the global relevance of the geochemical and dating expertise we have developed at Southern Cross University.”

Over the past decade, Southern Cross University has become a world leader in archaeogeochemistry, pioneering innovative methods for dating and isotopic analysis. Through interdisciplinary research and global collaborations, the University is helping uncover the deep past of our species.

Learn more. Read This stone tool is over 1 million years old. How did its maker get to Sulawesi without a boat? published in The Conversation.

Study details

‘Hominins on Sulawesi during the Early Pleistocene’

Published in Nature

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09348-6