Unknown Toolmakers Colonized An Indonesian Island Long Before Modern Humans Got There

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Stone artifacts that were found lying scattered on the gravelly surface near Talepu. Erick Setiabudi

Stone tools discovered on the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia, date back to at least 118,000 years – suggesting that an archaic human species first colonized the island many millennia before our own species arrived. Exactly who they were, though, remains a mystery. The findings are published in Nature this week.