A groundbreaking discovery is challenging the origin story of humans as scientists discover a 140,000-year-old sunken city buried under water off the coast of Indonesia. The skull of Homo erectus, an ancient human ancestor, has been discovered more than 140,000 years after it was first buried under layers of mud and sand in the Strait of Madura between the islands of Java and Madura. Researchers believe their discovery may be the first physical evidence of a lost world of a prehistoric landmass also known as Sundaland, which once connected Southeast Asia and was a vast tropical plain. In the lost city, along with the skull bones, scientists discovered about 6,000 fossils of animals of 36 species, including: Komodo dragons, buffaloes, deer, elephants. Some of the remains contained cuts that were likely intentional, evidence that early humans practiced advanced hunting strategies. The finds provide a rare glimpse into ancient human history, exploring the long-lost lands of Sundaland and the adaptations of early human populations in response to environmental change. A skull buried under mud for 140,000 years has only recently been identified as belonging to Homo erectus. Credit: University of Leiden The fossils were first discovered by sea sand miners back in 2011, but scientists have only recently been able to date them and identify their ancestors – a major milestone in paleontology. According to the leader of the new study, archaeologist Harold Berghuis from Leiden University in the Netherlands, this period in the history of hominins in the region is characterized by great morphological diversity and population mobility. Between 14,000 and 7,000 years ago, melting glaciers caused sea levels to rise by a staggering 120 metres, flooding the plains of Sundaland. Now, the submerged fossils have finally been studied by scientists. The researchers analyzed the sediment layers where the fossils were found and discovered an entire buried Solok River valley system that once crossed the submerged Sunda Shelf. The valley sediments indicate a thriving river ecosystem during the late Middle Pleistocene. A turning point in human evolution Homo erectus is considered to mark a major turning point in human evolution. They were essentially the first early humans, resembling modern humans but with taller, more muscular bodies, longer legs and shorter arms. In the study, the scientists used optically stimulated luminescence on quartz grains to determine when the sediments were last exposed to sunlight. As a result, the scientists estimate that the flooded valleys and fossils date back to about 162,000 to 119 years ago. Two fragments of the Homo erectus skull, a frontal and a parietal bone, were compared with known Homo erectus fossils from the Sambungmakan site in Java – the close match confirms that the Madura Strait fossils belong to Homo erectus. This significantly expands the known range of the species. A new study offers the world’s first direct evidence of the presence of ancient human ancestors in the now-buried landscapes of Sundaland, challenging earlier ideas about the geographic boundaries of Homo erectus. The post 140,000-year-old city found at the bottom of the ocean appeared first on Anomalien.com.