Highlights
- We provide a systematic review of vertebrate preservation in Southeast Asian caves
- Accumulation and preservation of vertebrate remains are highly dependent on local geology and environment
- However the dominant factor responsible for faunal deposition is the presence or absence of biological accumulating agents
- In small, isolated, volcanic islands, the only significant accumulation occurs in archaeological settings, limiting our understanding of the palaeontology of those islands
- The criteria used to determine whether breccias represent syngenetic or multiple deposits remain critically understudied
Abstract
Caves have been an important source of vertebrate fossils for much of Southeast Asia, particularly for the Quaternary. Despite this importance, the mechanisms by which vertebrate remains accumulate and preserve in Southeast Asian caves has never been systematically reviewed or examined. Here, we present the results of three years of cave surveys in Indonesia and Timor-Leste, describing cave systems and their attendant vertebrate accumulations in diverse geological, biogeographical, and environmental settings. While each cave system is unique, we find that the accumulation and preservation of vertebrate remains are highly dependent on local geology and environment. These factors notwithstanding, we find the dominant factor responsible for faunal deposition is the presence or absence of biological accumulating agents, a factor directly dictated by biogeographical history. In small, isolated, volcanic islands, the only significant accumulation occurs in archaeological settings, thereby limiting our understanding of the palaeontology of those islands prior to human arrival. In karstic landscapes on both oceanic and continental islands, our understanding of the long-term preservation of vertebrates is still in its infancy. The formation processes of vertebrate-bearing breccias, their taphonomic histories, and the criteria used to determine whether these represent syngenetic or multiple deposits remain critically understudied. The latter in particular has important implications for arguments on how breccia deposits from the region should be analysed and interpreted when reconstructing palaeoenvironments.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5038/1827-806X.46.3.2131
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Recommended Citation
Louys, Julien; Shimona Kealy; Sue O'Connor; Gilbert J. Price; Stuart Hawkins; Ken Aplin; Yan Rizal; Jahdi Zaim; Mahirta; Daud A. Tanudirjo; Wahyu Dwijo Santoso; Ati Rati Hidayah; Agus Trihascaryo; Rachel Wood; Joseph Bevitt; and Tara Clark.
2017.
Differential preservation of vertebrates in Southeast Asian caves.
International Journal of Speleology,
46: 379-408.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/ijs/vol46/iss3/6
