Late Pleistocene Fossil Record of Cuora amboinensis (Testudines: Geoemydidae) from the Wajak Site, East Java, Indonesia, and Its Paleozoogeographic and Archeozoological Implications

Erick Setiyabudi, Iwan Kurniawan, Halmi Insani, Akio Takahashi

indigenous population; island fauna; percussion marks; skeletal remains; Wajak Man
A Late Pleistocene fossil represented by an incomplete right hypoplastron of Cuora amboinensis was recovered from the Wajak site (ca. 37 ka?29 ka: Late Pleistocene) in East Java, Indonesia. The fossil constitutes the first certain prehistoric record of this species from Java, which implies that the current conspecific population in this island is indigenous to the region rather than artificially introduced from the Southeast Asian continent in historic times. The specimen has four small distinct impact pits on the hypoplastron in dorsal view, which were possibly caused by a pointed stone artifact or a bone tool. The presence of such percussion marks suggests that this turtle was consumed by the Wajak people.

Late Pleistocene Fossil Record of Cuora amboinensis (Testudines: Geoemydidae) from the Wajak Site, East Java, Indonesia, and Its Paleozoogeographic and Archeozoological Implications

Paleontological Research

The Palaeontological Society of Japan

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