1-million-year-old stone tools on Sulawesi suggest earliest known seafaring

September 08, 2026ArtifactBreakthrough

Source: I Told Joe Rogan Something That Changes Human History by Michael Button

Seven stone flakes found in a Sulawesi cornfield may date to 1.04–1.48 million years old! Sulawesi sits beyond the Wallace Line, never connected to mainland Asia even during ice ages. Combined with Flores tools (~1.02 mya) and Luzon butchered rhino bones (~709,000 ya), this points to deliberate seafaring across three islands. 🌊

Key facts

In 2025, a team published seven stone flakes from a cornfield at Calio in southern Sulawesi
Associated sandstone and a fossil pig tooth give a minimum age of 1.04 million years, possibly up to 1.48 million years
Sulawesi is located beyond the Wallace Line, never connected to the Asian mainland even during ice age low sea levels
Stone tools on Flores date to approximately 1.02 million years ago
Butchered rhinoceros bones on Luzon in the Philippines date to roughly 709,000 years ago
Pattern of colonization across three separate islands suggests deliberate seafaring rather than accidental rafting