User:Fable1119/New sandbox

Stone Artifacts
Stone artifacts make up the majority of what has been recovered from Mata Menge, most of the stone artifact evidence pointing towards use by the hominin h. floresiensis. The excavation by the Indonesian-Australian team in the period between 2004-2005 saw the excavation of over 487 stone artifacts. The stone artifacts were compared to others recovered in the 1994 excavation done by the Indonesian-Dutch team that yielded a whopping 507 artifacts, which is regarded as the most reputable and well-handled set of Early Pleistocene items found on a southeast Asian Island.

The stone tool artifacts found at the site were made using the simple method of breaking off smaller flakes from what is called a "core", essentially a larger piece of stone that is formed into one or multiple different tools. Volcanic materials were believed to have been used for these types of stone tools and due to the environmental history of the area, these materials were in abundance. Other material items found at the site were 27 fine-grained chert, 13 chalcedony, and 4 chlorite as well as 4 opal artifacts.

The majority of the flakes left behind from the core stones were believed to have been ignored after they were broken from the main piece, but some evidence of smaller ware on the larger flakes found could indicate the flakes being used as more precise tools, and evidence-based off of the stone cores show the tools being made in another place and carried with the hominin.

The evidence provided by the stone tools opened the possibility of hominin activity at Mata Menge. The similarities of the stone artifacts found at the Mata Menge site compared to those found at the Liang Bua site were close enough to consider evidence of h. floresiensis at Mata Menge as well. Later on, this would be confirmed in the 2014 excavation where hominin remains were found.

Hominin Remains
information is already there, just reorganize article into this format.

Faunal Remains
Stegadon florensis, rat(hooijeromys), crocodile

how did this help in identifying past environments at flores?

Volcanic Activity
Evidence from Mata Menge suggests that the area saw much volcanic activity that has affected items found at the excavation sites over the years. During excavations at Mata Menge in 2014, archaeologist and principal investigator Adam Brumm and his colleagues determined that Layer II of the site could be attributed to volcanic activity that had already occurred.. The artifacts, faunal remains, including those being hominin in origin are believed to have been exposed at the surface for some time due to evidence of weathering, before then, being moved by nearby water and subsequently covered by various mud flows overtime. These mudflows may have been caused by volcanic activity in Welas Caldera, which eventually formed a lake. While Brumm and his team theorize that volcanic activity could also be the cause of other remains and artifacts being found at the site, other ideas are still open to possibility.

Fauna Effects on h. floresiensis
diet? natural day to day environment?

h. Floresiensis Size
how did the environment contribute to the 'hobbits' size? was it only becuase of island isolation?