Kisar and the Archaeology of Small Islands in the Wallacean Archipelago

Sue O’Connor · Mahirta Mahirta · Shimona Kealy · Clara Boulanger · Tim Maloney · Stuart Hawkins +9 more

73 citations0/0 files storedThe Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology

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Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology Maritime and Coastal Archaeology

Abstract

The occupation of small islands presents particular challenges for people largely related to limited terrestrial resources and susceptibility to natural disasters. Nevertheless, the challenges and risks inherent in maintaining stable populations on small islands can be offset or overcome through the use of maritime technologies and exchange networks. The archaeology of Here Sorot Entapa rockshelter (HSE) on Kisar Island in the Wallacean Archipelago provides an unparalleled record for examining these issues in Southeast Asia. Kisar is the smallest of the Wallacean islands known to have a Pleistocene occupation record, and one of the smallest permanently inhabited today. Our results indicate that Here Sorot Entapa was first occupied in the terminal Pleistocene by people with advanced maritime technology who made extensive use of local marine resources and engaged in social connections with other islands through an obsidian exchange network. As a result, populations appear to have been maintained on the island for approximately 6,000 years. In the early Holocene occupation at HSE ceased for unknown reasons, and the site was not reoccupied until the mid-Holocene, during which time a major change in the lithic resources can be observed and the exchange network appears to have ceased.

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References

1947Journal of the Polynesian Society 2011Pelagic Fishing at 42,000 Years Before the Present and the Maritime Skills of Modern Humans 1978Sunda and Sahul. Prehistoric studies in southeast Asia, Melanesia and Australia 2017Oldest human occupation of Wallacea at Laili Cave, Timor-Leste, shows broad-spectrum foraging responses to late Pleistocene environments 2017Fishing in life and death: Pleistocene fish-hooks from a burial context on Alor Island, Indonesia 1994Fish feeding behaviour and fish capture: the case for variation in Lapita fishing strategies 2014Are osseous artefacts a window to perishable material culture? Implications of an unusually complex bone tool from the Late Pleistocene of East Timor 2016Late Pleistocene/early Holocene maritime interaction in Southeastern Indonesia – Timor Leste

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2018Least-cost pathway models indicate northern human dispersal from Sunda to Sahul 2020Pleistocene Water Crossings and Adaptive Flexibility Within the Homo Genus 2022Terminal Pleistocene emergence of maritime interaction networks across Wallacea 2021No evidence for widespread island extinctions after Pleistocene hominin arrival

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