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Leang Bulu Bettue. a Overview of excavations (image credit: J. Mott). b Plan drawing of excavations; c, Stratigraphic profile showing excavated layers and dating results
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Recent excavations at Leang Bulu Bettue, a limestone cave on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, have yielded a collection of flaked chert and limestone artefacts with cortical surfaces that had been deliberately incised prior to or after the knapping process. The markings engraved on these artefacts, which were recovered from deposits ranging in ag...
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Context 1
... 2013-2015, and in 2017-2018, we conducted an annual program of excavations at the previously unexplored site of Leang Bulu Bettue (Fig. 2). This site forms the southern entrance to what appears to be a relict river chamber that extends over a distance of ~ 442 m through the overlying karst tower. The cave mouth at Leang Bulu Bettue is 4 m wide and the roof at the mouth measures 3 m in height, while the interior chamber measures 27.3 m long, 12.6 m wide, and up to 9.2 m ...
Context 2
... to the cave shelter and in an adjoining rockshelter inside the dripline. Over 5 years, 32 m 2 and approximately 84.3 m 3 of deposit has now been systematically excavated, although much of this volume comprises culturally sterile geogenic units or overburden. This work has exposed a deeply stratified and undisturbed sequence of sedimentary layers (Fig. 2). Findings from the 2013-2015 excavations are reported elsewhere (Brumm et al. 2017; see also Li et al. 2016). We provide here a brief summation of the stratigraphic sequence and cultural remains as they pertain to the uppermost (i.e., youngest) Late Pleistocene deposits (layers 1-5), relevant to the present paper. Excavations into a ...
Context 3
... the topmost layer, a thin Neolithic level (layer 1), are cemented flowstones intercalated with calcite-rich silts (layers 2-3) (Fig. 2). This capping flowstone unit is underlain by thin silty clays (layers 4a-b) that slope downwards from the rear of the cave and level out and thicken in the main shelter, where they inter-mix with localised ashy lenses (layers 4c-e). This combined sequence is 1.5 m thick. Below this is a 50 cm-thick sandy clay (layer 4f) that is ...
Context 4
... using AMS 14 C dating of freshwater gastropod (Tylomelania perfecta) shells, solution multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS) U-series dating of in situ stalagmites, laser ablation (LA) U-series dating of faunal remains, and luminescence dating. The location and results of the chronological samples are shown in Fig. 2. Layer 1 has a maximum radiocarbon age (on in situ charcoal) of 1.7-1.6 cal ka BP (Wk- 37,740). No charcoal or other plant carbon or materials suitable for 14 C-dating was found below layer 1. However, several stalagmites were recovered from the upper surfaces of both layers 4a and 4b. These speleothems were intact, still in upright ...
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New World archaeologists have amply demonstrated that fluted point technology is specific to Terminal Pleistocene American cultures. Base-fluted, and rarer tip-fluted, projectile points from the Americas have been well-documented by archaeologists for nearly a century. Fluting is an iconic stone tool manufacturing method and a specific action that...
Citations
... Les productions graphiques, s'exprimant par la gravure, la peinture, le dessin, sont souvent considérées comme des indicateurs d'une cognition moderne. Nous en retrouvons des traces, dans les grottes ornées en Europe et en Asie (Aubert et al., 2014;Brumm et al., 2021;Fritz & Tosello, 2007;Hoffmann, Standish, et al., 2018;Quiles et al., 2016) et sur des objets (Brumm et al., 2020;Dutkiewicz et al., 2020). Certaines sont figuratives et représentent des animaux. ...
Les découvertes archéologiques décrivant les premières gravures paléolithiques abstraites et l’ornementation du corps, à travers les objets de parure et l’utilisation de pigments, suggèrent que l’utilisation de signes et/ou de symboles n’est pas circonscrite à Homo sapiens mais pourrait concerner des Hominines beaucoup plus anciens. Nous plaçant dans une perspective neuroarchélologique, nos études visent à inférer les bases neurales nécessaires à l’apparition de ces premiers comportements attestant d’une pensée symbolique. Nous avons utilisé l’Imagerie par Résonance Magnétique fonctionnelle (IRMf), qui permet d’enregistrer l’activité cérébrale de participants, lorsque nous leur présentions des stimuli issus d’innovations culturelles potentiellement symboliques. Il s’agissait de versions schématiques et de photographies des premières gravures paléolithiques, puis de visages culturellement ornementés avec des perles en bois et des traits de peinture rouge, inspirés d’ornementations préhistoriques.Les résultats de la première étude montrent que la perception visuelle des premières gravures paléolithiques abstraites mobilise des aires cérébrales visuelles associatives, situées dans la partie antérieure de la voie occipito-temporale. Ces régions, impliquées dans la reconnaissance et l’identification de percepts visuels, indiquent que les premières gravures paléolithiques abstraites sont perçues comme des stimuli auxquels on peut attribuer une signification. A cet égard, cette observation est compatible avec l’hypothèse proposant que ces premières gravures auraient pu constituer des signes voire des symboles.Dans une deuxième étude, afin de mimer les effets de familiarité des gravures que nos ancêtres possédaient sans doute, nous avons comparé les réponses cérébrales d’experts archéologues et de participants novices dans une tâche de discrimination de gravures intentionnellement produites par des Hominines et de marques issues de processus naturels. Les résultats montrent un effet de familiarité avec ce type de matériel. En effet, lorsque des archéologues catégorisaient les motifs, ils mobilisaient davantage la partie ventrale du cortex occipital latéral, ainsi que le thalamus médiodorsal. Ces activations refléteraient l’analyse fine perceptive réalisée, en lien avec des connaissances stockées à long terme. Par ailleurs, la catégorisation des motifs abstraits en fonction de leur origine humaine ou naturelle a révélé l’engagement des structures sous-corticales comme la tête du noyau caudé et le thalamus, et de régions corticales dont l’insula antérieure et ce, quel que soit le niveau d’expertise des participants. Ces régions appartiennent au réseau de la saillance, qui joue un rôle dans la détection d’éléments pertinents de l’environnement pour effectuer la tâche.Enfin, la troisième étude montre que l’attribution d’un statut social à partir de visages culturalisés mobilise des régions visuelles de la voie occipito-temporale, manifestant le traitement approfondi d’informations visuelles, jusqu’au pôle temporal dont il a été suggéré un rôle d’association entre la perception de visages et l’identité d’informations à propos d’une personne, des régions impliquées dans la détection d’éléments saillants de l’environnement et des régions frontales appartenant au « cerveau social ».Le travail de ma thèse suggère qu’au Paléolithique et Stone Age, les bases neurales étaient déjà fonctionnelles pour sélectionner les éléments pertinents de l’environnement afin de reconnaitre des productions intentionnelles d’autrui, puis d’être capable d’y attacher une signification, probablement culturellement déterminée, ceci dans le contexte d’une organisation sociale toujours plus complexe.
... Excavations at LBB are described in Brumm, Bulbeck, et al. (2021), Brumm et al. (2017Brumm et al. ( , 2020 and Langley et al. (2020). The cave is 18 m above sea level (ASL) and is located around 20 km from the coast. ...
... A pronounced shift in lithic technology occurred between the Upper and Lower industries by about 50 ka at LBB, at least in as much as can be identified from a small sample size. The key changes included 1) a switch to chert as the preferred raw material in the Upper Industry, with far less reliance on locally-available limestone and volcanic cobbles from the local creek (Table 3) symbolic behaviours (Aubert et al., 2014;Brumm et al., 2017Brumm et al., , 2020Langley et al., 2020), the Upper Industry displays the hallmarks of behaviourally modern humans in the Maros and Pangkep karsts landscape. In contrast to the Upper Industry, the Lower Industry at LBB reflects reliance on stone local to the cave for tool manufacture; a technological structure with fewer reduction trajectories and more restricted reduction techniques; and an absence of silica residues and ochre traces on the stone tools. ...
Approximately 50000 stone artefacts have been recovered from the prehistoric site of Leang Bulu Bettue (LBB), on the Wallacean island of Sulawesi, in Indonesia. This large assemblage offers the opportunity to produce a large‐scale, comprehensive model of the early lithic technologies of South Sulawesi. Through the analysis of half of this assemblage, this study identifies a technological shift between the artefacts produced ca.50–40 thousand years ago (ka) – the “Lower Industry” – and the “Upper Industry” artefacts produced ca.40–16 ka. The majority of the assemblage belongs to the Upper Industry, and these artefacts are associated with portable art, ornamentation, and the Homo sapiens remains reported in previous works. These Upper Industry artefacts are largely made on chert that was brought to the site, sometimes in the form of large flake blanks, which was further reduced within the cave and used for ochre and plant processing. Artefact reduction was strategic during this period, and the bipolar method was frequently used for controlled reduction of flakes of various sizes. This represents a shift from the technology seen on the small number of Lower Industry artefacts, recovered from the deeper deposits. The oldest lithic artefacts yet reported from the site were made on immediately available limestone pieces, which were reduced through least‐effort and non‐intensive flake removal dictated by the available platforms. This study is compared to an analysis of Pleistocene artefacts at the nearby site of Leang Burung 2, where a similar technological shift has been observed. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved
... Current archaeological evidence suggests that S. celebensis was a particularly important economic species for early AMH in Sulawesi (Simons & Bulbeck, 2004). S. celebensis remains dominate the Late Pleistocene faunal assemblages excavated from the only two well-dated sites in the Maros-Pangkep karsts: Leang Burung 2 shelter (Brumm et al., 2018;Glover, 1981) and Leang Bulu Bettue, a nearby limestone cave and rock-shelter complex (Brumm et al., 2017(Brumm et al., , 2020Langley et al., 2020). A similar pattern is evident at occupation sites attributed to the so-named Toalean hunter-gatherer culture of middle to late Holocene (∼8-1.5 ka) South Sulawesi (Bulbeck, 2004;Bulbeck et al., 2000;Sarasin & Sarasin, 1905;van Heekeren, 1972). ...
en The Indonesian island of Sulawesi harbours numerous early rock paintings of the endemic Sulawesi warty pig (Sus celebensis). Several S. celebensis images, including one dated to at least 45,500 years ago (ka), portray these suids with an anatomical character not observed in the living species: a pair of teat-like protuberances in the neck area. This feature seems to be most consistent morphologically with neck “wattles”, cutaneous appendages only manifested in modern domestic swine (Sus scrofa) and some other domesticated ungulates (e.g. goats). The notion that the trait portrayed by the Late Pleistocene artists is a domestication character is clearly contentious. We therefore consider: (1) whether we have misidentified the trait – a common problem in rock art analysis; (2) whether wattles are a genuine domestication trait; and (3) if so, whether the notion that Pleistocene people domesticated S. celebensis is plausible. A clear resolution to all of these problems evades us; however, our investigation of this anomaly in the ancient rock art poses important questions about the nature and complexity of early human–pig relations in this island.
Résumé
es L'ile Indonésienne de Sulawesi abrite de nombreuses anciennes peintures rupestres de son endémique cochon verruqueux (Sus celebensis). De nombreuses images de S. celebensis, y compris une datant d'au moins 45500 ans, décrivent ces suidés avec un caractère anatomique non observé chez les espèces contemporaines: une paire de protubérance mamellaire dans la zone du cou. Ce trait semble le plus proche morphologiquement des caroncules, appendices cutanés qui se manifestent seulement chez les porcs domestiques modernes (Sus scrofa) ainsi que chez d'autres ongulés domestiques (e.g. chèvres). Toutefois, la notion déclarant le trait décrit par les artistes du Pléistocène supérieur comme étant un caractère de domestication est clairement litigieuse. Nous considérons donc: (1) si nous avons identifiés à tort le trait – un problème commun dans l'analyse d'art rupestre; (2) si les caroncules peuvent être considérés comme de véritables traits de domestication; et (3) si tel est le cas, si la notion des peuples du Pléistocène domestiquant S. celebensis est plausible. Bien qu'une solution claire à tous ces problèmes nous échappe, notre investigation de cette anomalie dans l'art rupestre ancien posent d'importantes questions sur la nature et la complexité des premières relations homme-cochon sur cette ile.
... The site is situated within walking distance (approximately 4 km) of the Pleistocene site of Leang Bulu Bettue. This large cave site contains deep and rich occupation deposits dating from at least 40 kya that includes faunal remains, ochre pieces, bone ornaments, and thousands of stone artefacts (Brumm et al., 2017;Brumm et al., 2020). Approximately 91.84% of the artefacts at Leang Bulu Bettue are chert or silicified limestone, and from the cortex it appears the stone was primarily acquired directly from seams and nodules . ...
Wilayah karst Maros-Pangkep berisi banyak situs arkeologi Holosen dan Late-Pleistocene, banyak di antaranya berisi kumpulan artefak yang didominasi oleh artefak rijang. Namun dimikian, belum ada sumber untuk bahan baku yang telah diidentifikasi. Sementara batuan dasar kapur yang melimpah kadang-kadang berisi kantong dan lapisan nodul rijang, singkapan ini menunjukkan sedikit bukti untuk eksploitasi atau tambangan prasejarah, dan kecil kemungkinan rijang diperoleh dari anak sungai atau sungai. Situs Bomboro dipilih untuk penggalian karena permukaan tanahnya yang kaya dengan artefak batu termasuk serpihan, batu inti, dan tatal. Rijangnya mungkin telah ditambang dari nodul yang keluar dari batu gamping lokal di Lembah Bomboro. Sampai sekarang, situs ini merupakan tambang batu kuno pertama yang diidentifikasi di wilayah tersebut. Sementara tambang terbuka tidak ada duanya, itu mungkin berfungsi sebagai sumber rijang selama periode Toalean, sekitar 2-8 ribu tahun yang lalu. The Maros-Pangkep region contains numerous archaeological sites dating from the Holocene and Late-Pleistocene, many of which contain artefact assemblages dominated by flaked chert artefacts. However, no sources for this raw material have yet been identified. While the abundant limestone bedrock contains occasional pockets and seams of chert nodules, these outcrops show little evidence for prehistoric exploitation or quarrying, and it is unlikely the chert was acquired from streambeds. The Bomboro site was selected for excavation as the ground surface is rich in chert stone artefacts including flakes, cores, and debris. Theis chert was likely quarried from the local nodules outcropping from the surrounding limestone bedrock in the Bomboro Valley, and this report describes the excavation of the first ancient stone quarry site to be identified in the region. While the open quarry was undateable, it may have served as a chert source during the Toalean period, around 2-8 thousand years ago.
... If the latter, the incisions would provide a rel atively rare example of their marking portable surfaces (Langley et al., 2008). Other markings on the cortex of stone artifacts have been recovered from deposits in Sulawesi, Indonesia, that range from 30,000 to 14,000 years old and are linked to AMHs (Brumm et al., 2020) The incised flakes from Qafzeh and Quneitra, as well as notched bones from Hayonim (Tejero et al., 2018), comprise some of the only evidence of mark-making in the eastern Mediterranean until the very end of the Pleistocene when changes in subsistence and set tlement patterns co-occur with the earliest portable and parietal art in the region. The ab sence of graphic representation stands in sharp contrast with the mark-making strategies of AMHs in Eurasia and Indonesia and suggests ideological or other social factors influ enced creative expression, over-and-above the cognitive capacity for symbolic behavior (Davidson, 2012a(Davidson, , 2012b. ...
... Marks and modifications on portable objects have also been documented in the karst sys tem (Brumm et al., 2020;Brumm et al., 2017;Langley et al., 2020b), including what may be a hashmark on a limestone and stone "plaquettes" with incised figurative imagery. The materials range from 30,000 to 14,000 years old. ...
and Keywords This chapter addresses questions about the emergence of art, sign, and representation, showing what these categories mean as applied to the archaeological record and how evi dence of them may relate to the evolution of human cognitive capacities. It goes beyond the Eurasian Upper Paleolithic to consider marked or decorated objects from significantly older sites associated with Anatomically Modern Humans in Africa and Indonesia, Nean derthals in Europe, and Homo erectus in Trinil, Java. The materials evidence a range of graphic production across significant space and time. They indicate the emergence of graphic expression and its role in human evolution is much more complex than traditional Eurocentric model, as well as more recent models, allow. The review points to problems with the current epistemology of symbolic evolution and emphasizes how the use of "art" and other traditional artifact classes bias interpretations of prehistoric behaviors and models of when and why symbolling emerged.
... A difference is seen in the flake tools, which were more common during the Middle Holocene compared to the Early Holocene. Sumber : Suryatman, et al., 2020 The raw material used for stone artifact was dominated by chert with a percentage of 69.84% (n = 961). Other materials consist of volcanic with a percentage of 28.05% (n = 386), limestone 0.94% (n = 13) and jasper 1.16% (n = 16). ...
... These data indicate that the need of smaller flake during the Middle Holocene era and could be related to their pretention to make smaller flake tools compared to the Early Holocene. (Source : Suryatman, et al., 2020). : Suryatman, et al., 2020). ...
... (Source : Suryatman, et al., 2020). : Suryatman, et al., 2020). ...
Intensive research in prehistoric caves in South Sulawesi has shown the cognitive
capability of Sulawesi inhabitants that might not be possessed by other explorers in
Wallacea. In the early half Holocene, the ability shown was to modify the shale tool known
as the Toalean techno-complex. However, the view of the development of stone artifact
technology in the period between before and early development of the Toalean techno-
complex is rarely studied intensively. Leang Batti site is the occupation sites that can fill
the information gap through the study of flakes artifact technology. 1376 artifacts were
classified and analyzed for flakes by observing morphometric dynamics and tool type
technology between the Early to Middle Holocene. The results that in the Early Holocene,
the dominant technology was large flakes without modification. In the Middle Holocene,
the size of the flakes began to change due to the influence of Toalean with the character of
the modified flake technology began to enter in the basic concept of making tools, but not
too strong.
The Indonesian island of Sulawesi, located in the ‘Wallacean’ biogeographical zone at the axis of human migration between the super-continents of Sunda and Sahul, has been linked to many research questions relating to the early movements of humans in the region between the landmasses of Asia and Australia. From an archaeological perspective, South Sulawesi is one of the most intensively investigated parts of Indonesia, although much about the early human story in this region remains unknown. While Pleistocene assemblages are scarce, South Sulawesi contains sites with deposits >50,000 years old, along with rock art of a broadly similar antiquity. Mid-Holocene assemblages reveal a regionally unique technocomplex known as the Toalean. However, knowledge of how these two cultural periods are related has been obscured by a gap in the archaeological record between c.20,000–10,000 years ago. This gap has prevented us from understanding the origins of major developments in stone tool technologies, environmental adaptations, and changes in material culture. Cemented archaeological deposits adhering to cave walls, known as breccias, may prove the solution for researchers interested in these poorly understood time periods. Samples taken from archaeological breccias for radiocarbon dating have shown that the deposits currently missing from the archaeological record can still be found attached to cave walls. These breccias contain archaeological deposits that have been consolidated by calcite precipitation and have remained attached to the walls of caves and rockshelters, while the majority of uncemented deposits were removed from the site by erosion or physical action. The identification of these ‘time capsules’ affirms environmental conditions did not restrict nor prevent occupation or site formation in South Sulawesi during the early Holocene period, and confirms archaeological breccias are a valid source of archaeological data and should be examined to a greater extent in the future. This paper identifies these missing archaeological deposits by dating material from archaeological breccias at the site, Leang Bulu Bettue, in the Maros Regency of South Sulawesi. It suggests that archaeological breccias are a valid and important source of information for consideration in future research.
The central Indonesian island of Sulawesi has played an important role in modern and pre-modern human migration through the Southeast Asian island chain. Over the last two decades, archaeological excavations in South Sulawesi have provided new insights into the ancient human past of this region, in particular the extensive Mid-Holocene or "Toalean" sites, as well as several significant Pleistocene-age discoveries. This paper assesses the latest research and what implications these works have for prior models of human prehistory in the region. We show that recent studies have revealed that Toalean-era toolmakers were able to adapt to different environments and raw material sources, but would also transport desired raw materials for production of certain artifact types. Early quarry sites have also been identified for the first time. In addition , new excavations have revealed complex tool forms in forested highland environments, previously thought to hold only sparse and elementary assemblages, allowing us to reassess 20th century models of Toalean cultural subgroups and distribution. The rich parietal art initially attributed to the Toalean has now been dated to the Late Pleistocene, roughly contemporaneous with the production of "portable art" - the existence of which was also recently revealed-in this region, while lithic artifacts dated to between at least 194-118 thousand years ago at Talepu appear to predate modern Homo sapiens occupation. Two newly reported highland sites have also yielded rich and deeply stratified archaeological deposits. These may offer the best opportunity to test hypotheses such as the transitional "Ceramic Toalean" contact phase, as site disturbance and subsidence have formerly compromised the stratigraphic integrity of most excavations. This review shows that, while much work is still needed-particularly in obtaining a reliable body of well-stratified and reliable dates-recent research presents an image of early innovation in the region in the form of Late Pleistocene "art" production and Mid-Holocene technological developments that are both earlier and more extensive than previously known.
The archaeology of Sulawesi is important for developing an understanding of human dispersal and occupation of central Island Southeast Asia. Through over a century of archaeological work, multiple human populations in the southwestern region of Sulawesi have been identified, the most well-documented being that of the Mid- to Late Holocene ‘Toalean’ technological period. Archaeological models for this period describe a population with a strong cultural identity, subdivided into groups living on the coastal plains around Maros as well as dispersed upland forest dwellers, hunting endemic wildlife with bow-and-arrow technology. It has been proposed that the Toaleans were capable of vast water-crossings, with possible cultural exchange with northern Australia, Java, and Japan. This Toalean paradigm is built almost exclusively on existing interpretations of distinctive Toalean stone and bone artefact technologies, constructed on out-dated 19 th and 20 th century theory. Moreover, current definitions of Toalean artefact types are inconsistently applied and unsystematic, and the manufacturing sequence has historically been poorly understood. To address these problems in existing artefact models and typologies, we present a clarified typology of the Toalean artefacts of South Sulawesi, and describe the technical aspects of artefact production. This typology provides a tool for standardising research and will facilitate more meaningful assessments of material culture repertoires and more reliable assessment of spatial and temporal changes for the region.
Intensive research in prehistoric caves in South Sulawesi has shown the cognitive capability of Sulawesi inhabitants that might not be possessed by other explorers in Wallacea. In the early half Holocene, the ability shown was to modify the shale tool known as the Toalean techno-complex. However, the view of the development of stone artifact technology in the period between before and early development of the Toalean techno-complex is rarely studied intensively. Leang Batti site is the occupation sites that can fill the information gap through the study of flakes artifact technology. 1376 artifacts were classified and analyzed for flakes by observing morphometric dynamics and tool type technology between the Early to Middle Holocene. The results that in the Early Holocene, the dominant technology was large flakes without modification. In the Middle Holocene, the size of the flakes began to change due to the influence of Toalean with the character of the modified flake technology began to enter in the basic concept of making tools, but not too strong.
