No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
6500-Year-old Nassarius shell appliqu es in Timor-Leste: Technological and use wear analyses
... Nassarius beads first appear about 6000 cal. bp in the Timor-Leste sites (Langley and O'Connor 2015). Two species of Nassarius (Nassarius pullus and Nassarius globosus) are present in the studied assemblages (Figure 2.2). ...
... Several of the beads exhibit tool marks consistent with the use of a lithic edge to achieve this alteration, such as irregular striations and small chattermarks. The wear and polish on the beads show that they were used as appliqués (Langley and O'Connor 2015) (Figure 2.2). They were likely used to decorate items that were worn such as head bands, belts or bags, or on craft pieces such as wall hangings for houses (Figure 2.3). ...
... Oliva beads have been identified in the Niah Caves and Lobang Hangus in Sarawak but not prior to the Metal Age, where they seem to be predominantly in mortuary contexts (Szabó et al. 2013). Sites in Taiwan, northern Luzon, Micronesia, and near and remote Oceania contain shell fish hooks but these are confined to Neolithic or later contexts (Bellwood 1997: 235;Szabó 2007;Carson 2013), whereas in Timor-Leste and Alor, fish hooks are found from the terminal Pleistocene and are clearly an innovation designed to exploit the rich maritime resources in the Wallacean islands, which were depauperate in terrestrial fauna (O'Connor and Aplin 2007;O'Connor 2015;Samper Carro et al. 2016). Perhaps the Austronesian shell working tradition travelled east from the Philippines into the Marianas Islands and Island Melanesia but not south into Sulawesi and the Lesser Sundas (e.g., Carson 2013;Carson et al. 2013). ...
... Shell beads were made from three main genera on Timor. Nassarius, which have had their spires removed and were likely sewn on to fabric as appliqué, are known from Uai Bobo 1 in central Timor (Glover 1986), the previous excavation at Asitau Kuru, as well as Lene Hara and Matja Kuru where they date from the middle Holocene (Langley and O'Connor 2015). Nautilus, which were removed as preform tabs of shell, drilled and ground into round discs and are known from Uai Bobo 1 (Glover 1986), the previous excavations at Asitau Kuru, as well as Matja Kuru, with one of the latter examples being directly dated to~9000 years ago (O'Connor 2010). ...
... Ochre has previously been recovered from the sequences of Uai Bobo 1, Lene Hara, Matja Kuru and Asitau Kuru, including pieces with clearly identifiable use-wear from the Pleistocene levels of Asitau Kuru (Glover 1986;Langley and O'Connor 2018). Its regular appearance on beads indicates its use for body decoration (Langley and O'Connor 2015;. Ochre occurs throughout the Asitau Kuru Square C sequence with pieces in 50 out of the 61 spits (Fig. 6). ...
... Another new bead type, Nassarius applique, appears in the Neolithic phase at Asitau Kuru, though the previous excavation suggests these beads have their origin in the middle Holocene (Langley and O'Connor 2015). The Neolithic sees an increase in the use of limestone (Table 4) and a modest increase in flake size (which occurs independent of the increase in limestone). ...
In this paper, we look at a situation of long-term continuity to understand the circumstances that mediate against behavioural change. Using newly excavated material from Asitau Kuru, Timor-Leste, we assess continuity in stone tool technology, as well as pigment and bead use over a span of 44,000 years. The sequence is divided into three occupation phases: a Pleistocene occupation from ~ 44,000 to 15,000 years ago, an early to middle Holocene occupation from ~ 10,000 to 5000 years ago and a Neolithic occupation from ~ 3800 years ago to the recent past. Across these three phases, there are distinct continuities in the way stone tools are made, and the use of red ochre and Oliva beads. We suggest that the unusually high relief topography of the Wallacean Archipelago ensured continuity in several parameters of potential behavioural change, including available environments, proximity to the sea and island size. Given the long-term continuity, the similarities with stone artefacts elsewhere in Wallacea and the early dates for human occupation in Wallacea from this excavation, we suggest that the stone tool technology documented here was introduced by an early dispersing population of Homo sapiens.
... The distribution of Group 1 artefacts at TBL relates closely to the dates for the first inception of its use in rock shelter sites in Timor Leste. Although a single obsidian artefact from this source was located in the lower levels of Jerimalai dated to ca. 42,000 cal BP (Reepmeyer et al., 2011a), the majority of the Timor Leste artefacts derive from levels dated after 14,000 cal BP, even in the case of sites such as Matju Kuru 2 (Langley and O'Connor, 2015) and Laili (O'Connor et al., 2016a) where initial occupation dates back to ca. 35,000 cal BP and 42,000 cal BP respectively. Group 2 artefacts first appear in Layer 11 and from Layer 10 onwards Group 2 is the most abundant obsidian raw material throughout the stratigraphy, particularly during the two peak utilisation periods in Layer 10 and 8. Group 3 (all three sub-sources combined) artefacts occur in all layers of the site. ...
... Matja Kuru 1 (MK1, Sq A and AA) and 2 (MK2, Sq D), are located to the west of Jerimalai, about 5 km from the coast and face south to the large freshwater lake, Ira Laloro. MK2 returned an age estimate of 35,500 cal BP for one of the lowest units, additional dates in associated excavation units confirmed this antiquity (Langley and O'Connor, 2015;O'Connor et al., 2014). At MK2, 30 obsidian flakes were recovered occurring mostly in the Holocene, the earliest deposition of three flakes in EU 33 are bracketed by dates of 9205 ± 55 bp (NZA17001 in EU 32) and 9260 ± 60 bp (OZG898 in EU35). ...
... The oldest date for MK1 was 13,690 ± 130 bp (ANU11616 from Square AA, EU 21), but an inversion is evident in the age estimate of 9940 ± 60 bp (OZF-784 from EU25) 15e20 cm lower in the profile, and indicates some vertical disturbance. The second square, MK1 Sq A, only returned mid-Holocene dates, starting at 6000 cal BP (Langley and O'Connor, 2015;O'Connor et al., 2014). Obsidian was found throughout the sequence in both excavation squares starting from the lowest units in MK1, Sq AA, with a single artefact in EU 25, but most artefacts are associated with mid-Holocene layers. ...
... Significantly, recent excavations in Timor-Leste, Island Southeast Asia (ISEA), have unearthed numerous marine shell beads simply through utilising fine meshed sieves. The controlled excavation and recovery techniques, coupled with a methodical dating regime, including the direct dating of individual pieces of shell material culture, have resulted in the identification of early instances of shell fishhooks [21], and shell beads [22][23][24]. Here we report an assemblage of 485 Oliva spp. ...
... shells are similar to the Nassarius globosus and Nassarius pullus shells found in levels dated post 6,500 cal. BP at these same sites [22], as well as the Nassarius kraussianus shell beads recovered from the Middle Stone Age levels of Blombos Cave in South Africa [4]. Instead, the Oliva appear to have been gathered as ornamental shell, that is, they were used exclusively for ornament-making (32). ...
... This phase of increased Oliva shell bead usage coincides with the initial appearance of Nassarius shell appliqués at these same sites [22]. These two shell bead types-Oliva and Nassarius -while having been used in different ways, both indicate the increased use of marine shell for ornamentation at the time of sea-level stabilisation, and while it is tempting to simply correlate the two phenomena, the fact that it is not simply a case of more beads being deposited, but that each bead saw more intensive use individually argues against a simple case that such shells became more abundant or easier to collect from 8,000 cal. ...
In this paper, we describe 485 Oliva spp. shell beads recovered from four archaeological cave sites Jerimalai, Lene Hara, Matja Kuru 1, and Matja Kuru 2, located in Timor-Leste, Island Southeast Asia. While Pleistocene-aged examples of modified marine shells used for personal ornamentation are common in African and Eurasian assemblages, they are exceedingly rare in Southeast Asia, leading some researchers to suggest that these Modern Human societies were less complex than those found further west. In Timor-Leste, the lowest Oliva bead to be recovered was directly dated to ca. 37,000 cal. BP, making it the oldest piece of personal ornamentation in Southeast Asia. Morphometric, taphonomic, use wear, and residue analyses of these beads alongside modern reference specimens, and experimentally made examples indicate that the Oliva shells were modified to be strung consecutively (as in a necklace), and while their mode of production changed remarkably little over the thousands of years they were utilised, an increase in their deposition around 6,000 cal. BP suggests that there was a change in their use coinciding with sea-level stabilisation. These tiny beads demonstrate that early Island Southeast Asian societies produced the same kinds of symbolic material culture we have come to expect from the more intensively studied African/Eurasian region, and that limited sampling and poor recovery methods have biased our perspectives of this region.
... Trausel & Frans Slieker) Fig.14 都有所夹杂 [15] 。菲律宾巴拉望岛的发现最多，与当地新石器时代晚期(距今3500-2500 年)的洞穴墓葬相关 [48][49][50] 。巴拉望、马来西亚沙捞越 [51] 、东帝汶 [15] ...
... Trausel & Frans Slieker) Fig.14 都有所夹杂 [15] 。菲律宾巴拉望岛的发现最多，与当地新石器时代晚期(距今3500-2500 年)的洞穴墓葬相关 [48][49][50] 。巴拉望、马来西亚沙捞越 [51] 、东帝汶 [15] ...
... The analytical criteria for the technological and functional interpretations were established based on the extensive literature dedicated to prehistoric ornaments (e.g., Bonnardin, 2009;Rigaud, 2011Rigaud, , 2013Cristiani and Borić, 2012;Kurzawska et al., 2013;Vanhaeren et al., 2013;Cristiani et al., 2014;Tátá et al., 2014;Rigaud et al., 2015;2023;Langley and O'Connor, 2015;Langley et al., 2016;2023;Bar-Yosef Mayer, 2019;Baysal, 2019;Ifantidis, 2019;Bar-Yosef Mayer et al., 2017;Schechter and Bar-Yosef Mayer, 2021;Martínez-Sevilla et al., 2021;Baysal and Yelözer, 2023 etc.). ...
... The information gathered aimed first to identify the raw materials and, considering the site location, to establish their means of procurement (e.g., direct collection, exchange networks with other communities, etc). At this point, special attention was given to the identification of the taphonomic degradations that affect the shell structure or may have created natural perforations (predators, physico-chemical processes, mechanical processes, etc.) (e.g., Á lvarez-Fernández, 2006; Dupont et al., 2014;Reynard, 2014;Langley and O'Connor, 2015;Cabral and Martins, 2016). ...
Shells were collected and transformed into ornaments by the first Homo sapiens and accompanied their evolution over the millennia. They were more than mere elements that decorated the human body and held multiple social and cultural meanings. That is why shell adornments have remarkable importance for reconstructing aspects related to exchange networks, social hierarchies or geographical boundaries of different cultural groups. This study aims to complete the state of knowledge regarding the ornaments used by the human communities of Europe in the 6th-5th millennia BC along the Lower Danube. We review the ornaments from 22 settlements and 19 necropolises from various aspects: the raw materials and their sources of procurement, the chaîne operatoire and the ways they were worn. Finally, we compared the ornaments from settlements and funerary contexts and discussed their possible significance against the background of raw material availability and typological categories.
... Five intact and three fragments of Nassarius spp. shell beads join the 24 examples previously recovered from Squares A and B (Langley and O'Connor 2015). The species represented include Nassarius pullus and Nassarius globosus, species that are similar in appearance and size. ...
... In either case, the attachment of the Nautilus disc beads to a backing fabric or in this overlapping consecutive fashion makes sense for effectively utilising the shiny nacreous surface that the ventral face presents. Certainly, we have previously argued that the use wear on the Nassarius shells can only be fully explained by their use as shell appliqués (Langley and O'Connor 2015). ...
Asitau Kuru provides a unique record of human behaviour from the first arrival of Homo sapiens onto Timor Island around 44,000 years ago through to the near present. In particular, this site has produced a large number of marine shell artefacts which have been central to rewriting our understanding of the sophistication of cultural behaviours enacted by the first populations to move into and through Island Southeast Asia. Here, we present the analysis of the shell artefact finds from the 2017 excavation of Asitau Kuru, bringing the different ornament forms—made on various but carefully selected marine species—together for the first time in a detailed examination of shell-beading traditions at this key site. We also describe a possible shell tool used in the creation of these shell adornments and a fragment of a large horned helmet shell (Cassis cornuta) which is suggested to have originated from a shell trumpet, container, adze, or other culturally significant item of material culture.
... 45 ka. At the archaeological site of Asitau Kuru (formally known as Jerimalai), East Timor, there is evidence of long term human occupation to the Late Pleistocene (Langley et al., 2016;Langley & O'Connor, 2015;O'Connor, 2007;O'Connor et al., 2010;Shipton et al., 2019). Other Late Pleistocene archaeological evidence comes from Lene Hara Cave, East Timor, which dates back to 42 ka (Aubert et al., 2007;Langley & O'Connor, 2015;O'Connor et al., 2002O'Connor et al., , 2010. ...
... At the archaeological site of Asitau Kuru (formally known as Jerimalai), East Timor, there is evidence of long term human occupation to the Late Pleistocene (Langley et al., 2016;Langley & O'Connor, 2015;O'Connor, 2007;O'Connor et al., 2010;Shipton et al., 2019). Other Late Pleistocene archaeological evidence comes from Lene Hara Cave, East Timor, which dates back to 42 ka (Aubert et al., 2007;Langley & O'Connor, 2015;O'Connor et al., 2002O'Connor et al., , 2010. The other islands in this region, such as Flores (Sutikna et al., 2016b;G. ...
Pleistocene vertebrate faunas have long been known from the island of Timor but have rarely been studied. In particular, dwarf elephant-like proboscideans such as Stegodon were once widespread across the island, including to the Atambua Basin, but the cause of their extinction is unknown. Here, we document the fossil Pleistocene fauna of this basin with their palaeoenvironmental context. We also investigate the possibility of human-Stegodon chronological overlap. Our methods include field survey, excavation, pollen analysis, and U-series dating. Palaeoenvironmental data based on geomorphology and hydrological information show a transition from marine to fluvial depositional conditions in the basin during Pleistocene. Pollen data supports this interpretation and shows a clear shift from mangrove to terrestrial vegetation types. Palaeoclimatic conditions after the transition are characterized by a high humidity with high-flow water across the basin. Fossils of vertebrate faunas are restricted to fluvially-derived sandstone units. Meanwhile lithic artefacts were recorded widely across the basin, in the from of surface finds. There is so far no example of direct association of lithic artefacts with extinct Pleistocene faunas. Direct dating of the vertebrate fossils suggest they came from the Middle Pleistocene or earlier, and consequently pre-date the oldest current records of modern human existence on the island ∼45,000 years ago.
... The deepest example in Square C of the latter is from spit 37 (layer 5), while disc beads are also attested from the early Holocene at Matja Kuru 1 and 2, including a directly dated example (Langley and O'Connor 2016;O'Connor 2010). Examples of whole and partial Nassarius beads have also been found from the middle Holocene levels at Matja Kuru 1 (Langley and O'Connor 2015). All three bead types continue into the Ceri Shipton et al. ...
... beads, fishhooks, scrapers, and adzes. Beads were produced on three different genera of marine shells: Oliva with the apex removed(Langley and O'Connor 2016); ground discs of Nautilus and perhaps other large nacreous shells (O'Connor 2010); and Nassarius, which had part of the body whorl knocked off and were likely sewn on as applique to clothing or apparel(Langley and O'Connor 2015) (Figure 6A). Only occasional Oliva occur prior to the LGM, including one with a direct age of 37,191 ± 1055 BP. ...
The environmental extremes of the Last Glacial Maximum and the subsequent warming and sea-level rise into the Holocene had profound implications for human behavior across much of the world. In northern New Guinea, the Maluku Islands, and the Philippines, shell adzes appear during this period alongside contact between islands. In this paper we present new data from the site of Asitau Kuru, Timor-Leste, to show that the creation of shell adzes and greater inter-island connectivity also characterizes the early and middle and early Holocene in the Nusa Tenggara archipelago of southern Wallacea. We suggest that one of the functions of these shell adzes was in making dugout canoes enabling regular access to neighboring islands; the import of exotic stone materials; long-term occupation of very small islands; and, with new hook and line technology, the capture of more fish. This evidence predates the Neolithic in the region and corroborates a linguistic hypothesis that there was a pre-Austronesian interaction sphere covering much of Wallacea.
... Various shells from all over the world, especially those processed in the form of personal adornments, have benefited from detailed studies regarding their possible social-cultural functions (e.g., Vanhaeren, 2005;Rigaud, 2011). Nor have studies of wear traces (e.g., Cristiani et al., 2005;Cuenca-Solana et al., 2014Reynard, 2014;Lemorini et al., 2016;Romagnoli et al., 2017;Weston et al., 2017) on the surface of the pieces been lacking, proposing ways of attaching for adornments (e.g., Cristiani and Bori c, 2012;Vanhaeren et al., 2013;Langley and O'Connor, 2015;Langley et al., 2016) or of using for different tools (e.g., Smith and Allen, 1999;O'Day and Keegan, 2001;Przywolnik, 2003;Debruyne, 2010;Allen and Ussher, 2013;Romagnoli et al., 2014Romagnoli et al., , 2016Szab o and Koppel, 2015;Tumung et al., 2015;Harris et al., 2017). The focus of this paper has been on some aquatic resources, used by prehistoric communities north of the Danube for processing tools and personal adornments. ...
... Analytical criteria for the technological and functional interpretation of marks were established based on comparison with recent publications on osseous industries and personal adornments in prehistory (e.g., Bonnardin, 2009;Buc, 2011;Rigaud, 2011Rigaud, , 2013Vanhaeren et al., 2013;T at a et al., 2014;Rigaud et al., 2015;Bar-Yosef Mayer, 2017 etc.). Taphonomical action of the various natural agents (e.g., natural erosion or natural predators) were taken into account, informed by relevant studies (e.g., Smith and Nelson, 2003;Dupont el al., 2014;Reynard, 2014;Langley and O'Connor, 2015;Cabral and Martins, 2016). Table 2) ...
Măgura 'Buduiasca' (‘Boldul lui Moș Ivănuș’) settlement has an important place among the Prehistoric settlements from the Balkans. It is characterised by continuous habitation from the Early Neolithic through to the Early Chalcolithic allowing an understanding of the development of utilitarian objects and personal adornments in respect of the raw materials used and their processing patterns. One group consists of local bivalves (Unio sp.) which were exploited in an opportunistic manner: first as an important source of food and second as a source material for producing artefacts after recovery from domestic waste. The local gastropods shells (Lithoglyphus sp., Theodoxus danubialis, Esperiana sp., Ansius/Planorbis sp.) are without any nutritional value and used only as a source of raw materials. They could be collected during specialized expeditions organized for this purpose at certain times of the year. Imported elements are a third category which most likely arrived at Măgura ‘Buduiasca’ as finished objects. They provide evidence for complex exchange networks at this period in prehistory. Species like Mytilus or Cardium most likely come from the Black Sea, while Spondylus or Glycymeris may have their origins in the Mediterranean Sea. The presence of these raw materials demonstrates different transformation methods with their origin influencing the processing procedure: allogene valves for adornments, while Unio sp. are especially transformed into utilitarian tools.
... Microwear analysis has proved to be successful in identifying perforating techniques, differentiating them from natural features caused by predators and by wave and sand action (Cadée and Wesselingh, 2005;Çakirlar, 2009;D'Errico et al., , 2009Francis, 1982;Joordens et al., 2014). In addition, microscopic and experimental studies have provided insight into past systems of attachment and degrees of usage (Bonnardin, 2008(Bonnardin, , 2012Langley and O'Connor, 2015;Mărgărit, 2016;Taborin, 1993;Vanhaeren and D'Errico, 2003;Vanhaeren et al., 2013). Studies have also demonstrated that shell mechanics and the formation of wear can vary according to the species and its (micro-)structure Szabó, 2010;Weston et al., 2015). ...
... In broader terms, the very idea that composite ornaments would have been constituted solely by a string, beads of a single type and a pendant is misleading. While further interpretation of the position of individual beads and pendants in composite pieces is hampered by different preservation rates of materials in the archaeological record, drawing a linkage between usewear traces and actual ethnographic artefacts (e.g., necklaces, bands and clothing items) can provide fruitful insights (e.g., Bonnardin, 2008;Cristiani et al., 2014Cristiani et al., , 2016Langley and O'Connor, 2015). ...
Figurative ornaments displaying biomorphic and geometric designs have often been recovered from pre-Colonial sites in the Caribbean and northern South America. Such artefacts are held in museum and private collections, but often have not been the focus of systematic research. On the other hand, recent research into ornaments worldwide has focused on simple beads and automorphic shell ornaments. In this article, microwear analysis is used to assess technologies of production and use-wear of figurative shell ornaments from north-central Venezuela. It is our goal to reflect on the challenges posed by such collections, in terms of reproducibility of traces through experiments, post-depositional and curatorial modifications, and the complexity of past attachment configurations. The underlying question is how to deal with the limitations posed by the very nature of the studied collection in terms of preservation and of the high skill required in the reproduction of figurative artefacts.
... Taxonomic identification of shells from KHH, as well as other assemblages from the Mediterranean environmental zone (Beisamoun, Nahal Yarmut 38, Nesher-Ramla Quarry, Qumran Cave 24 and Yiftahel. S1 Table), was performed at The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Tel Aviv University, with comparison to the museum's mollusc collection and different taxonomic guides [100][101][102][103][104]. The study of human manipulation of the shells was conducted through macro-and microscopic visual observations, adapted from previously established methodologies for technical and functional analyses of shell beads [such as [105][106][107][108][109][110], primarily regarding manufacture and use traces. The microscopic examinations were performed using a Zeiss Discovery.V8 Stereoscope (magnifications X10-X80) and a DinoLite digital microscope pro AD-413T (magnifications x20-x230). ...
People tend to belong to multiple social circles, which construct and reflect a person’s social identity. Group affiliation is embodied and may be expressed by personal adornment. Personal adornment in general has multiple functions in human societies, among them the assimilation and transmission of different aspects of personal and collective, social and cultural identity. Beads in general, including shell beads, often constitute parcels of composite adornment, and as such are used in different configurations to portray these messages. The shared use of similar bead types by different individuals and communities indicates the mutual affiliation of the sharing parties to the same cultural circles and reflects social ties and relationships. The Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) period in the Levant is a time of pivotal changes to human lifeways necessitating profound adjustments in all aspects of life, including social relations and networks. Here we use the shell bead assemblage from the cultic-mortuary aggregation site of Kfar HaHoresh, in comparison to shell bead assemblages from multiple other sites in the Levant, as a proxy for the exploration of local and regional networks and connections between PPNB communities. Multivariate analyses of shell bead type distribution patterns across the Levant demonstrate that some types were widely shared among different communities, characterising different geographic regions, while others were rare or unique, highlighting relationships between sites and regions, which are occasionally independent of geographic proximity. Specific occurrences of shared shell bead types between Kfar HaHoresh and compared sites further illuminate the web of connections between PPNB communities in the Levant and the varying breadths of sharing-patterns reflect the hierarchical nature of the underlying social circles. Outlining these widening social affiliations sheds light on the complex structure of Neolithic social identity.
... Two were found in Spit 27 (Langley and O'Connor, 2019). A single Nassarius bead was also found in this square, in Spit 15 (Langley and O'Connor, 2015). ...
... Taxonomic identifications were made using malacological reference collections housed at Queensland Museum that included Cypraeidae and Nassariidae-common families recovered archaeologically (e.g. Clark et al., 2018;Langley and O'Connor, 2015;Maloney et al., 2022a;O'Connor, 2010;Szabó, 2005). High levels of diversity amongst genera and species belonging to the families Cypraeidae and Nassariidae (e.g. ...
... Two were found in Spit 27 (Langley and O'Connor, 2019). A single Nassarius bead was also found in this square, in Spit 15 (Langley and O'Connor, 2015). ...
... Both sites had limited occupation during the LGM, likely due to sharp reduction in rainfall during the LGM which made settlement less favorable Hawkins et al., 2017;Shipton et al., 2019;Roberts et al., 2020). MK2 and Asitau Kuru also had a shared material culture history that included shell beads and ochre pieces, also found at the neighboring sites of Matja Kuru 1 and Lene Hara respectively (Langley and O'Connor, 2015;O'Connor et al., 2019). Further, the presence of Scombridae (mackerels, tunas, bonitos) recorded at MK2 has resonances with Asitau Kuru, highlighting a possible connection between the two sites of a highly specialized fishing tradition targeting this fast-moving predator off the edge of the reef. ...
Homo sapiens were adept at fishing in a range of aquatic habitats by the time they left Africa and reached Southeast Asia ca. 73 kya. In the insular region of Wallacea, humans adapted to a significant maritime environment with sophisticated marine fishing methods and technology by at least 42 kya. However, despite a growing array of evidence suggesting an early inland terrestrial adaptation on large islands in this tropical region, there was previously no evidence of fishing in inland wetlands habitats on the depauperate islands of Wallacea. Here we present new evidence of both marine and freshwater fishing recovered from different occupation phases from the cave sites Laili (ca. 44.6–11.7 kya) and Matja Kuru 2 (ca. 40 kya to Late Holocene) on the island of Timor (Timor-Leste), located near significant riverine and lake environments respectively. This indicates that humans adapted to a wider range of aquatic habitats over time and space in Wallacea than previously thought and moved freely between inland and coastal habitats. Diversification of fishing strategies likely improved chances of survival in an island landscape with an impoverished suite of terrestrial vertebrates under changing climatic conditions.
... Shell beads made of Nassarius spp. (Langley and O'Connor 2015;Shipton et al. 2020) and Olivia spp. were also found, with one Oliva bead from the original excavation being directly dated to 37,191 ± 1,055 BP Shipton et al. 2020). ...
Human adaptations to marine resources were critical in the successful colonization
of Island Southeast Asia (ISEA) and the Pacific since the Late Pleistocene.
Fishing the dense biomass of ichthyofauna present in this maritime region
required the cognitive capability to conceptualize fish ecology and develop
methods and technologies to exploit these challenging underwater environments.
This likely gave our species an edge over other hominin species in
depauperate island landscapes. This paper reviews the limited number of
archaeological sites in ISEA where fish bone assemblages and fishing gears
have been recovered, incorporating new archaeological data from the site of
Asitau Kuru (Jerimalai), Timor-Leste. Our findings indicate continuity in fishing
behavior over several millennia with a near-shore exploitation of local marine
habitats including trolling, line fishing and spearing. These data indicate the
ecological plasticity of our species and the enduring fishing traditions passed
on to generations through learned behavior.
... Sumberdaya alam yang melimpah mengubah cara berpikir mereka untuk lebih eksploratif dalam memanfaatkan bahan baku selain batu sebagai alat. Misalnya saja seperti kerang, tulang, dan mungkin kayu atau bambu (Fuentes et al., 2021;Langley & Connor, 2015;Xhauflair et al., 2015Xhauflair et al., , 2017. Meski demikian, kehadiran tekno-kompleks Toalean (Toala atau Toalian) yang berkembang di Sulawesi Selatan sekitar 8000 tahun yang lalu menunjukkan kemampuan yang berbeda. ...
Keywords: lithic artefacts; stone tool technology; raw material; chert; Toalean The intensified research on Toalean lithic artefacts is still lacking in comparative study of stone tool technology, which is necessary to inquire into the adaptation of different tool-making technology due to environmental factors. This paper discusses a comparative study of Toalean lithic artefacts from Leang Jarie in the Maros-Pangkep lowlands and Cappalombo 1 in the Bontocani highlands by the classification and analysis of lithic artifacts, as well as surveys and observations of raw material sources around the site. The results show an adaptation strategy to the availability of raw materials, resulted in a different trend on both sites. The low quality of chert in Bontocani has prompted stone tool manufacture in Cappalombo 1 to use various raw material and to apply bipolar techniques more frequently in reduce and retouch of the flakes. On the other hand, raw material utilization of chert in Leang Jarie is more homogenous and direct percussion technique is more frequently used. ABSTRAK Kata Kunci: artefak litik; teknologi alat batu; bahan baku; chert; Toalean Penelitian artefak litik Toalean yang semakin intensif masih belum banyak melakukan perbandingan teknologi pembuatan alat batu. Studi perbandingan perlu dilakukan untuk mengetahui kemungkinan adanya perbedaan strategi adaptasi teknologi berdasarkan aspek lingkungan. Tulisan ini membahas studi perbandingan artefak litik Toalean dari situs Leang Jarie yang ada di dataran rendah Maros-Pangkep dan situs Cappalombo 1 di dataran tinggi Bontocani. Metode yang digunakan adalah klasifikasi dan analisis temuan artefak litik, serta survei dan observasi sumber bahan baku di sekitar situs. Hasil studi perbandingan menunjukkan adanya strategi adaptasi terhadap kondisi bahan baku dan menghasilkan tren teknologi yang berbeda di kedua situs. Kualitas chert yang kurang baik di dataran tinggi Bontocani mendorong pembuatan alat batu di Cappalombo 1 menerapkan strategi pemanfaatan bahan baku yang beragam dan lebih sering menerapkan teknik bipolar untuk mereduksi dan meretus serpih. Sebaliknya, pemanfaatan bahan baku chert di Leang Jarie cenderung homogen dan lebih sering menerapkan teknik pukul langsung.
... Sumberdaya alam yang melimpah mengubah cara berpikir mereka untuk lebih eksploratif dalam memanfaatkan bahan baku selain batu sebagai alat. Misalnya saja seperti kerang, tulang, dan mungkin kayu atau bambu (Fuentes et al., 2021;Langley & Connor, 2015;Xhauflair et al., 2015Xhauflair et al., , 2017. Meski demikian, kehadiran tekno-kompleks Toalean (Toala atau Toalian) yang berkembang di Sulawesi Selatan sekitar 8000 tahun yang lalu menunjukkan kemampuan yang berbeda. ...
Penelitian artefak litik Toalean yang semakin intensif masih belum banyak melakukan perbandingan teknologi pembuatan alat batu. Studi perbandingan perlu dilakukan untuk mengetahui kemungkinan adanya perbedaan strategi adaptasi teknologi berdasarkan aspek lingkungan. Tulisan ini membahas studi perbandingan artefak litik Toalean dari situs Leang Jarie yang ada di dataran rendah Maros-Pangkep dan situs Cappalombo 1 di dataran tinggi Bontocani. Metode yang digunakan adalah klasifikasi dan analisis temuan artefak litik, serta survei dan observasi sumber bahan baku di sekitar situs. Hasil studi perbandingan menunjukkan adanya strategi adaptasi terhadap kondisi bahan baku dan menghasilkan tren teknologi yang berbeda di kedua situs. Kualitas chert yang kurang baik di dataran tinggi Bontocani mendorong pembuatan alat batu di Cappalombo 1 menerapkan strategi pemanfaatan bahan baku yang beragam dan lebih sering menerapkan teknik bipolar untuk mereduksi dan meretus serpih. Sebaliknya, pemanfaatan bahan baku chert di Leang Jarie cenderung homogen dan lebih sering menerapkan teknik pukul langsung.
... Also, the convexities of gastropod shells such as the whorls are worn by friction on sand (e.g. Langley & O'Connor, 2015;Smith & Nelson, 2003), which can lead to the development of a perforation. Natural erosion results in an overall polishing of the shells (Dupont, Laporte, Courtaud, Duday, & Gruet, 2014). ...
This paper is focused on the various kinds of personal adornments that were used during the Mesolithic and Early Neolithic in the Iron Gates region (southwest Romania). We review how the adornments were used, based on an analysis of their morphology and use-wear, and attempt to identify the sequence of actions involved in their manufacture. We document the changes in ornament type and technique that occurred between 12700–5600 cal BC, highlighting the fact that some “Mesolithic” types continued to be used in the Early Neolithic alongside the introduction of new types reflecting the arrival and integration into the region of a new population with different cultural traditions.
... Two are juvenile strombids (Figure 2.14 A and B), the hole in their posterior extremity the result of natural beach-wash abrasion, though one exhibits significant wear from being strung on its outer lip (Langley and O'Connor 2016). A third, also made on a Conomurex, though this time only its top, shows significant rounding and polish accrued through wear (Figure 2.14 F) (Langley and O'Connor 2015). Finally, a short length of scaphopod was identified (Figure 2.14 G). ...
... In the case of shell ornaments, studies on technology and use-wear in shell beads are usually carried out using low magnifications (Langley and O'Connor, 2015;Nițu et al., 2019;Peresani et al., 2019). Only a few researchers have chosen to use a high-power approximation (d 'Errico et al., 2005;d'Errico and Backwell, 2016). ...
Recently, there has been a proliferation of studies focused on traceological analyses of shell tools, most of which have been carried out using high magnifications. In contrast, wear patterns identified in other types of shell objects, such as ornaments, are usually analyzed at low magnifications. A new approach to the technological and functional analysis of Paleolithic Homalopoma sanguineum shell beads is proposed here. This taxon has been considered especially problematic in archaeomalacology for several reasons. First, it is a very rare species in on current coasts, so conducting perforation and suspension experiments is logistically difficult. This leaves two unique routes for the acquisition of data: analogous experiments on other seashells, which is not recommended based on the characteristics of the internal structure of this species, or directly through the study of archaeological specimens. Secondly, it has been considered impossible to successfully perform use-wear analyses due to the physical characteristics of this species. Lastly, the high reflective capacity of the species' inner nacreous layer can make its study via optical microscopy difficult. Given these issues, the goal of this study is to compare the advantages and disadvantages of the microscopy equipment conventionally used for use-wear analysis. By comparing multiple microscopes’ accuracy in identifying polishing, striation, and micro-chipping patterns, a set of criteria has been generated which can be used not only in analyses of H. saguineum, but in a wide range of nacreous ornaments.
... Two are juvenile strombids (Figure 2.14 A and B), the hole in their posterior extremity the result of natural beach-wash abrasion, though one exhibits significant wear from being strung on its outer lip (Langley and O'Connor 2016). A third, also made on a Conomurex, though this time only its top, shows significant rounding and polish accrued through wear (Figure 2.14 F) (Langley and O'Connor 2015). Finally, a short length of scaphopod was identified (Figure 2.14 G). ...
... Two are juvenile strombids (Figure 2.14 A and B), the hole in their posterior extremity the result of natural beach-wash abrasion, though one exhibits significant wear from being strung on its outer lip (Langley and O'Connor 2016). A third, also made on a Conomurex, though this time only its top, shows significant rounding and polish accrued through wear (Figure 2.14 F) (Langley and O'Connor 2015). Finally, a short length of scaphopod was identified (Figure 2.14 G). ...
... The early to middle Holocene (10-5 ka) at Asitau Kuru and Lene Hara sees the proliferation of an older Oliva shell bead tradition, with this bead type found at several other sites including Lua Meko on the small island of Rote off the west coast of Timor during this period (Fig. 3) Mahirta, 2009;Shipton et al., 2020b). From 7.5 ka at Tron Bon Lei on Alor, and 6.5 ka at Matja Kuru 1 and Asitau Kuru on Timor, both the Oliva beads and a new Nassarius applique bead type are represented (Langley and O'Connor, 2015;O'Connor et al., in press). ...
The Wallacean archipelago between the Indian and Pacific Oceans is a critical biogeographic boundary for all kinds of animals, from butterflies to birds. Humans are no exception, and in this paper we offer a three stage model for how our genus overcame this boundary. We review how Lower Palaeolithic hominins were able to colonize the larger islands of western Wallacea through incidental seagoing, and subsistence on the megaherbivores that also made these crossings. However, Lower Palaeolithic hominins were not able to maintain geneflow between islands, nor cross into eastern Wallacea and beyond into Sahul. This biogeographic threshold persisted for hundreds of thousands of years until the arrival of our own species, whose cognitive capacities for planning and abstraction likely allowed for the construction of composite material rafts, interdependent paddles, and multiple-day seafaring. With the sea-level rise of the terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene a greater connectivity is seen in the form obsidian exchange networks, inter-island bead and fishhook traditions, and the colonization of very small islands entirely depauperate in terrestrial fauna. We suggest that the appearance of shell adzes at this time reflects the production of dugout canoes to facilitate regular inter-island voyaging. Wallacea presents a key case study both in the limits of Lower Palaeolithic hominin dispersal and the capacities that allowed Homo sapiens to go beyond these, as well as the intensification response of our species to rapid benign environmental change.
... Nassarius shells are relatively thick and durable (Bar-Yosef Mayer, 2015;Stiner et al., 2013), and based on the low frequency of beads with completely broken apertures at Blombos Cave (n = 5, 7%) one can assume that bead breakage was not the main factor responsible for their incorporation in the archaeological record. Rather, the majority of beads became part of the archaeological record through other processes that included discard or loss as a completed beadwork, as evidenced by the excavated groups of beads with similar wear patterns (Vanhaeren et al., 2013), and may have also included loss of beads during beadwork manufacture, and/or string failure (see Langley and O'Connor, 2015). ...
Early archaeological evidence for symbolically-mediated behaviour, which is our ability to create and share coded information between and within groups, comes from the African Middle Stone Age. Nassarius kraussianus shell beads, discovered in the Late Pleistocene, Still Bay archaeological deposits at Blombos Cave, Western Cape, South Africa, are some of the worlds earliest personal ornaments and their discovery significantly pushed back the origins of complex human symbolling. Further analyses of these beads led to the hypothesis that stringing arrangements at Blombos Cave changed through time, with important implications for the development and maintenance of social norms and style in early human populations. This hypothesis was supported by qualitative comparisons of archaeological and experimental wear distributions. Here, we present the results of a quantitative approach, applying a modified edge damage distribution method and statistical modelling to published diagrams (Vanhaeren et al. 2013, Journal of Human Evolution 64, 500–517) of wear on N. kraussianus shell beads. Our results support the original findings that different beading arrangements result in different wear distributions, and that the wear distributions on Blombos Cave beads exhibit temporal variability. However, our results vary with respect to which stringing arrangements best match the archaeological samples. Furthermore, we conclude that a combination of multiple processes may best explain the archaeological wear distributions, a finding more congruent with a long and complicated life history of curated objects like beads. These findings add to a growing record of early human social behaviours, and contribute methodologically to use-wear analyses of personal ornaments recovered from the archaeological record.
... Excavations at Matja Kuru 1 took place in 2001 and consisted of a 1 Â 2 m test-pit (conjoined Squares A and AA), also sampled in approximately 5 cm spits. The geochronology and archaeological sequences of Jerimalai and Matja Kuru 1 have been described by O'Connor (2007) and Langley and O'Connor (2015) and we refer to those publications for more details. ...
Abstract
Timor has yielded the earliest evidence for modern humans in Wallacea, but despite its long history of modern human occupation, there is little evidence for human-induced Late Pleistocene extinctions. Here, we report on Late Pleistocene and Holocene bird remains from Jerimalai and Matja Kuru 1, sites that have yielded extensive archaeological sequences dating back to >40 ka. Avian remains are present throughout the sequence, and quails (Phasianidae), buttonquails (Turnicidae) and pigeons (Columbidae) are the most abundant groups. Taphonomic analyses suggest that the majority of bird remains, with the exception of large-bodied pigeons, were accumulated by avian predators, likely the Barn owl Tyto sp. All species represent extant taxa that are still present on Timor today, with the exception of a crane, Grus sp., from the Late Pleistocene of Jerimalai, and a large buttonquail, Turnix sp., from Matja Kuru 1. The crane likely represents an extirpated population of cranes, which were much more widespread throughout the Indonesian archipelago during the Quaternary. The large buttonquail is present at Matja Kuru 1 alongside the extant T. maculosus until at least 1372–1300 cal BP. These two species represent the first records of avian extinctions on Timor. However, a causal relationship between the extinction of these two taxa and human impact cannot be demonstrated at this point.
... The analytical criteria for the technological and functional interpretations were established by reference to recent publications on the use of personal ornaments from prehistoric contexts (e.g. Bonnardin, 2009;Rigaud, 2011Rigaud, , 2013Cristiani and Borić, 2012;Vanhaeren et al., 2013;Cristiani et al., 2014;Tátá et al., 2014;Rigaud et al., 2015;Langley and O'Connor, 2015;Langley et al., 2016). ...
Prehistoric personal adornments have benefited from detailed studies because they are an inexhaustible source of reflection. From these objects can be identified the symbolic and religious behaviour of prehistoric groups; they may also reflect the socio-economic aspects of these communities and may even serve as markers of cultural boundaries and exchange networks in prehistory. Appreciating the considerable potential of personal adornments, the central purpose of this study is to analyse and compare the types of ornaments used by Eneolithic communities (c. 5000-3500 BC) in the area to the north of the Danube, to provide an integrated image on the ways in which the use of certain types of ornaments had socio-economic effects. Among local species, the shells of Lithoglyphus sp. gastropod were used to make bracelets and necklaces and the valves of Unio sp. were processed into small circular beads. Alsoidentified were beads made of Cyprinus carpio opercular bones, a unique find for this stage of European prehistory. Exotic raw materials are represented by various forms of Spondylus adornments, bracelets of Glycymeris valve or tubular beads of scaphopod shells. While in the first case, we have identified pieces in various processing stages, from entire valves, shells or bones, simply perforated, and irregular fragments, to finished beads, used as decorative objects – certainly processed in situ; the artefacts of exotic raw materials arrived at the communities north of the Danube in a finished form, as a result of inter-community exchanges. Very interesting is the fact that the ornaments of exotic raw materials (e. g., Spondylus sp., Glycymeris sp., Antalis sp.) were identified mainly in funerary contexts and less in settlements, proving they were prestige goods and accompanying the deceased to “the other world”. Therefore, it seems, apparently depending on the local or exotic origin of the raw material, that these personal adorments had differing socio-economic meanings.
... An alternative approach has been the study of composite ornaments belonging to ethnographic museum collections (Cristiani et al. 2014;Langley and O'Connor 2015;Wright et al. 2016). Thus far, this type of research has been conducted alongside the study of archaeological assemblages and, for this reason, has focused on specific ornament typologies and raw materials. ...
The use of microwear analysis has made substantial contributions to the study of archaeological bodily ornaments. However, limitations persist with regard to the interpretation of use and the reconstruction of systems of attachment, hampering a holistic understanding of the diversity of past bodily adornment. This is because the complexities of ornament biographies and the resulting wear traces cannot be grasped exclusively from the study of experimental reference collections. In this paper, we propose to bridge this gap in interpretation by systematically researching ethnographic collections. We conducted a microscopic study of 38 composite ornaments from lowland South America housed at the Musée du quai Branly (Paris). These objects involve organic, biomineral, and inorganic components, attached through different string configurations. The combined use of optical and 3D digital microscopy at different magnification ranges provided a thorough understanding of wear trace formation, distribution, and characterization. We demonstrate how individual beads develop characteristic use-wear in relation to one another and to the strings. We further challenge common assumptions made in the analysis of archaeological ornaments. In sum, this research addresses methodological and interpretative issues in the study of bodily adornment at large, by providing insight into the biographies of objects that were actually worn in a lived context. In the future, our results can be applied as reference for a more effective understanding of the use of ornaments worldwide.
... Of the ninety-one Nassarius spp. shell appliqués identified, 83.5 per cent exhibit traces of red ochre within the crevices of the shell structure and around the parietal wall (Figure 3.2i; Langley and O'Connor 2015). This distribution of ochre is consistent with the shells having been attached dorsal face down to a redcoloured surface, such as dyed cloth. ...
Prehistoric archaeology has demonstrated that a preference for the colour red has been a persistent feature of human cultures since around 200,000 years ago. Using microscopic examination techniques for ochre nodules and portable items of material culture such as beads, pendants, and figurines advancing over the past quarter of a century, we have become aware of just how ubiquitous the use of red colourants in past cultures has been. In this chapter, we explore the evidence for ochre use in Timor-Leste and the wider archaeological and ethnographic contexts of Southeast Asia. In particular, we consider the importance of the colour red in the portable art traditions of the region.
... Also found at these sites were Nassarius shell bead appliqués which were attached to clothing or other material culture items dating back to 6,500 cal. bp (Langley and O'Connor 2015), along with numerous small Nautilus disc beads which first appear in the early Holocene levels of these four sites (O'Connor 2010). ...
Until recently, the material culture record of Southeast Asia rarely attracted more than a passing mention in debates concerning early portable art. Recent findings from numerous archaeological excavations and museum studies, however, have highlighted the importance of this region for understanding the development and role of these small items in the earliest modern human communities. In this chapter, we provide an overview of the portable art recovered from pre-Neolithic contexts in Southeast Asia and outline its place in the global context.
... Indeed, in Australia, this includes collections amounting to thousands of portable art objects (e.g., by Donald Thomson, Charles Mountford, Alfred Haddon; see Allen 2008; Moore 1984). Studies which combine data from ethnographic sources, museum collections, and archaeology can be powerful, providing insight into socio-political including totemic contexts and late Holocene community regionalisation (e.g., Langley and O'Connor 2015;Wright et al. 2016). However, much of the portable art data from the region is frequently buried in site reports or the grey literature (museum catalogues and consultancy reports), and is one avenue for future research. ...
Research into prehistoric Eurasian, American, and African portable art is well established; however, such artefacts remain proportionally under reported from Australian, Pacific, and Southeast Asian archaeological contexts. This volume attempts to address this gap introducing the readership to past and present research in this region. This chapter outlines the research presented in this volume and also explores the role and relevance of portable art research in the Asia-Pacific within broader international dialogues.
... Evidence for anthropogenic modification including location, intensity, orientation, and type of wear was mapped onto tracings of each shell drawn from high-resolution digital photographs. Identification of manufacture and use traces was based on previous analyses of marine shell beads (Alarashi 2010;Bar-Yosef Mayer 1997;Cristiani and Borić 2012;Cristiani et al. 2014;d'Errico et al. 1993;d'Errico et al. 2005;Francis 1989;Langley and O'Connor 2015;Stiner et al. 2013;Vanhaeren et al. 2013), with taphonomic alterations based on comparison with the Archaeology & Natural History Mollusc Shell Reference Collection held at The Australian National University, as well as published texts such as Classen (1998). ...
We present experimental and micro-trace evidence for an unusual Cypraeidae bead type associated with the earliest cultural deposits of the Bapot-1 site in the Marianas Islands in Western Micronesia. Results show that these ground-section cowry beads were strung together while worked dorsum found at this same site were used as pendants/lids. The probable occurrence of ground-section beads on Tikopia island ~4000 km from the Marianas suggests that these distinctive shell artefacts can assist archaeological understanding of early Oceanic dispersals and interaction among different colonising Neolithic groups in the Indo-Pacific.
... The location and character of manufacturing marks, use-wear, and pigment spots were systematically recorded. Analysis of taphonomic damage was based on the work of d'Errico et al. Langley and O'Connor (2015), to distinguish anthropogenic perforations from those caused by natural processes (e.g., predators) or areas of wear resulting from friction with clothing from those resulting from the friction with beach sand or gravel (i.e., prior to collection). Microscopic examination and photography were undertaken with a Keyence VHX-600 digital microscope, at magnifications of ×30 to ×150. ...
Personal ornaments, especially those made from the shells of marine mollusks and animal teeth, have been recovered from many Mesolithic sites across Europe. This paper reviews the evidence of personal ornaments from the Meso¬lithic of the Iron Gates, where such finds were identified in five sites on the Romanian bank: the cave and rock shelter sites of Climente II and Cuina Turcului, and three open air sites – Icoana, Ostrovul Banului and Schela Cladovei. The ornaments from these sites were made from the shells of several gastropod taxa and at least one species of Dentaliid scaphopod, as well as the pharyngeal teeth of cyprinids, the teeth of several species of terrestrial mammal, fish vertebrae, and pieces of antler and bone. Par-ticular attention is given to taxonomic identification and questions of taphonomy, prove¬nance, selection, manufacture and use. Experiments were conducted in which several types of ornament were replicated. Archaeological and experimental pieces (at various stages of production) were examined under a microscope, to establish the durability of the beads and estimate the length of time over which they were worn. Our results show that shells of Lithoglyphus and Theodoxus spp. were simply perforated and fixed in composed adornments, as were shells of Tritia neritea in the early part of the time range. In the later Mesolithic T. neritea shells were processed in a different way and fixed to clothing in the manner of appliqués. No technological modification of the cyprinid teeth was observed; these were sewn individually onto clothing by means of a thread coated with an adhesive substance. The other categories of personal ornament were used mainly as pendants. Experimental use-wear analysis suggests that many ornaments were used over long periods, with broken or missing pieces replaced when necessary.
... Despite the potential informative power of such association, its functional and sociocultural significance remains poorly understood. Beads bearing pigment residues are commonly recovered from archaeological deposits of various chronological and geographic contexts, from the early Late Pleistocene to the mid-Holocene, in regions including Europe, Turkey, China, southeast Asia, North and South Africa (d 'Errico et al. 2005;Bouzzougar et al. 2007;Guan et al. 2012;Stiner et al. 2013;Rigaud et al. 2014;Cristiani et al. 2014;Langley and O'Connor, 2015). Several hypotheses have been put forward to explain how mineral pigments were deposited on the beads. ...
Beads and pigments represent compelling evidence that humans decorated their bodies and used them to convey complex social messages. While the manufacturing process of ostrich eggshell and marine shell beads is firmly established, their common association with pigment residues still remains poorly understood. Here, we focus on various types of beads from the early Holocene of Bushman Rock Shelter (Limpopo, South Africa), namely ostrich eggshell, giant land snail (Achatina sp.) shell and marine shell (Nassarius kraussianus) beads. We propose a new approach combining a technological and use-wear study of the beads with chemical analyses (SEM-EDS and Raman analyses) of the coloured residues they bear. Together with the discovery of marine beads, of particular interest since they originate more than 240 km away from the site, our detailed study of the beads and associated pigment residues demonstrates a complex system of ornamental representation. We identified a minimum of two types of red compound 'recipes', with evidence that one was employed as adhesive while the other one might be consistent with the production of a pigment. Non-local minerals were recognised in adhesive recipes, namely chromite and ilmenite in one case, and graphite in the other. We further discuss ornamental traditions, their social implications and their increasing importance at the onset of the Holocene in southern Africa.
... The five artefacts described below were manufactured from Nautilus pompilius shell, which is aragonite, nacreous, and pressure resistant to a depth of around 800 m ( Saunders and Ward, 1987; 1 In an earlier publication we used 1.2 m ka as the estimate of uplift at Jerimalai ( Langley and O'Connor, 2015). This was the best fit model based on the sea level curve (Lambeck and Chappell, 2001). ...
In this paper, we describe worked and pigment-stained Nautilus shell artefacts recovered from Jerimalai, Timor-Leste. Two of these artefacts come from contexts dating to between 38,000 and 42,000 cal. BP (calibrated years before present), and exhibit manufacturing traces (drilling, pressure flaking, grinding), as well as red colourant staining. Through describing more complete Nautilus shell ornaments from younger levels from this same site (>15,900, 9500, and 5000 cal. BP), we demonstrate that those dating to the initial occupation period of Jerimalai are of anthropogenic origin. The identification of such early shell working examples of pelagic shell in Island Southeast Asia not only adds to our growing under- standing of the importance of marine resources to the earliest modern human communities in this re- gion, but also indicates that a remarkably enduring shell working tradition was enacted in this area of the globe. Additionally, these artefacts provide the first material culture evidence that the inhabitants of Jerimalai were not only exploiting coastal resources for their nutritional requirements, but also incor- porating these materials into their social technologies, and by extension, their social systems. In other words, we argue that the people of Jerimalai were already practicing a developed coastal adaptation by at least 42,000 cal. BP.
Shells have been used as beads for ornamentation from early human history to this day. The Neolithic period in the Levant brought about profound changes in human lifeways that influenced the ways people chose, manufactured , and used shell beads. Different traces etched on shell beads may reflect various manufacturing modes and materials and diverse uses and interactions that shell beads had with different materials during use. In order to aid in the interpretation of such traces an experimental scheme was devised and carried out. Various Neolithic-style shell bead types were fabricated, using different techniques and materials; the replicas were strung by different strings, against different backdrop materials and in diverse configurations; and swung on a pendulating machine. Replicated shell beads were examined under low magnification and the traces recognized on them compared to wear traces identified on archaeological Neolithic shell beads from the Southern Levant. The comparison allowed, among other results, to define a specific type of wear associated with stringing and use of particular shell beads common in the Neolithic Levant. This finding will significantly increase our ability to recognize and interpret shell bead use in general, and particularly may be incorporated in a broader understanding of Neolithic dress, society and lifeways.
During the Holocene, Wallacea saw dramatic sociocultural changes during the Pre-ceramic, Neolithic, Metal-age, and Colonial periods, as well as climatic and associated environmental changes that affected the landscapes and ecologies of islands. These environmental and cultural processes appear to have influenced human socioeconomic adaptations throughout the archipelago. Here, we present new anthropological and archaeological data demonstrating the effects of these processes. Excavations at the cave site of Hatu Saur on the north coast of Timor-Leste have revealed a deep archaeological sequence that dates from ca. 10,500 years until the present. The site contains extensive assemblages of faunal remains, as well as stone artifacts, revealing settlement patterns that were influenced by sea level change and estuarine infilling after 7 ka. The sequence encompasses the beginning of the Neolithic in Timor-Leste, some 3500 years ago, and the period from ca. 700 years ago when outside influences, including Chinese and Makassar traders and Dutch and Portuguese colonization, greatly affected the indigenous culture and economy on the island of Timor, reflected in the material culture remains from Hatu Saur. The archaeological findings complement related anthropological research in the region that highlights unique local mythologies of settlement origins and their contested histories.
One defining characteristic of Homo sapiens is the production and use of personal ornamentation. Evidence from Africa and western Eurasia has dominated discussion, but a growing number of finds directs attention towards Island Southeast Asia. In this article, the authors report on an assemblage of Nautilus shell beads from the Indonesian cave site of Makpan, Alor Island. The highly standardised forms, mostly with two perforations, and evidence of use wear, indicate that these beads were utilised as appliqués. Dating to the terminal Pleistocene, these beads appear to form part of a wider tradition also attested on Timor and Kisar, suggesting an early inter-island network across southern Wallacea.
Shells found at the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B site of Yiftahel reflect various aspects of the cultic, social, and economic life at the site. Taxonomically, the assemblage is typical to sites in the Mediterranean climatic zone, dominated by Mediterranean bivalves with several local gastropods and a few specimens originating from the Red Sea. This composition reflects the community's observation of local norms as well as their participation in wide-ranging regional interaction networks with remote populations. Shells were found across the site, yet several exceptional contexts of shell deposition shed light on specific shell-related behaviours practiced on-site. A shell cache, unique in the PPNB, was found in an open courtyard of a public building, possibly related to both ritualistic as well as socio-economic aspects of life at Yiftahel. Shells were also found embedded in the eye-sockets of three plastered skulls found at the site, demonstrating the incorporation of shells in the cultic life of the community, as well as nuances of this practice in the region. Shells were found to have had multiple significant meanings and community-wide roles in many aspects of life at Yiftahel.
The Eneolithic necropolis from Urziceni-Vamă is located in the free zone of the Romanian-Hungarian border at Urziceni – Vállaj, on a small terrace in the marshy valley of the Negru Brook. The necropolis is dated between 4300-4000 cal BC. Inhumation is the norm in burials, with individuals placed in crouched position on the left or the right side, oriented E-W, with the head pointing either W or E. A general-valid observation (but there are exceptions) is that the placement of the individuals on their right or left sides is determined by the biological sex of the deceased, respectively women were placed on
the left and men on the right side. The differences between the sexes is also reflected in the grave goods. Women are accompanied by vessels and impressive quantities of personal adornments. Men's graves contain items related to specific activities: stone and copper tools, antler and bone projectile points, tooth scrapers etc. Our study focuses on the ornamental objects discovered in 22 graves. We have tried to reconstitute both the technological transformation schemes of the raw materials and determine if the
items preserve use-wear marks indicating whether they had been worn prior to their deposition. By far, the most numerous are the ornaments made of Spondylus, some of the graves containing hundreds of beads. What is interesting, however, is the fact that a single typological category has been used: the small cylindrical beads. Other types of ornaments - copper spirals, Glycymeris valves, belt elements (?) or hairpins - appear only in one tomb. The cylindrical beads show a particular uniformity at the technological level indicative of a serial production of small items.
The open-air site of Montlleó (Prats i Sansor, Catalonia), located in the Coll de Saig at 1144 masl, is in one of the most propitious mountain passage to cross the Pyrenees. An assemblage of 50 shell beads has been recovered in the archaeological site with a chronocultural sequence belonging to the Early Middle Magdalenian. In this paper we have carried out a technological and functional analysis of this kind of personal ornaments through a 3D digital microscope. With this study we can contextualize Montlleó in relation to the Pyrenean territory and its role in the contact networks between human groups during the Last Glacial Maximum.
With both rock art and ochre-stained marine shell ornamentation identified at the four Timor-Leste sites of Jerima-lai, Lene Hara, Matju Kuru 1, and Matja Kuru 2, it should not be surprising that almost one kilogram of colorants were also recovered from these same sites. Pieces displaying clearly identifiable use wear (grinding, scraping, rubbing) were collected from the earliest levels of Jerimalai dating to around 40,000 cal. BP, and continued up through the deposit to the near present levels. Similar quantities and distributions were also found in Matju Kuru 1 and 2, along with Lene Hara. Alongside these colorant fragments were six stone implements displaying evidence for ochre processing, providing insights into the exact pigment producing tools used in this location. Also found was an artifact dated to >10,200-9909 cal. BP from MK2 which may be a fragment of a mastic including ochre as an ingredient in its formation. Overall, this Timorese assemblage offers the ideal opportunity to explore ochre processing and use over a 40,000 year period in Island Southeast Asia-information which has been previously lacking.
El yacimiento al aire libre de Montlleó (Prats i Sansor, Lleida), localizado en el Coll de Saig a 1134 m.s.n.m., es uno de los pasos de montaña más propicios para cruzar los Pirineos. Este paso comunica el valle del Ebro con el golfo de Lion, a través de las cuencas fluviales del Segre i el Têt. Esta ubicación lo convierte en un enclave estratégico para controlar el paso de la fauna, así como en un gran nodo de comunicación entre grupos humanos durante la segunda mitad del Paleolítico superior.
Este yacimiento posee una secuencia cronocultural perteneciente al Magdaleniense antiguo, con una serie de dataciones absolutas de 18650±50 Cal BP, 18710±80 Cal BP y 20320±120 Cal BP, caracterizada por la presencia de microlaminitas de dorso abatido y triángulos escalenos en el techo de la secuencia. Durante las últimas campañas se ha localizado un nivel de ocupación de cronología más antigua, 22700± Cal BP, probablemente atribuible a una fase del Solutrense final. Esta secuencia convierte a Montlleó en una de las evidencias más antiguas de ocupación en los Pirineos Orientales.
Mientras que el registro material destaca por la presencia de una amplia variedad de materias primas líticas procedentes de ambas vertientes de los Pirineos, el yacimiento gana relevancia por la cantidad y variedad de elementos de la cultura material relacionables con el comportamiento simbólico-cultural de las sociedades cazadoras-recolectoras. Estas evidencias conforman tres grandes grupos: ornamentos sobre soporte biótico, ornamentos sobre soporte abiótico y pigmentos. En el presente trabajo el estudio se centrará en el análisis del conjunto de 50 ornamentos elaborados sobre concha a partir de dos perspectivas: morfo-tecnológica y simbólico-cultural.
Este estudio propone una aproximación a la cadena operativa de la elaboración de ornamentos en concha mediante el estudio de la procedencia de la materia prima, así como de la selección, modificación, uso y descarte de los ornamentos, contribuyendo así a definir patrones en el comportamiento tecnológico de estas comunidades. En este sentido, las técnicas de perforación y sistemas de suspensión (así como las marcas de uso) han sido determinadas mediante microscopía digital 3D, mientras que los restos de pigmentos han sido analizados mediante microanálisis elemental utilizando un microscopio electrónico de barrido ambiental (ESEM). El estudio del abandono de los ornamentos se ha basado en la determinación de los patrones de fractura y de los agentes tafonómicos implicados.
La realización de este tipo de estudio ha permitido observar características diferenciales entre el conjunto de ornamentos procedentes del nivel adscrito al Magdaleniense antiguo, de aquellos relacionados con la ocupación del Solutrense final. Esto permite inferir que existirían diferencias tanto a nivel del comportamiento tecnológico como cultural entre las comunidades correspondientes a estos dos periodos.
In 2015 an engraved shale pendant was found during excavations at the Early Mesolithic site of Star Carr, UK. Engraved motifs on Mesolithic pendants are extremely rare, with the exception of amber pendants from southern Scandinavia. The artwork on the pendant is the earliest known Mesolithic art in Britain; the 'barbed line' motif is comparable to styles on the Continent, particularly in Denmark. When it was first uncovered the lines were barely visible but using a range of digital imaging techniques it has been possible to examine them in detail and determine the style of engraving as well as the order in which the lines might have been made. In addition, microwear and residue analyses were applied to examine whether the pendant showed signs that it had been strung or worn, and whether the lines had been made more visible through the application of pigments, as has been suggested for some Danish amber pendants. This approach of using multiple scientific and analytical techniques has not been used previously and provides a methodology for the examination of similar artefacts in the future.
The shell assemblage from Abu Hureyra crosses the divide between foraging and farming and provides an opportunity to explore changes in the exploitation and cultural uses of molluscs as ornaments and food over this seminal period in the northern Levant. Shell ornaments in the Late Epipalaeolithic support an underlying link with the Natufian culture, tempered with influences from elsewhere. The acquisition of Nassarius shells and the use of heat treatment and ochre to colour the beads are vestiges of a more ancient tradition. The influx of ready-made cowry beads from the Red Sea after the mid-Middle PPNB suggests stronger links with the southern Levant while obsidian imports from Anatolia continued to increase. Wear on the beads has provided some insights into their possible use. The seasonal exploitation of freshwater mussels as a dietary supplement may have increased towards the end of the Late Epipalaeolithic. The assemblage from Abu Hureyra is discussed in relation to other sites in the northern Levant to illustrate some of the economic and social changes that took place during the Epipalaeolithic–Neolithic transition.
The Lapita cultural complex has been a focal point of Pacific archaeology for many years. Not only is it materially distinctive, but it is also cast as signalling the first colonisation the western Pacific beyond the main Solomon Islands chain, the introduction of a neolithic way of life to this area, and providing the cultural base from which later Polynesian cultures emerge. The
'origins' of the Lapita cultural complex have also been a major area of interest, and there has been much debate as to how much Lapita owes to the Island Southeast Asian neolithic, and how much of the culture represents a continuation of Near Oceanic cultural trajectories. Despite all this debate, archaeological material from Island Southeast Asia, pre-Lapita Near Oceania and the Lapita cultural complex itself, has never been physically compared in any systematic way. This task forms the basis of the research presented here.
Artefacts produced in shell have been central to arguments for both Lapita representing an 'extension' of the Island Southeast Asian neolithic and a local trajectory encompassing the neolithic transition in Near Oceania. It was thus felt that a controlled comparison of worked shell material across Island Southeast Asia and the western Pacific, deriving from different temporal contexts, would be fruitful.
The issue of social and ancestral relationships, both through time and across space, is a challenging one to address. Necessarily, it broaches on longstanding disagreements within archaeology as a whole, such as the status of diffusion as a mechanism for social change and the issue of 'homology' versus 'analogy'. Thus, as well as presenting the results of the conducted analysis, this thesis details new theoretical and methodological perspectives that have both structured the overall approach and facilitated interpretation.
Through the application of a rigorous methodology, situated within a transparent theoretical framework, clear patterns have emerged. The results do not agree with either 'intrusionist' or 'indigenist' arguments for the genesis of the Lapita cultural complex. Rather, they suggest widespread relationships in shell working practices across the Island Southeast Asia/western Pacific area that have a considerable time-depth.
Discovery of a well-stratified fish hook from a cave sequence on East Timor shows a fishing technology developed at least 5000 years before the Austronesian expansion through Island South East Asia and into the Pacific. The fish hook is fashioned from shell and has been radiocarbon dated to 9741 ± 60 b.p.
We report two direct dates on shell beads from a recent excavation in Lene Hara Cave, East Timor. The significance of these dates lies in the fact that while the shell artefacts were recovered from levels dated to the Pleistocene, they themselves date to approximately 3500 and 4500 BP respectively. The beads have evidently been vertically displaced downward or, alternatively, were part of the contents of a pit or other intrusive feature which was not discernable from visual inspection of the stratigraphy during excavation. We suggest that this is a common problem and has led to dubious claims for pottery in levels dated to 6000 BP or earlier in New Guinea. Direct dating of inclusions in pottery and organic artefacts such as shell beads should be routinely carried out before such claims are published.
Early Holocene shell fish hooks from Lene Hara Cave, East Timor establish complex fishing technology was in use | in Island South East Asia five thousand I years before Austronesian settlement Sue O'Connor & Peter Discovery of a well'Stratified fish book from a cave sequence on East Timor shows a fishing technology developed at least 5000years before the Austronesian expansion through Island South East Asia and into the Pacific. The fish hook is fashioned from shell and has heen radiocarbon dated to 9741 ± 60 b.p. Investigations at Lene Hara Cave In a previous report for Antiquity (O'Connor ct al. 2002a) the authors outlined the preliminary excavation and radiocarbon results from Lene Hara Cave, East Timor (Figure I). These results were significant as they extended the then known occupation on this Wallacean island back by more than 20 000 years. A maximum age of 34 600 i 630 b.p. (ANU-11418) was obtained on a marine shell sample. In 2002, further excavation was carried out at the site with the aim of sampling other areas of this extensive cave (Figure 2). In Test Pit A the Pleistocene horizon was directly overlain by an upper late Neolithic horizon spanning the last few thousand years. There was no physical evidence for erosion or removal of the deposit which would account tor the 30 000 year gap in the sequence and it was suggested that changes in sea level may have made the cave less accessible during the terminal Pleistocene and early ro mid Holocene (O'Connor et al. 2002a: 48). Subsequently a programme of direct dating of shell artefacts produced mid-Holocene dates of 4400 b.p. and 3600 b.p., respectively, on two small drilled beads recovered from the upper levels of the Pleistocene horizon in Test Pit A (O'Connor et al. 2002b: 19). This demonstrated that at least some tise had been made of the cave during the mid-Holocene and that downward movement of some Holocene cultural materials into the Pleistocene horizon had taken place. In September 2002 the authors returned to Lene Hara and carried out further test-pitting
Why did Palaeolithic people wear shells, and why was the practice so widespread in the world? The authors' own researches in Western Australia show that specific marine shells were targeted, subject to special processes of manufacture into heads and that some had travelled hundreds of kilometres from their source. Whether they were brought in land hy the manufacturers, or by specially ornamented people, these beads provided a symbolic language that somehow kept the early peoples of Australia in touch with the sea.
Reinvestigations of the cave of Lene Hara in East Timor have yielded new dating evidence showing occupation from before 30,000 BP. These will further fuel the debates on early colonization of the region.
New evidence from Lene Hara Cave, East Timor, demonstrates that it was first occupied by modern humans by 42,454±450 cal BP at approximately the same time as nearby Jerimalai shelter. Together these sites constitute the earliest evidence for modern human colonisation of Island Southeast Asia east of the Sunda Shelf. Here we report on the dating and stratigraphy from the 2000 and 2002 test excavations at Lene Hara, as well as new dates obtained by sampling breccia deposits in 2009. The post-2000 excavations and sampling demonstrate that different areas of the cave preserve different sedimentary sequences and necessitate a revision of our earlier interpretations of the occupation history of the cave. At Lene Hara, and other caves with complex depositional histories in tropical regions, the occupation sequence will only be revealed through integrating information from extensive areal sampling.
When calibrated, the early dates from East Timor now align closer to the oldest evidence for occupation in northern Australia, with substantial implications for current theories on the colonisation of this region by modern humans. The Nusa Tenggara (Lesser Sunda) island chain emerges as a likely passage for modern human entry into Greater Australia. In view of the short water crossings required to reach Flores from Timor, the apparent absence of modern humans on Flores prior to the Holocene appears highly anomalous.
This paper explores the subsistence records from cave sites with Pleistocene-aged deposits in East Timor and the Aru Islands during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), and discusses these records within the context of the limited archaeological evidence for LGM occupation from elsewhere in the Indonesian Archipelago. Although Timor and the Aru Islands are at similar latitudes, the onset of aridity had markedly different impacts on the settlement and subsistence choices available to hunter-gatherers in these two regions. We suggest that the different occupation trajectories seen in Timor and Aru during the LGM are related, at least in part, to biogeographic contrasts across the Indonesian Archipelago.
The Southern Hemisphere SHCal04 radiocarbon calibration curve has been updated with the addition of new data sets extending measurements to 2145 cal BP and including the ANSTO Younger Dryas Huon pine data set. Outside the range of measured data, the curve is based upon the ern Hemisphere data sets as presented in IntCal13, with an interhemi-spheric offset averaging 43 ± 23 yr modeled by an autoregressive process to represent the short-term correlations in the offset.
We report the discovery of an unusually complex and regionally unique bone artefact in a Late Pleistocene archaeological assemblage (c. 35 ka [thousands of years ago]) from the site of Matja Kuru 2 on the island of Timor, in Wallacea. The artefact is interpreted as the broken butt of a formerly hafted projectile point, and it preserves evidence of a complex hafting mechanism including insertion into a shaped or split shaft, a complex pattern of binding including lateral stabilization of the cordage within a bilateral series of notches, and the application of mastic at several stages in the hafting process. The artefact provides the earliest direct evidence for the use of this combination of hafting technologies in the wider region of Southeast Asia, Wallacea, Melanesia and Australasia, and is morphologically unparallelled in deposits of any age. By contrast, it bears a close morphological resemblance to certain bone artefacts from the Middle Stone Age of Africa and South Asia. Examination of ethnographic projectile technology from the region of Melanesia and Australasia shows that all of the technological elements observed in the Matja Kuru 2 artefact were in use historically in the region, including the unusual feature of bilateral notching to stabilize a hafted point. This artefact challenges the notion that complex bone-working and hafting technologies were a relatively late innovation in this part of the world. Moreover, its regional uniqueness encourages us to abandon the perception of bone artefacts as a discrete class of material culture, and to adopt a new interpretative framework in which they are treated as manifestations of a more general class of artefacts that more typically were produced on perishable raw materials including wood.
This paper presents results of contextual, technological, use-wear and residue analyses of body ornaments from two Late Mesolithic burials recently excavated at the site of Vlasac in the Danube Gorges of the central Balkans. Common to both burials are ornaments made from modified and unmodified carp (Cyprinidae sp.) pharyngeal ‘teeth’ along with Cyclope neritea marine gastropods. Experimental and low and high magnification use-wear approaches have been employed in reconstructing the way these ornaments were made and used. The precise contextual distribution of these ornaments has been recorded for the first time. The two examined burials exhibit a number of similarities, particularly in the way ornaments were placed in relation to the body. Both burials are also contemporaneous, dated to the mid-7th millennium BC. Implications of these findings for Mesolithic foragers' corporeal symbolism, group identity and regional and long-distance acquisition networks are briefly examined.
The IntCal09 and Marine09 radiocarbon calibration curves have been revised utilizing newly available and updated data sets from 14C measurements on tree rings, plant macrofossils, speleothems, corals, and foraminifera. The calibration curves were derived from the data using the random walk model (RWM) used to generate IntCal09 and Marine09, which has been revised to account for additional uncertainties and error structures. The new curves were ratified at the 21st International Radiocarbon conference in July 2012 and are available as Supplemental Material at www.radiocarbon.org. The database can be accessed at http://intcal.qub.ac.uk/intcal13/. © 2013 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona.
Archaeology's main contribution to the debate over the origins of modern humans has been investigating where and when modern human behavior is first recognized in the archaeological record. Most of this debate has been over the empirical record for the appearance and distribution of a set of traits that have come to be accepted as indicators of behavioral modernity. This debate has resulted in a series of competing models that we explicate here, and the traits are typically used as the test implications for these models. However, adequate tests of hypotheses and models rest on robust test implications, and we argue here that the current set of test implications suffers from three main problems: (1) Many are empirically derived from and context-specific to the richer European record, rendering them problematic for use in the primarily tropical and subtropical African continent. (2) They are ambiguous because other processes can be invoked, often with greater parsimony, to explain their character. (3) Many lack theoretical justification. In addition, there are severe taphonomic problems in the application of these test implications across differing spans of time. To provide adequate tests of these models, archaeologists must first subject these test implications to rigorous discussion, which is initiated here.
Ten early Upper Paleolithic layers in Üçağızlı Cave I (41-29 uncalibrated ky BP) on the Hatay coast of southern Turkey preserve a rich and varied record of early Upper Paleolithic life, including the production and use of large numbers of shell ornaments. This study examines shell bead production, use, and discard in relation to site function and the diversity of on-site human activities. Four factors are expected to contribute to variation in the ornament assemblages, one environmental and three behavioral. The behavioral factors relate to winnowing for quality as a function of distance from the raw material source, changes in the size of user groups, and symbol standardization. The accumulation rates for shell beads, bones, and stone tools paralleled one another through time, indicating that ornament discard followed the pulse of daily life at this site. All stages of manufacture and use are well represented in each assemblage, and half or more of the ornaments show evidence of extended use. Changes in the local marine environment do not explain much of the variation in the assemblages, pointing instead to behavioral causes. The richness of shell types that were collected as raw material correlates to greater exploitation of edible marine shellfish and greater occupation intensity. Much of this variation in the ornament raw material was eliminated during the manufacture stage, almost certainly reflecting the influence of cultural norms. A focus on basket-shaped shells changed remarkably little over thousands of years, despite significant changes in other domains of technology. This last result suggests that beads were the most irreducible and conservative elements of more complex design traditions.
Two sites of the Neandertal-associated Middle Paleolithic of Iberia, dated to as early as approximately 50,000 years ago,
yielded perforated and pigment-stained marine shells. At Cueva de los Aviones, three umbo-perforated valves of Acanthocardia and Glycymeris were found alongside lumps of yellow and red colorants, and residues preserved inside a Spondylus shell consist of a red lepidocrocite base mixed with ground, dark red-to-black fragments of hematite and pyrite. A perforated
Pecten shell, painted on its external, white side with an orange mix of goethite and hematite, was abandoned after breakage at Cueva
Antón, 60 km inland. Comparable early modern human-associated material from Africa and the Near East is widely accepted as
evidence for body ornamentation, implying behavioral modernity. The Iberian finds show that European Neandertals were no different
from coeval Africans in this regard, countering genetic/cognitive explanations for the emergence of symbolism and strengthening
demographic/social ones.
Perforated marine gastropod shells at the western Asian site of Skhul and the North African site of Oued Djebbana indicate
the early use of beads by modern humans in these regions. The remoteness of these sites from the seashore and a comparison
of the shells to natural shell assemblages indicate deliberate selection and transport by humans for symbolic use. Elemental
and chemical analyses of sediment matrix adhered to one Nassarius gibbosulus from Skhul indicate that the shell bead comes from a layer containing 10 human fossils and dating to 100,000 to 135,000 years
ago, about 25,000 years earlier than previous evidence for personal decoration by modern humans in South Africa.
The prehistoric site of Franchthi Cave yielded an exceptionally rich collection of personal ornaments. A reassessment of the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic ornaments from the site led to the hypothesis that a variable fraction of at least one type of personal ornaments, i.e. marine shell beads belonging to the species Cyclope neritea, may have been intentionally heated to change their natural whitish color to black. The limited conditions in which blackening can occur through heating, as well as comparison with the percentage of burnt land snails, animal bones, fish bones, and marine molluscan food remains in the Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic sequence, supports a special heat treatment for Cyclope neritea shells at Franchthi Cave.
If radiocarbon measurements are to be used at all for chronological purposes, we have to use statistical meth-ods for calibration. The most widely used method of calibration can be seen as a simple application of Bayesian statistics, which uses both the information from the new measurement and information from the 14 C calibration curve. In most dating applications, however, we have larger numbers of 14 C measurements and we wish to relate those to events in the past. Baye-sian statistics provides a coherent framework in which such analysis can be performed and is becoming a core element in many 14 C dating projects. This article gives an overview of the main model components used in chronological analysis, their mathematical formulation, and examples of how such analyses can be performed using the latest version of the OxCal soft-ware (v4). Many such models can be put together, in a modular fashion, from simple elements, with defined constraints and groupings. In other cases, the commonly used "uniform phase" models might not be appropriate, and ramped, exponential, or normal distributions of events might be more useful. When considering analyses of these kinds, it is useful to be able run sim-ulations on synthetic data. Methods for performing such tests are discussed here along with other methods of diagnosing pos-sible problems with statistical models of this kind.
In recent years, there has been a tendency to correlate the origin of modern culture and language with that of anatomically modern humans. Here we discuss this correlation in the light of results provided by our first hand analysis of ancient and recently discovered relevant archaeological and paleontological material from Africa and Europe. We focus in particular on the evolutionary significance of lithic and bone technology, the emergence of symbolism, Neandertal behavioral patterns, the identification of early mortuary practices, the anatomical evidence for the acquisition of language, the development of conscious symbolic storage, the emergence of musical traditions, and the archaeological evidence for the diversification of languages during the Upper Paleolithic. This critical reappraisal contradicts the hypothesis of a symbolic revolution coinciding with the arrival of anatomically modern humans in Europe some 40,000 years ago, but also highlights inconsistencies in the anatomically–culturally modern equation and the potential contribution of anatomically pre-modern human populations to the emergence of these abilities. No firm evidence of conscious symbolic storage and musical traditions are found before the Upper Paleolithic. However, the oldest known European objects that testify to these practices already show a high degree of complexity and geographic variability suggestive of possible earlier, and still unrecorded, phases of development.
By 50,000 years ago, it is clear that modern humans were capable of long-distance sea travel as they colonized Australia. However, evidence for advanced maritime skills, and for fishing in particular, is rare before the terminal Pleistocene/early Holocene. Here we report remains of a variety of pelagic and other fish species dating to 42,000 years before the present from Jerimalai shelter in East Timor, as well as the earliest definite evidence for fishhook manufacture in the world. Capturing pelagic fish such as tuna requires high levels of planning and complex maritime technology. The evidence implies that the inhabitants were fishing in the deep sea.
In his seminal work on the archaeology of East Timor, Ian Glover (1986) notes that there appeared to be little archaeological evidence for change in the nature of cave use as a focus for settlement, despite the subsistence changes that occurred with the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture. Looking to the ethnographic record for hunter-gatherer groups, he found little evidence to support the expectation that caves served as "permanent home bases" and commented that "at a time when stable village settlements existed in Timor it is inevitable that the caves provide an even more biased sample of the total Timorese way of life ... " (1986:206). In this paper we revisit the issue of contemporary cave occupation in East Timor with the purpose of providing a more detailed ethnographic discussion of the caves' various uses and meanings. These encompass both the sorts of secular uses described by Glover as well as the social status of caves as sacred or in other ways significant natural formations in the cultural topography of local and national landscapes. The implications some of these observations on contemporary cave use hold for the interpretation of the archaeological record are briefly explored. We also review the sparse literature on contemporary cave use for tropical and tropical semi-arid regions and conclude that the notions of "permanent home cases" and "stable village settlements" are probably not very meaningful, either in contemporary horticultural or past hunter-gatherer contexts. KEYWORDS: contemporary cave use, East Timor, ethnoarchaeology, Island Southeast Asia.
Two sites located on the northern Levantine coast, Uçağizli Cave (Turkey) and Ksar 'Akil (Lebanon) have yielded numerous marine shell beads in association with early Upper Paleolithic stone tools. Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates indicate ages between 39,000 and 41,000 radiocarbon years (roughly 41,000-43,000 calendar years) for the oldest ornament-bearing levels in Uçağizli Cave. Based on stratigraphic evidence, the earliest shell beads from Ksar 'Akil may be even older. These artifacts provide some of the earliest evidence for traditions of personal ornament manufacture by Upper Paleolithic humans in western Asia, comparable in age to similar objects from Eastern Europe and Africa. The new data show that the initial appearance of Upper Paleolithic ornament technologies was essentially simultaneous on three continents. The early appearance and proliferation of ornament technologies appears to have been contingent on variable demographic or social conditions.
If radiocarbon measurements are to be used at all for chronological purposes, we have to use statistical methods for calibration. The most widely used method of calibration can be seen as a simple application of Bayesian statistics, which uses both the information from the new measurement and information from the 14 C calibration curve. In most dating applications, however, we have larger numbers of 14 C measurements and we wish to relate those to events in the past. Bayesian statistics provides a coherent framework in which such analysis can be performed and is becoming a core element in many 14 C dating projects. This article gives an overview of the main model components used in chronological analysis, their mathematical formulation, and examples of how such analyses can be performed using the latest version of the OxCal software (v4). Many such models can be put together, in a modular fashion, from simple elements, with defined constraints and groupings. In other cases, the commonly used “uniform phase” models might not be appropriate, and ramped, exponential, or normal distributions of events might be more useful. When considering analyses of these kinds, it is useful to be able run simulations on synthetic data. Methods for performing such tests are discussed here along with other methods of diagnosing possible problems with statistical models of this kind.
Between the Sunda and Sahul shelves lie the Wallacean islands, never attached to larger
land masses during Pleistocene times. This is the most geologically complex and active
region within Indonesia (Bemmelen 1949; Audley-Charles 1981 ), due to its position at the
meeting point of four geological plates: the Indo-Australian Plate, the Pacific Plate, the
Eurasian Plate and the Philippine Sea Plate.The Wallacean islands belong to two main groups - the northern consisting of Sulawesi
and Maluku, and the southern consisting of the Nusa Tenggara chain (Figure1.1).These chains of islands must have been used as bridges by early human populations
crossing from Sunda to Sahul, and vice versa, during the time-span of human occupation
of the region. The capacity of humans to cross water gaps in Wallacea during the
Pleistocene is an attractive topic for archaeologists since it implies a presence of sea craft
and allied technology.
The Leta Leta Cave burial site is a distinctive and enigmatic site of the Philippine Neolithic, excavated by Robert Fox. Containing a number of burials, its unusual earthenware pottery — including the ‘yawning-mouth vessel’, small footed goblets and a cut-out pedestalled bowl — have seen it recognised in the Philippines as an official site of national significance. In addition to the human remains and earthenware, Fox recovered a sizeable assemblage of shell artefacts which, as with other material remains recovered from Leta Leta, were only cursorily reported in print before his death. Recent analysis of the Leta Leta worked shell has revealed the deposition of unfinished as well as finished shell artefacts in mortuary contexts. As well as giving rare insights into manufacturing protocols in an island where the Neolithic and Metal Age records are characterised virtually solely by mortuary deposits, the deposition of unfinished artefacts opens new avenues for the discussion of Neolithic mortuary practices in Palawan. Results of a study of the worked shell assemblage, in addition to recent radiocarbon determinations for the site, are presented here.
Marine shell ornaments have several characteristics that make them significant for archaeological analysis. Made from a raw material valued by cultures throughout the world and imbued with water, life, health, and fertility symbolism, shell objects have functioned as prestige goods. Shell prestige goods circulated between individuals, groups, and societies and materialized interpersonal relationships, making them valuable for archaeologists shifting focus from objects to the people in past societies. Shell ornaments had multiple roles, including ornamentation, wealth, marking status, and as ritual paraphernalia, and had varying symbolic associations even within a society. The rich ethnographic literature on shell use provides a source for archaeological model building. Marine shell artifacts often moved between societies and across long distances, offering a way for archaeologists to explore regional relationships and the interactions between ancient societies. To do this requires using several scales of analysis to investigate archaeological residues of a system that includes marine shell ornaments, the social organization of their production and exchange, and the people who made, displayed, and circulated them.
Colour plays an eminent role in beadwork. Colour modifications are reported on early shell beads from Middle Stone Age sites. However, identifying the colouring agent and demonstrating the intentional nature of the colouring process is not straightforward. Here, we provide analytical data on colour and structural modifications observed on Nassarius kraussianus (Nk) collected in modern thanatocoenoses and on shells of the same species experimentally heated in oxidizing and reductive atmospheres. Comparison with Nk shell beads from the 72 ka old Middle Stone Age levels of Blombos Cave, South Africa, and contextual analysis of other malacological remains from the same levels that were not used as ornaments identify the mechanisms responsible for the change of colour in modern Nk thanatocoenoses and heated shells, and show that although some Nk shell beads were heated, intentional heat treatment of shell beads is not demonstrated.
Examination of a selection of shell and bone from archaeological assemblages excavated at Niah Cave and Gua Sireh, both of which are located in Sarawak, Borneo, has revealed the deliberate application of coloured material to one or more surfaces. Small fragments of the surface colourant were analysed using a variety of techniques, including microscopy, energy dispersive microwave analysis and infra-red spectrophotometry. These procedures established that, although red in colour, the applied coating in each instance was not red iron oxide. It is suggested that, based on the chemical components present, this coating was a tree resin or a similar organic substance. The paper further reports the presence of enhanced chloride values in the colourant recovered from the ancient human cranial fragment tested. It is suggested that elevated concentrations of this trace element may indicate that the site, the human remains or ingredients within the colourant were once in close proximity to the sea.
The first part of this paper describes a relatively rich series of bone awls and bone points from Upper Palaeolithic layers at Ksar Akil, Lebanon. The raw materials, techniques of manufacture, and formal variation of these bone tools are considered. The second part of the paper concerns experiments in making bone tools, using flint tools similar to those from the relevant layers at Ksar Akil, as well as a grindstone. Traces of manufacture on bone tools and traces of wear on stone tools are described, and it is concluded that the traces of manufacture observed on the Ksar Akil bone tools can be replicated by scraping with any of a number of flint tools, but not by grinding.
Flights of raised coral terraces on the north coast of East Timor and at Atauro Island, north of Timor, are described stratigraphically and dated by Th230-U234 determinations. The exposures at southern Atauro enable detailed reconstruction of the history of transgressions and regressions, especially for the period 140,000 to 105,000 yr B.P. Sea-level changes identified in Barbados and New Guinea are closely confirmed. The Atauro uplift rate is 0.47 m/1,000 yr, as estimated from the highest position of shallow-water coral faunas in the reef, which is dated as 120,000 old. The extrapolated rate is used to estimate ages of higher reefs; these ages correlate quite well with periods of major glacio-eustatic rise indicated by the O18 record of Pacific cores back to 700,000 yr B.P. Reefs from three sites along the north coast of Timor have been dated within the 84,000, 105,000, and 120,000 yr B.P. high sea-level periods and indicate uplift at 0.5 m/1,000 yr. A 120,000-yr-old reef from a fourth north Timor site, near Dili, indicates much slower uplift, about 0.03 m/1,000 yr.
Cutmarks made by stone tools, conchoidal flake scars from hammerstone percussion, carnivore tooth marks, striations from sedimentary abrasion, and other surface modifications on bones from archaeological sites constitute a crucial body of evidence for investigating the role of human behaviors and of nonhuman taphonomic processes in site formation. This paper describes the various kinds of bone surface modifications produced by humans and by nonhuman processes and assesses the current status of bone surface modification studies with regard to such issues as the need for greater analytical standardization, the selection of instruments for examining bone specimens, tactics for identifying the origins of marks on bones, and strategies for inferring human behaviors.
