Mahirta’s research while affiliated with Universitas Gadjah Mada and other places
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The rock art of the Tron Bon Lei Site, Alor, East Nusa Tenggara has unique form because it is depicted in anthropomorphic figures. The figure is depicted in a certain movement pose and has attributes in the form of traditional clothing and weapons. Kataga dance is a traditional dance that was previously performed in death rituals after war in Sumba, East Nusa Tenggara. This article discusses the form of the anthropomorphic figures of the Tron Bon Lei Site Rock Art and the Kataga Traditional Dance forms with the aim of seeing the similarities and differences between the two objects in relation to the meaning of the rock art. This research was conducted using a qualitative method, namely a descriptive analytical approach. Data collection was carried out using field surveys and literature studies. The results of the research show that there are similarities between the rock art form and the Kataga Dance form. The similarities are in the movement poses, attributes and dance formations. It is hoped that this article can provide a new perspective in interpreting rock art, by looking at similar forms in contextual situation.
Situs Kuta Baginda merupakan situs hunian komunitas Dayak di Berau yang dimulai pada abad ke-14 Masehi. Selain temuan artefaktual, di situs tersebut terdapat jejak-jejak pemanfaatan sumber daya alam yang melimpah, terutama tulang ikan dan cangkang kerang, serta adanya sejumlah kecil tulang hewan darat. Sementara itu, potensi sumber daya lain, khususnya tumbuhan belum diketahui. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui ragam tumbuhan di situs Kuta Baginda dalam kaitannya dengan penghunian situs tersebut. Dalam upaya menjawab permasalahan penelitian dan mencapai tujuan tersebut, dilakukan analisis terhadap mikrofosil tumbuhan berupa fitolit yang diperoleh dari sisa tanah (loose dirt) yang masih melekat pada fragmen gerabah. Hasil analisis fitolit menunjukkan bahwa ragam tumbuhan dalam konteks awal hunian komunitas Dayak di situs Kuta Baginda didominasi oleh jenis tumbuhan berkayu atau semak, disusul jenis palem dan jenis rumput-rumputan yang tidak begitu banyak. Hal ini berbeda dari kondisi tumbuhan pada fase penghunian setelah abad ke-14 Masehi yang menunjukkan peningkatan dan dominasi palem, yang disertai berkurangnya secara signifikan tumbuhan berkayu atau semak, serta rumput-rumputan. Perubahan dominasi tumbuhan tersebut terkait dengan campur tangan manusia sejak fase awal penghunian dan fase selanjutnya di situs Kuta Baginda. Beberapa jenis tumbuhan, seperti kelapa, sagu, dan tumbuhan berkayu, diperkirakan telah dimanfaatkan untuk menunjang kehidupan penghuni situs, baik untuk konsumsi maupun konstruksi. Dominasi tumbuhan palem pada fase penghunian setelah abad ke-14 Masehi sepadan dengan peningkatan intensitas penghunian yang ditunjukkan oleh kuantitas artefak dan sisa-sisa fauna.
(The Kuta Baginda Site in Berau was a Dayak community settlement dating back to the 14th century. The site was abundant in traces of utilization of natural resources such as fish bones, shells, and terrestrial animal bones. The variety of plant species at the site was unknown until phytolith analysis was conducted. The analysis revealed that woody plants or shrubs dominated the early occupation phase, followed by a small quantity of palm and grass species. However, the post-14th century occupation phase showed increased dominance of palm trees, with a significant reduction in woody plants, shrubs, and grasses, with a significant reduction in woody plants or shrubs and grasses. This change in the dominance of plants is related to human intervention. Some plant species, such as coconut, sago, and woody plants, were utilized for consumption and construction. The increase in palm trees corresponds to the intensity of occupation growth, as indicated by the number of artefacts and faunal remains. )
The insular region of Wallacea has become a focal point for studying Pleistocene human ecological and cultural adaptations in island environments, however, little is understood about early burial traditions during the Pleistocene. Here we investigate maritime interactions and burial practices at Ratu Mali 2, an elevated coastal cave site on the small island of Kisar in the Lesser Sunda Islands of eastern Indonesia dated to 15,500-3700 cal. BP. This multidisciplinary study demonstrates extreme marine dietary adaptations, engagement with an extensive exchange network across open seas, and early mortuary practices. A flexed male and a female, interred in a single grave with abundant shellfish and obsidian at Ratu Mali 2 by 14.7 ka are the oldest known human burials in Wallacea with established funerary rites. These findings highlight the impressive flexibility of our species in marginal environments and provide insight into the earliest known ritualised treatment of the dead in Wallacea.
Abstrak. Ekskavasi untuk memperoleh temuan pada situs arkeologi kadang kala mengabaikan aktivitas pengayakan (sieving). Padahal, penggunaan metode pengayakan dalam suatu ekskavasi ditujukan untuk memaksimalkan temuan dan menjawab kelimpahan data. Aktivitas dry dan wet sieving kebanyakan dilakukan dalam penelitian di situs-situs prasejarah, sedangkan di situs-situs masa historis kurang menjadi perhatian. Situs Kuta Baginda abad ke-14 Masehi yang terletak di Kalimantan Timur merupakan situs yang dijadikan contoh bahwa penggunaan ayakan dengan ukuran saringan kecil pada proses ekskavasi berhasil memperoleh temuan yang dapat mengungkap karakteristik pemukiman secara lebih detail. Salah satu temuan arkeologis yang didapatkan dari penggunaan metode pengayakan adalah temuan ekofak fragmen tulang. Proxy tersebut dapat memberikan informasi penting dan komprehensif tentang suatu situs, seperti jenis kegiatan yang telah terjadi dan pola makan penghuni situs. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah pemahaman tentang sumber protein yang mendukung subsistensi masyarakat pada masa pra kerajaan Berau. Penelitian ini memaparkan pentingnya akuisisi data fauna melalui pengayakan basah (wet sieving) dan analisis sisa-sisa osteologi hewan dari hasil ekskavasi Kuta Baginda tahun 2019 dan 2021. Proxy fauna diidentifikasi berdasarkan bentuk dan taksonnya. Kemudian analisis dimulai dengan tabulasi silang number of identified specimens berdasarkan spesies hewan dan bagian kerangka yang paling umum ditemukan dari setiap spesies di situs Kuta Baginda. Interpretasi data terhadap temuan hasil penerapan metode ayakan kering dan basah menunjukkan bahwa sisa-sisa fauna sumber protein yang dikonsumsi komunitas pada masa tersebut berupa babi, unggas, kerang, ikan laut, dan ikan payau, serta pemanfaatan bagian-bagian tubuh fauna untuk kepentingan lain seperti racun ikan. Abstract. The sieving method is used in an excavation to maximize data collection and to manage the abundance of data. This research aims to understand the protein sources that supported community subsistence during the pre-Berau kingdom period. This research explains the importance of faunal data acquisition through wet sieving and analysis of animal osteological remains from the 14th-century Kuta Baginda site. Faunal proxies are identified based on their shape and taxon. Further, the analysis begins with a cross-tabulation of the number of identified specimens based on animal species and the most common skeletal parts found from each species at Kuta Baginda. Data interpretation of proxies obtained with dry and wet sieve methods in the 2019 and 2021 excavations shows that the remains of animal sources of protein consumed by the community at that time were pigs, poultry, shellfish, saltwater fish, and brackish fish, as well as the use of their parts for other purposes such as fish poison. PENDAHULUAN Penelitian ini merupakan bagian dari penelitian payung untuk menemukan bukti-bukti arkeologis yang fokusnya untuk menggambarkan alur arus balik pendukung penutur Bahasa Austronesia pada masa logam di sekitar pesisir Kalimantan bagian timur. Meskipun pada penelitian ini tidak ditemukan bukti-bukti arkeologis dari masa logam awal, beberapa tahap survei, pembukaan test pit dan wawancara terhadap masyarakat menemukan data pemukiman tua di situs Kuta Baginda. Penelitian yang dilaksanakan pada tahun 2019 dan 2021 di lokasi situs Kuta Baginda menghasilkan data temuan yang mengungkapkan aspek kehidupan lainnya
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.
Community around Banyunibo temple has been trained to produce hand-painted batik for the last 5 years. This training have improved their skill, enabling them to produce real hand-painted batik. However, their products have not sold well, moreover during the pandemic era caused by Covid-19. After carried out interview and discussion in survey phase, it is known that the community has problem in marketing their hand-painted batik and wish to have unique Banyunibo batik product. Based on the condition, the community service team of Archaeology Department, Faculty of Cultural Sciences conduct a community empowerment program with an intention to help Banyunibo community in creating Banyunibo’s batik motifs inspired by the reliefs of Banyunibo temple, unique, and potentially sale well. This community service conducted using skill building and empowerment approach, with the purpose to create active and direct invlolvement of the community during the activity. Hand-stamp batik introduced as an alternative to produce a less-expensive batik than hand-painted batik, therefore can compete well in batik market. Relief-inspired motifs created through distortion and stylization from the original temple reliefs. These motifs, made by stamp application technique, is also combined with jumput technique, creating a unique jumput - batik product that hopefully can increase the buying power of Banyunibo’s batik. ==== Komunitas pembuat batik di sekitar Candi Banyunibo telah dilatih membuat batik tulis sejak lima tahun terakhir. Hasil kegiatan tersebut telah meningkatkan keterampilan mereka dalam membuat produk batik tulis. Namun, daya jual batik produk mereka masih rendah di pasaran, terlebih lagi pada masa pandemi Covid-19. Setelah melakukan wawancara dan diskusi pada tahap survei, diketahui bahwa masyarakat memiliki kendala berupa kesulitan memasarkan batik tulis dan keinginan untuk memiliki batik khas Banyunibo. Berdasarkan keadaan tersebut, tim pengabdian kepada masyarakat Departemen Arkeologi UGM melakukan program pemberdayaan komunitas dengan pembinaan batik cap dan pembuatan motif batik khas Banyunibo yang terinspirasi dari relief pada Candi Banyunibo. Pengabdian masyarakat ini dilakukan menggunakan pendekatan berupa pendampingan dan pemberdayaan masyarakat dengan tujuan agar masyarakat dapat terlibat langsung dan aktif dalam pelaksanaan pendampingan ini. Batik cap sebagai alternatif diperkenalkan untuk menghasilkan batik yang tidak semahal batik tulis sehingga harganya dapat bersaing di pasaran. Motif inspirasi relief candi diciptakan melalui proses distorsi dan stilasi dari gambar asli relief candi. Motif batik yang dihasilkan dengan teknik cap tersebut juga dikombinasikan dengan teknik jumput sehingga menghasilkan motif khas Banyunibo yang diharapkan dapat meningkatkan daya jual dari batik Desa Banyunibo.
Burial elaborations are a human behaviour that, in recent contexts can inform on social diversification, belief systems, and the introduction of new practices resulting from migration or cultural transmission. The study of mortuary practices in Mainland and Island Southeast Asia has revealed complex and diverse treatments of the deceased. This paper contributes to this topic with the description of three new burials excavated in Tron Bon Lei (Alor Island, Indonesia) dated to 7.5, 10, and 12 kya cal BP. In addition to the bioskeletal profiles and palaeohealth observations, we propose the adoption of archaeothanatological methods to characterise burial types in the region. Through the analysis of skeletal element representation, body position, articulation, and grave associations, we provide an example of a holistic approach to mortuary treatments in the Lesser Sunda Islands. Our results provide significant new data for understanding the evolution and diversification of burial practices in Southeast Asia, contributing to a growing body of literature describing prehistoric socio-cultural behaviour in this region.
Previous research indicates that human genetic diversity in Wallacea—islands in present-day Eastern Indonesia and Timor-Leste that were never part of the Sunda or Sahul continental shelves—has been shaped by complex interactions between migrating Austronesian farmers and indigenous hunter–gatherer communities. Yet, inferences based on present-day groups proved insufficient to disentangle this region’s demographic movements and admixture timings. Here, we investigate the spatio-temporal patterns of variation in Wallacea based on genome-wide data from 16 ancient individuals (2600–250 years BP) from the North Moluccas, Sulawesi and East Nusa Tenggara. While ancestry in the northern islands primarily reflects contact between Austronesian- and Papuan-related groups, ancestry in the southern islands reveals additional contributions from Mainland Southeast Asia that seem to predate the arrival of Austronesians. Admixture time estimates further support multiple and/or continuous admixture involving Papuan- and Asian-related groups throughout Wallacea. Our results clarify previously debated times of admixture and suggest that the Neolithic dispersals into Island Southeast Asia are associated with the spread of multiple genetic ancestries.
Recent discovery of painted rock art on Wetang Island in the Babar Island group, Maluku Province, Indonesia, reflects the central place of boats in the daily lives of island peoples, as well as their paramount ritual and symbolic role in Maluku, and more broadly across Island Southeast Asia. In addition to boats, the Wetang sites contain images of domestic animals, as well as a unique image of an apparent macropod (a marsupial mammal of the family that comprises kangaroos and wallabies), a family not found on most of the Maluku islands today. The Wetang art sites have some geometric motifs in common with their neighbor island, Kisar, and we raise the possibility that these symbols may have operated as markers of family or clan identity and thus may inform on lineal ownership of land and relationships between these islands.
Previous research indicates that the human genetic diversity found in Wallacea - islands in present-day Eastern Indonesia and Timor-Leste that were never part of the Sunda or Sahul continental shelves - has been shaped by complex interactions between migrating Austronesian farmers and indigenous hunter-gatherer communities. Here, we provide new insights into this region's demographic history based on genome-wide data from 16 ancient individuals (2600-250 yrs BP) from islands of the North Moluccas, Sulawesi, and East Nusa Tenggara. While the ancestry of individuals from the northern islands fit earlier views of contact between groups related to the Austronesian expansion and the first colonization of Sahul, the ancestry of individuals from the southern islands revealed additional contributions from Mainland Southeast Asia, which seems to predate the Austronesian admixture in the region. Admixture time estimates for the oldest individuals of Wallacea are closer to archaeological estimates for the Austronesian arrival into the region than are admixture time estimates for present-day groups. The decreasing trend in admixture times exhibited by younger individuals supports a scenario of multiple or continuous admixture involving Papuan- and Asian-related groups. Our results clarify previously debated times of admixture and suggest that the Neolithic dispersals into Island Southeast Asia are associated with the spread of multiple genetic ancestries.
... In the early phases of occupation, Here Sorot Entapa includes some of the earliest regional records of the exotic obsidian that was being moved between islands, as well as shell fishhooks and a new type of double-holed Nautilus shell bead (O'Connor et al., 2022). Likewise the earliest burial rites in the region occur contemporaneously on Kisar at the site of Ratu Mali (Hawkins et al., 2024). To the extent that these traits accumulated, they did so very rapidly seemingly in direct response to sea-level rise, increased connectivity, and/or increased population density on the reduced-size islands, rather than gradually over tens of millennia as an outcome of background levels of innovation and accumulation. ...
... Significant increases in terrestrial fauna, shellfish, barnacles, and sea urchins are recorded, while a minor increase is observed for fish and crab. This phase also recovered oldest shell artifacts including fishhooks and beads Langley et al. 2023aLangley et al. , 2023b. During this �3000-year phase of occupation, sea urchin exploitation reaches its highest intensity (MNI ¼ 465; w ¼ 5806.94 ...
... Kesamaan tersebut terlihat dari bentuknya yang mayoritas berupa perahu, warnanya yang merah, dan posisinya yang berada pada ketinggian (Yuwono et al. 2020). Seni gambar cadas yang memiliki ciri sama dengan APT diduga berusia 3.000 tyl (Samper-Carro et al. 2022). ...
... At present, perhaps the best evidence for genetic continuity following the initial settlement of Wallacea comes from a middle-Holocene Toalean forager who lived in Southern Sulawesi~7.2 kya, with approximately half of their ancestry coming from a lineage that diverges from Near Oceanians (i.e., modern Aboriginal Australians and Melanesians) around the same time that these two groups also separate (19). However, Toalean forager ancestry was not detected in individuals living in Sulawesi and a handful of Eastern Wallacean islands from~2.5 kya to the present (20), with all examined individuals instead being more closely related to modern Papuan and Asian groups. Evidence for the retention of founder AMH ancestry is also scarce in mitogenome and Y-chromosome datasets, with two recent phylogenetic studies finding that Wallacean lineages only rarely appear in basal phylogenetic positions relative to Australo-Papuans and are far more likely to occur nested within Papuan clades (21,22). ...
... BP [97]. Shell beads were also found in the excavation [98]. In 2018 Tron Bon Lei was again excavated to recover the postcranial remains of the burial in pit B. The original B pit was extended to the southeast (Squares D & E). ...
... Kaharudin et al. 2019Kaharudin et al. , 2024bKealy et al. 2020;O'Connor, Ono, andClarkson 2011, 2019). ISEA is also renowned for its rock art, which frequently depicts boats, fish, and other maritime motifs, particularly on the islands of Babar, Kei, Kisar, Lembata, and Timor (Ballard et al. 2004;Handoko et al. 2018;Lape, O'Connor, and Burningham 2007;O'Connor 2003;O'Connor et al. 2018aO'Connor et al. , 2018bO'Connor et al. , 2023. ...
... Wallacea lies between the continental shelves of Sunda and Sahul, to which it has never been connected, and contains the islands of eastern Indonesia (Sulawesi, Nusa Tenggara Timur, and Moluccas) and the independent country of Timor-Leste on Timor (12)(13). These unique biogeographical conditions likely contributed to the emergence of biological, cultural, and economic variability seen in contemporary societies in the region today (17)(18)(19)(20). ...
... Several red-painted rock art images from nearby caves have been dated to at least 40 ka 38,39 , the oldest at Leang Tedongnge with a minimum of age 46 ka 40 . A unifying behaviour of the early occupation at Laili and other MIS3 sites on Timor (Asitau Kuru, Lene Hara, Matja Kuru 2), as well as Makpan on Alor (Fig. 1), is the habitual use of red ochre pigment 26,41,42 . Red ochre is associated with early H. sapiens more generally, including in Sahul 14,43 and its appearance in archaeological sites in Nusa Tenggara Timur at the same time as its use in paintings in Sulawesi may be a signature of a widespread dispersal of our species. ...
... The post-LGM period marks the onset of a more dynamic period in eastern Wallacean history, with evidence supporting the emergence of inter-island exchange networks for obsidian (58,59) and maritime technologies (e.g., fishhooks and ground shell adzes; (60)) that coincide with the initial settlement of small islands and new and intensified site usage on larger islands (57). These networks may have linked eastern Wallaceans to coastal West Papuan groups‚ as suggested by the presence of shared cooking technologies (23) and the westward spread of banana cultivars from New Guinea (61), and could have resulted in the resettlement of Papuan peoples in newly occupied Wallacean sites. ...
... O'Connor et al., 2018). In addition, Sue also divided the group of images on Kisar Island into 3 groups, one of which was a group of small figurative motifs including humans, animals, boats and material cultural objects(Connor et al., 2020). ...