The Archaeology of Sulawesi: Current research on the Pleistocene to the Historic Period (2025)

The archaeology of Sulawesi: An update, 2016

The Archaeology of Sulawesi: Current Research on the Pleistocene to the Historic Period, 2018

(Japan). Not all of the presenters were able to prepare their contribution for inclusion in this volume; fortunately, a summary of the presentations has been published by Macknight (2017). As detailed there, the presentations ranged in time depth from more than 100,000 years ago to less than 300 years ago, and covered five of Sulawesi's six provinces including the Talaud Islands, which lie approximately halfway between the Sulawesi mainland and Mindanao in the Philippines, with topics as diverse as initial settlement by archaic hominins, occupation by early modern humans as registered by their rock art and tool technologies, Holocene developments including the transition to the Neolithic and Early Metal Phase, the renowned megaliths of Central Sulawesi, early Bugis-Makasar history (South Sulawesi), early Islamic graves in South and West Sulawesi, and relevant palaeoenvironmental correlates. Quite a few of the presentations focused on results from cave sites in Kabupaten (District) Maros, a short distance north of Makassar, which was the destination for the 3 February field trip. The visited sites included Leang Burung 1 and Leang Karassaq, both of which had been excavated during the 1969 Australian-Indonesian Archaeological Expedition to Sulawesi (Mulvaney and

The joint Australian–Indonesian archaeological expedition to South Sulawesi in 1969 in context

The Archaeology of Sulawesi: Current Research on the Pleistocene to the Historic Period, 2018

The original impetus for the joint Australian-Indonesian archaeological expedition that visited South Sulawesi in July and August 1969 can be traced to the beginning of the 20th century, but its more immediate background lay in a particular conjunction of personal, intellectual, political and security factors in both Indonesia and Australia. The opportunity to apply radiocarbon dating and an interest in stone tool typology were important aspects of the archaeological work itself. The expedition was highly successful in terms of its objectives and the archaeological data it recovered has continued to attract attention even as research interests have shifted to new questions. Participation in the work of the expedition also opened up opportunities in unexpected areas, which some of those associated with the expedition's activities have followed up in subsequent years. The conduct of the expedition established a precedent for collaboration between local, national and foreign researchers, which has been particularly happy and productive.

Earliest hominin occupation of Sulawesi, Indonesia

Sulawesi is the largest and oldest island within Wallacea, a vast zone of oceanic islands separating continental Asia from the Pleistocene landmass of Australia and Papua (Sahul). By one million years ago an unknown hominin lineage had colonized Flores immediately to the south 1 , and by about 50 thousand years ago, modern humans (Homo sapiens) had crossed to Sahul 2,3. On the basis of position, oceanic currents and biogeographical context, Sulawesi probably played a pivotal part in these dispersals 4. Uranium-series dating of speleothem deposits associated with rock art in the limestone karst region of Maros in southwest Sulawesi has revealed that humans were living on the island at least 40 thousand years ago (ref. 5). Here we report new excavations at Talepu in the Walanae Basin northeast of Maros, where in situ stone artefacts associated with fossil remains of megafauna (Bubalus sp., Stegodon and Celebochoerus) have been recovered from stratified deposits that accumulated from before 200 thousand years ago until about 100 thousand years ago. Our findings suggest that Sulawesi, like Flores, was host to a long-established population of archaic hominins, the ancestral origins and taxonomic status of which remain elusive.

Simpson 2020 The Spice Islands in Prehistory: Archaeology in the Northern Moluccas, Indonesia

Australian Archaeology, 2020

I highly recommend this 50th edition of Terra Australis. This edited volume provides a long-term, multidisciplinary scientific approach, to investigate and analyse materials found in the 40,000-year archaeological record of the NM. This volume provides significant information about the migration routes of both ancient and modern humans, the movements and interactions (and lack thereof) of humans during both the Pleistocene and Holocene, and the translocation and utilisation of raw materials, flora, and fauna in unique island environments. For those archaeologists who focus on Island Southeast Asia, Oceania, field archaeology, ceramics, lithics, glass beads, worked shell, faunal analysis, bioarchaeology and/or interaction studies, this volume is a must read, as it presents a valuable longitudinal study, significant methodological protocols, solid empirical evidence, and vetted conclusions about human behaviour in the NM over a 40,000-year span.

Three Seasons of Archaeological Survey in the Aru Islands, 1995-97

Terra Australis reports the results of archaeological and related research within the south and east of Asia, though mainly Australia, New Guinea and island Melanesia -lands that remained terra australis incognita to generations of prehistorians. Its subject is the settlement of the diverse environments in this isolated quarter of the globe by peoples who have maintained their discrete and traditional ways of life into the recent recorded or remembered past and at times into the observable present.

New Directions in Archaeological Science

New Directions in Archaeological Science, 2009

Terra Australis reports the results of archaeological and related research within the south and east of Asia, though mainly Australia, New Guinea and island Melanesia-lands that remained terra australis incognita to generations of prehistorians. Its subject is the settlement of the diverse environments in this isolated quarter of the globe by peoples who have maintained their discrete and traditional ways of life into the recent recorded or remembered past and at times into the observable present. Since the beginning of the series, the basic colour on the spine and cover has distinguished the regional distribution of topics as follows: ochre for Australia, green for New Guinea, red for SouthEast Asia and blue for the Pacific Islands. From 2001, issues with a gold spine will include conference proceedings, edited papers and monographs which in topic or desired format do not fit easily within the original arrangements. All volumes are numbered within the same series.

The palaeolithic in Indonesia: Nature and chronology

Quaternary International, 2010

Skeletal remains of a Pleistocene modern human (Homo sapiens) from Sulawesi

PLOS ONE, 2021

Major gaps remain in our knowledge of the early history of Homo sapiens in Wallacea. By 70–60 thousand years ago (ka), modern humans appear to have entered this distinct biogeographical zone between continental Asia and Australia. Despite this, there are relatively few Late Pleistocene sites attributed to our species in Wallacea. H. sapiens fossil remains are also rare. Previously, only one island in Wallacea (Alor in the southeastern part of the archipelago) had yielded skeletal evidence for pre-Holocene modern humans. Here we report on the first Pleistocene human skeletal remains from the largest Wallacean island, Sulawesi. The recovered elements consist of a nearly complete palate and frontal process of a modern human right maxilla excavated from Leang Bulu Bettue in the southwestern peninsula of the island. Dated by several different methods to between 25 and 16 ka, the maxilla belongs to an elderly individual of unknown age and sex, with small teeth (only M1 to M3 are extant) t...

Ten Thousand Years of Cultivation at Kuk Swamp in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea

Ten Thousand Years of Cultivation at Kuk Swamp in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea, 2017

Terra Australis reports the results of archaeological and related research within the south and east of Asia, though mainly Australia, New Guinea and Island Melanesia-lands that remained terra australis incognita to generations of prehistorians. Its subject is the settlement of the diverse environments in this isolated quarter of the globe by peoples who have maintained their discrete and traditional ways of life into the recent recorded or remembered past and at times into the observable present.

The Archaeology of the Aru Islands, Eastern Indonesia

2007

This volume describes the results of the first archaeological survey and excavations carried out in the fascinating and remote Aru Islands, Eastern Indonesia between 1995 and 1997. The naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace, who stopped here in search of the Birds of Paradise on his voyage through the Indo-Malay Archipelago in the 1850s, was the first to draw attention to the group. The results reveal a complex and fascinating history covering the last 30,000 years from its early settlement by hunter-gatherers, the late Holocene arrival of ceramic ...