No abstract

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

Painted rock art occurs throughout the islands of the Western Pacific and has previously been argued to have motif and design elements in common, indicating that it was created within the context of a shared symbolic system. Here we report five new painted rock-art sites from Kisar Island in eastern Indonesia and investigate the commonalities between this art and the painted art corpus in Timor-Leste, the independent nation that forms the eastern part of the neighbouring island of Timor. We examine the motifs in the Kisar art and suggest that, rather than being Neolithic in age, some of the figurative motifs more likely have a Metal Age origin, which in this region places them within the last 2500 years.

We report on tetrapod (Reptilia, Amphibia, Mammalia, Aves) Fellows Road, Coombs Building, Acton, ACT 2601, Australia.E-mail: stuart.hawkins@anu.edu.au Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at http://www.tandfonline.com/uica. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.

<p>This research aims to analyze symbolic meaning of batik in the ancient Javanese society. Next, it is also analyze whether the existence of batik can describe  cultures  in contemporary society. The research uses historical method in order to obtain field data and facts. Because of the required data consist of inscription which contains of sîma area in the Ancient Mataram Kingdom era made approximately in  IX-XV M,  so those data are collected either from Jakarta National Museum or pada National Library in  Jakarta. Then, interpretation is conducted to synthesize any field facts. The final stage is historiography, that is a writing process  of any available facts  becoming history writing. According to discussion above, it can be concluded that batik motif in the Ancient Javanese society has symbolic meaning  and it can be used as communication tools for contemporary society. The Ancient Javanese society realizes that from batik motif, it can be identified the social stratification of society.</p><p> </p><p>Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis makna simbolis batik pada masyarakat Jawa Kuna.Kemudian, dianalisis juga tentang apakah melalui keberadaan batik itu dapat mendiskripsikan kebudayaan masyarakat sezaman.Penelitian ini menggunakan metode penelitian sejarah dalam upaya untuk mendapatkan data dan fakta yang ada di lapangan. Mengingat data yang dibutuhkan berupa prasasti yang berisi tentang daerah sîma pada masa Kerajaan Mataram Kuna yang dibuat sekitar abad IX-XV M, maka data-data tersebut “digali” di Museum Nasional Jakarta maupun pada Perpustakaan Nasional di Jakarta.Selanjutnya dilakukan interpretasi untuk mensintesiskan segala fakta yang terdapat di lapangan. Langkah terakhir adalah historiografi, yaitu proses penulisan segala fakta yang ada menjadi sebuah tulisan sejarah.Berdasarkan pembahasan di atas, dapat disimpulkan bahwa motif batik pada masyarakat Jawa Kuna itu memiliki makna simbolik dan dapat digunakan sebagai sarana untuk berkomunikasi bagi masyarakat sezaman.Masyarakat Jawa Kuna menyadari bahwa melalui motif-motif batik dapat diketahui stratifikasi sosial masyarakat.</p><p> </p>

This study explores prehistoric human subsistence adaptations within the context of changing marine and terrestrial environments on the tiny Island of Kisar, beginning during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition around 15,000 years ago (ka). We use zooarchaeological data on faunal remains (vertebrates and invertebrates) recovered from Here Sorot Entapa rockshelter (HSE) in temporal relationship to climate data from Flores to document prehistoric human responses to regional sea-level, temperature, and associated habitat changes that occurred after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Human settlement intensity peaked during the colder drier conditions of the Bølling-Allerød period at 14.4-13 ka, and the site was abandoned during a period of unstable sea levels and coastal habitats between 9.4-5 ka. Holocene climate change coincides with increased reefal subsistence, and an increase in crab exploitation over sea urchin use. Rodent abundance increases in the early Holocene, possibly in response to expanding forests during warmer wetter conditions, with a significant increase in the late Holocene as a result of the human introduction of exotic species to the island.

We report 40 recently discovered rock art sites from Kisar Island in eastern Indonesia and investigate the commonalities between this art and painted art in other islands of Indonesia and in Timor-Leste. Predominantly painted, the art can be broadly divided into three categories: 1) small figurative motifs including humans, animals, boats and items of material culture, 2) a range of geometrics, both curvilinear and rectilinear, and 3) hand and arm stencils. On the basis of geological features and weathering we suggest that the Kisar paintings span a considerable period of time, from the Pleistocene through to the Indonesian historic period. We argue that the oldest paintings in the Kisar repertoire are some of the red pigment hand and arm stencils. The small figurative motifs such as the anthropomorphs and some of the geometrics are remarkably similar to those featured in the rock art assemblages of nearby Timor-Leste, and at a number of locations throughout eastern Indonesia. One site with an engraved motif carved into a stalagmite formation was also recorded.

The archaeological record of Wallacea remains exceptionally fragmentary. This is especially the case for late Holocene human occupation of the region when lifestyle and culture in marginal island environments is relatively unknown. Here we report on the archaeology of Jareng Bori rockshelter, a Metal-Age site spanning c. 1800 cal. BP up to the late historic period and situated on the eastern coast of Pantar Island in the Lesser Sunda Islands of eastern Indonesia. We use osteoarchaeological (human and vertebrate remains), invertebrate zooarchaeological (crustacean and molluscan remains), technological (lithics, shell, and pottery) and chemical sourcing (obsidian and metal) datasets to discuss networking, migration, and human subsistence strategies during this recent period of history. While some communities were no doubt living in open village settlements where they were producing pottery, the data indicate that aspects of maritime life-ways continued much as in earlier Pleistocene settlements, with people using rockshelters like Jareng Bori to pursue a range of subsistence activities focused on the shoreline. Shellfishing of rocky and reef intertidal species and fishing for mostly small herbivorous and omnivorous fishes was practised, while domestic animals only appear in the late historic period. Wider regional cultural interactions and networking are epitomized by obsidian exchange, dental modification practices, and pottery decorations, while lithic analyses indicates continuity of stone tool technology up until recent times.