Are osseous artefacts a window to perishable material culture? Implications of an unusually complex bone tool from the Late Pleistocene of East Timor

Abstract

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.

Advanced maritime adaptation in the western Pacific coastal region extends back to 35,000–30,000 years before present

“…39-41). The findings from Sakitari Cave add to these and corroborate the idea that modern human behaviors in the southeastern to eastern Asia regions are difficult to detect archaeologically because of emphasis in technology based on nonlithic, perishable materials (6,42).…”

“…Such early maritime adaptation includes arguably purposeful water transportation (3,4), exploitation of aquatic food resources including fast-moving marine fish (5), and use of bone and shell tools (6)(7)(8)(9). However, the details of such early maritime culture, as well as its development and actual distribution beyond Wallacea and Sahul, remain unclear.…”

Early human symbolic behavior in the Late Pleistocene of Wallacea

“…(46), and highly elaborate artifacts have been recovered, including a complex bone point with bilateral notching (35 ka cal B.P.) (47). The total number of individual instances of Pleistocene symbolic behavior from Wallacea is still very small; however, new finds are emerging at a rapid pace with the onset of intensive fieldwork programs in Maros-Pangkep and Timor-Leste.…”

Rethinking the Neolithic in Island Southeast Asia, with Particular Reference to the Archaeology of Timor

“…The ish remains in the Holocene levels of Jerimalai and Lene Hara indicate that reef ish were the mainstay of the diet in the mid to late Holocene after the establishment of reef environments following sea level stabilisation. At the inland Matja Kuru sites a variety of game, including large murids, and reptiles such as snakes and freshwater turtles, make the most signiicant contribution to the diet, although ish and marine shellish are also present in small quantities (O'Connor et al 2014b). …”