The Pain Haka burial ground on Flores: Indonesian evidence for a shared Neolithic belief system in Southeast Asia

Abstract

Abstract

Learning from Paleo-Landscapes: Defining the Land-Use Systems of the Ancient Malayo-Polynesian Homeland

“…For example, red-slipped ceramics, often with complex decorative forms and later human faces, are increasingly associated with burials in urns and are found in new maritime-oriented coastal settlements across Island Southeast Asia and the Pacific. The importance of pottery in both functional and spiritual contexts and the sudden increase in the technology for efficient interisland travel across the region are important aspects of the "Neolithic package" (fully polished stone adzes, a variety of shell artifacts including bracelets and beads, tattooing chisels, fishhooks, bark cloth beaters, and stone net sinkers (Bellwood 1997(Bellwood :219-30, 2002 and highlight sociocultural aspects of this culture (Galipaud et al 2016;Spriggs 2011).…”

“…In the Lesser Sunda Islands, red-slipped ceramics are present as urns in large coastal cemeteries as early as 1000 BC (Galipaud et al 2016). While there is no evidence of rice in the recently excavated site of Pain Haka, in eastern Flores, for instance, the size of the cemetery and the nature of grave goods (coral and large seashells) does points toward a well-established shared regional maritime culture by 1000 BC with obvious cultural roots in the Taiwan-northern Philippines interaction sphere.…”

Early ground axe technology in Wallacea: The first excavations on Obi Island

“…A total of 10.22 g of thin-walled pottery was recovered from layers 1 and 2a (spits 2-7) of Kelo 6. We divide the Kelo 6 sequence into three phases: a Metal Age occupation in layers 1-2a (spits 1-7), an early Holocene occupation in layers 2b-3 (spits 8-20), and a terminal Pleistocene occupation in layers 4-5 (spits [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30].…”

“…Edge-ground stone tools occur in Borneo to the west and New Guinea to the east of Wallacea from at least the early Holocene and perhaps as early as the Last Glacial Maximum [14,15]. Quadrangular adzes, associated with the dispersal of the Austronesian Neolithic [16][17][18][19], appear in Wallacea during the late Holocene [20][21][22]. In this paper we report a dated sequence of ground axe/adze technology from new archaeological excavations on the north coast of Obi Island, in the North Maluku archipelago of Wallacea (Fig 1).…”

Early Metal Age interactions in Island Southeast Asia and Oceania: jar burials from Aru Manara, northern Moluccas

“…We suggest that these practices originated as part of a wider ‘Neolithic package’ (Spriggs 2011). In addition to presenting the evidence from this site for the first time, we also review its implications for a broader understanding of contact between Island Southeast Asia and Oceania through similar decorative pottery motifs after 2700 BP (Garanger 1971; Galipaud et al 2016).…”