Early human symbolic behavior in the Late Pleistocene of Wallacea

Title
Early human symbolic behavior in the Late Pleistocene of Wallacea
Publication Date
2017
Author(s)
Brumm, Adam
Langley, Michelle C
Moore, Mark W
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4768-5329
Email: mmoore2@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:mmoore2
Hakim, Budianto
Ramli, Muhammad
Sumantri, Iwan
Burhan, Basran
Saiful, Andi Muhammad
Siagian, Linda
Suryatman, Suryatman
Sardi, Ratno
Jusdi, Andi
Abdullah, Abdullah
Mubarak, Andi Pampang
Hasliana, Hasliana
Hasrianti, Hasrianti
Oktaviana, Adhi Agus
Adhityatama, Shinatria
van den Bergh, Gerrit D
Aubert, Maxime
Zhao, Jian-xin
Huntley, Jillian
Li, Bo
Roberts, Richard G
Wahyu Saptomo, E
Perston, Yinika
Grün, Rainer
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
National Academy of Sciences
Place of publication
United States of America
DOI
10.1073/pnas.1619013114
UNE publication id
une:20911
Abstract

Wallacea, the zone of oceanic islands separating the continental regions of Southeast Asia and Australia, has yielded sparse evidence for the symbolic culture of early modern humans. Here we report evidence for symbolic activity 30,000–22,000 y ago at Leang Bulu Bettue, a cave and rock-shelter site on the Wallacean island of Sulawesi. We describe hitherto undocumented practices of personal ornamentation and portable art, alongside evidence for pigment processing and use in deposits that are the same age as dated rock art in the surrounding karst region. Previously, assemblages of multiple and diverse types of Pleistocene "symbolic" artifacts were entirely unknown from this region. The Leang Bulu Bettue assemblage provides insight into the complexity and diversification of modern human culture during a key period in the global dispersal of our species. It also shows that early inhabitants of Sulawesi fashioned ornaments from body parts of endemic animals, suggesting modern humans integrated exotic faunas and other novel resources into their symbolic world as they colonized the biogeographically unique regions southeast of continental Eurasia.

Link
Citation
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(16), p. 4105-4110
ISSN
1091-6490
0027-8424
Start page
4105
End page
4110

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