Cultural and Environmental Shifts in Late Holocene East Timor: Evidence for Climate Change?

Archaeologists have proposed that significant climatic change in the Indo-Pacific region between 800 and 400 years ago was responsible for far-reaching and traumatic environmental effects and social consequences. So far, however, convincing causal links have yet to be demonstrated between climate change, environmental effects and cultural changes. This project will investigate archaeological sites, assemblages and ethnographic data from East Timor in order to document the nature and timing of cultural change over the last 1000 years. The results will be tested against independent scientific data to establish whether climate change was in fact a catalyst for cultural change.