TY - JOUR
T1 - Early human symbolic behavior in the Late Pleistocene of Wallacea
AU - Brumm, Adam
AU - Langley, Michelle C.
AU - Moore, Mark W.
AU - Hakim, Budianto
AU - Ramli, Muhammad
AU - Sumantri, Iwan
AU - Burhan, Basran
AU - Saiful, Andi Muhammad
AU - Siagian, Linda
AU - Suryatman,
AU - Sardi, Ratno
AU - Jusdi, Andi
AU - Abdullah,
AU - Mubarak, Andi Pampang
AU - Hasliana,
AU - Hasrianti,
AU - Oktaviana, Adhi Agus
AU - Adhityatama, Shinatria
AU - Van Den Bergh, Gerrit D.
AU - Aubert, Maxime
AU - Zhao, Jian Xin
AU - Huntley, Jillian
AU - Li, Bo
AU - Roberts, Richard G.
AU - Saptomo, E. Wahyu
AU - Perston, Yinika
AU - Grün, Rainer
PY - 2017/4/18
Y1 - 2017/4/18
N2 - 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 theWallacean 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.
AB - 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 theWallacean 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.
KW - Cognition
KW - Personal ornamentation
KW - Pleistocene art
KW - Pleistocene symbolism
KW - Wallacea
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85017640896&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1073/pnas.1619013114
DO - 10.1073/pnas.1619013114
M3 - Article
SN - 0027-8424
VL - 114
SP - 4105
EP - 4110
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
IS - 16
ER -