Mammals from Holocene archaeological deposits on Gebe and Morotai Islands, northern Moluccas, Indonesia

Islands, Maluku Utara, Indonesia, have yielded the remains of manunals not recorded in
the modem fauna of those islands. A wallaby very similar to Dorcopsis mulleri mysoliae
(which is known today only from Misool) was common on Gebe between about 8500
and 2000 uncalibrated radiocarbon years ago, after which it became locally extinct. A
similar taxon occurs on Halmahera in archaeological contexts dating from about 5500 to
1700 years ago. It appears likely that these wallaby populations were originally
introduced from Misool.
The remains of two large, apparently undescribed species of Rattus, as well as Rattus
morotaiensis, are present in the Morotai archaeological record, which currently dates
from 14,000 years ago. These animals are not present so far in deposits from Halmahera
The remaining fauna in the archaeological deposits discussed in this paper represent
species still surviving in the region, including phalangers, bats, fish, reptiles, birds, p ig
and dog (the two latter only present after 3500 years ago, and introduced by humans).