Pleistocene and Early Holocene Occupation on the Eastern Wallacean Islands

Here we propose a new index for estimating Paleolithic human population density from archaeological data, combining Bayesian modeled age ranges of stratigraphic contexts with an independent durable proxy in the form of knapped stone artifacts. We employ the measure of lithics per square meter per annum on test cases from multiple islands in eastern Wallacea, examining how populations changed during the period of sea-level rise from the Last Glacial Maximum to the Middle Holocene. There is a complex picture of patterns, varying according to the particular circumstances of each island and site; but overall populations seem to have increased alongside rising sea levels, with increasing exploitation of marine protein resources on those islands that are depauperate in terrestrial fauna. Increasing population goes hand in hand with increasing connectivity, with the emergence of inter-island obsidian exchange and shell bead traditions.