The onset of Neolithic food-producing cultures during the Mid Holocene in Southeast Asia (SEA) constituted major social and demographic change. In northern Vietnam, the Late Holocene site of Man Bac has been argued to capture this shift... more
The onset of Neolithic food-producing cultures during the Mid Holocene in Southeast Asia (SEA) constituted major social and demographic change. In northern Vietnam, the Late Holocene site of Man Bac has been argued to capture this shift in population and material culture. This paper provides an updated faunal record of Man Bac and assesses the evidence for dog domestication and pig management at the site. Using a mixed method approach combining morphometric analyses, cluster analysis, mortality profiles, and body part representation, dogs are confidentially determined to be domesticated, and pigs are argued to represent an early management strategy. Direct 14C dating on select pig and dog elements provide the current earliest date for these domesticated animals in northern Vietnam and reflects the early expansion of farming communities into Mainland Southeast Asia (MSEA).
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Research Interests: Archaeology and Antiquity
The emergence of agriculture in Mainland Southeast Asia appears to have resulted in a subsistence shift from hunting terrestrial and arboreal game to a combined hunting/animal management subsistence regime focused on the maintenance of... more
The emergence of agriculture in Mainland Southeast Asia appears to have resulted in a subsistence shift from hunting terrestrial and arboreal game to a combined hunting/animal management subsistence regime focused on the maintenance of pigs and dogs. These conclusions are currently based on nominal differences in vertebrate taxonomic composition observed at different archaeological sites. In this paper, we take a statistical approach to test whether hunter-gather and early agricultural subsistence economies really can be confidently distinguished based on the relative taxonomic composition of the recovered animal bone assemblages. A regional database of terrestrial and arboreal vertebrate faunas was created for 32 archaeological sites across Southeast Asia from the Terminal Pleistocene to the Late Holocene, and principal component analysis was performed. The resultant data indicates that terrestrial vertebrate taxonomic composition is a relatively strong indicator of the general subsistence base for the various archaeological sites studied and can be used to determine whether the inhabitants subsisted purely from hunting, or from a mixture hunting and animal management.
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... The palaeontological record shows a wider past range extending to China and also including the two other large islands of the Sunda region, Java and Borneo. ... Datuk Zuraina Majid in 1977 and by Sarawak Museum Archaeological... more
... The palaeontological record shows a wider past range extending to China and also including the two other large islands of the Sunda region, Java and Borneo. ... Datuk Zuraina Majid in 1977 and by Sarawak Museum Archaeological Assistant the late Edmund Kurui in 1980. ...
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Research Interests:
The colonization of Madagascar by Austronesian-speaking people during AD 50-500 represents the most westerly point of the greatest diaspora in prehistory. A range of economically important plants and animals may have accompanied the... more
The colonization of Madagascar by Austronesian-speaking people during AD 50-500 represents the most westerly point of the greatest diaspora in prehistory. A range of economically important plants and animals may have accompanied the Austronesians. Domestic chickens (Gallus gallus) are found in Madagascar, but it is unclear how they arrived there. Did they accompany the initial Austronesian-speaking populations that reached Madagascar via the Indian Ocean or were they late arrivals with Arabian and African sea-farers? To address this question, we investigated the mitochondrial DNA control region diversity of modern chickens sampled from around the Indian Ocean rim (Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, East Africa and Madagascar). In contrast to the linguistic and human genetic evidence indicating dual African and Southeast Asian ancestry of the Malagasy people, we find that chickens in Madagascar only share a common ancestor with East Africa, which together are genetica...
Page 1. Hunting in a Tropical Rainforest: Evidence from the Terminal Pleistocene at Lobang Hangus, Niah Caves, Sarawak PJ PIPERa* AND RJ RABETTb a Archaeological Studies Program, Basement Palma Hall, University ...
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Excavations at three open-air sites in the Karama valley of West Sulawesi have revealed similar suites of ceramics and overlapping chronologies. The pottery from the basal layers at Minanga Sipakko and Kamassi resembles that of the... more
Excavations at three open-air sites in the Karama valley of West Sulawesi have revealed similar suites of ceramics and overlapping chronologies. The pottery from the basal layers at Minanga Sipakko and Kamassi resembles that of the Philippines and Taiwan, and suggests the settlement of migrants from those areas, consistent with the theory of Austronesian expansion. The absence of the flaked lithic technology typical of earlier Sulawesi populations indicates that these two sites do not represent the indigenous adoption of Neolithic features. The Karama valley evidence underlines the importance, in the quest for the earliest farmers, of research at open-air sites close to agriculturally suitable land, while indigenous populations may have continued for some time to occupy remote caves and rockshelters.
Research Interests: Archaeology and Antiquity
Linaminan-'The House of Linamin,-is a sacred Pala'wan site and prominent feature on the landscape within the Barangay of Isumba, in the municipality of Sofronio Espanola, on the island of Palawan, Philippines. With views out to... more
Linaminan-'The House of Linamin,-is a sacred Pala'wan site and prominent feature on the landscape within the Barangay of Isumba, in the municipality of Sofronio Espanola, on the island of Palawan, Philippines. With views out to the Sulu Sea and across the ...
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Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Page 1. Archaeofauna 13 (2004): 85-95 Identification of Morphological Variation in the Humeri of Bornean Primates and Its Application to Zooarchaeology KIMARNIE KI-KYDD & PHILIP JOHN PIPER Dept. Archaeology. University of... more
Page 1. Archaeofauna 13 (2004): 85-95 Identification of Morphological Variation in the Humeri of Bornean Primates and Its Application to Zooarchaeology KIMARNIE KI-KYDD & PHILIP JOHN PIPER Dept. Archaeology. University of Leicester, UK Phil_piper2003@yahoo.ie ...
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Rice (Oryza sativa) was domesticated in the Yangtze Valley region at least 6000-8000 years ago, yet the timing of dispersal of domesticated rice to Southeast Asia is contentious. Often rice is not well-preserved in archaeobotanical... more
Rice (Oryza sativa) was domesticated in the Yangtze Valley region at least 6000-8000 years ago, yet the timing of dispersal of domesticated rice to Southeast Asia is contentious. Often rice is not well-preserved in archaeobotanical assemblages at early Neolithic sites in the wet tropics of Southeast Asia and consequently rice impressions in pottery have been used as a proxy for rice cultivation despite their uncertain taxonomic and domestication status. In this research, we use microCT technology to determine the 3D microscale morphology of rice husk and spikelet base inclusions within pottery sherds from early Neolithic sites in Vietnam. In contrast to surface impressions, microCT provides images of the entire husk and spikelet base preserved within the pottery, including the abscission scar characteristic of domesticated rice. This research demonstrates the potential of microCT to be a new, non-destructive method for the identification of domesticated plant remains within pottery ...
—The Ilin cloud rat Crateromys paulus, identified from a single individual in 1981 and collected from an undocumented location in Ilin Island, Mindoro, Philippines, is now considered to be ''data deficient'' and possibly extinct. 96 murid... more
—The Ilin cloud rat Crateromys paulus, identified from a single individual in 1981 and collected from an undocumented location in Ilin Island, Mindoro, Philippines, is now considered to be ''data deficient'' and possibly extinct. 96 murid dental fossil remains were recently recovered within a two-meter excavation of well stratified and chronometrically dated deposits at the archaeological sites of Bubog I and Bubog II on Ilin Island. Research on these well-preserved murid rodent remains confirms the past presence of C. paulus on Ilin Island and describes for the first time variability in dental morphology of this species. The succession of fossils within the detailed stratigraphic sequence also provides us with information on C. paulus throughout the Holocene and on its possible recent extinction.
Two thousand years ago, maritime trade flourished in Southeast Asia and archaeological excavations have revealed that Island Southeast Asia played an important role within developing trading networks. The sites of Sembiran and Pacung on... more
Two thousand years ago, maritime trade flourished in Southeast
Asia and archaeological excavations have revealed that Island Southeast
Asia played an important role within developing trading networks.
The sites of Sembiran and Pacung on the north coast of Bali,
Indonesia, have produced a wide range of artifacts that demonstrate
links to mainland and island Asia. Here, we examine faunal remains
from these sites to assess the role that livestock played in north Bali
diet and trade at that time. In addition to abundant pig (Sus cf. scrofa)
remains, the sites yielded the earliest securely dated goat (Capra hircus)
remains known from Southeast Asia. Moreover carbon, nitrogen,
oxygen, and strontium stable isotope analyses of bone collagen and
tooth apatite indicate that some of these goats were from a markedly
different environment than the pig, human, and dog remains from
the sites. It is likely that these goats were imported from a different region—possibly South Asia—where they fed on C4 plants such as millet.
This provides evidence that livestock were included in regional
exchange networks, and prompts the question as to why goat remains
are absent from Mainland Southeast Asia archaeological sites despite
their presence in South Asia, East Asia, and Island Southeast Asia.
Asia and archaeological excavations have revealed that Island Southeast
Asia played an important role within developing trading networks.
The sites of Sembiran and Pacung on the north coast of Bali,
Indonesia, have produced a wide range of artifacts that demonstrate
links to mainland and island Asia. Here, we examine faunal remains
from these sites to assess the role that livestock played in north Bali
diet and trade at that time. In addition to abundant pig (Sus cf. scrofa)
remains, the sites yielded the earliest securely dated goat (Capra hircus)
remains known from Southeast Asia. Moreover carbon, nitrogen,
oxygen, and strontium stable isotope analyses of bone collagen and
tooth apatite indicate that some of these goats were from a markedly
different environment than the pig, human, and dog remains from
the sites. It is likely that these goats were imported from a different region—possibly South Asia—where they fed on C4 plants such as millet.
This provides evidence that livestock were included in regional
exchange networks, and prompts the question as to why goat remains
are absent from Mainland Southeast Asia archaeological sites despite
their presence in South Asia, East Asia, and Island Southeast Asia.
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A B S T R A C T Loc Giang is an early Neolithic settlement located on the east bank of the Vam Co Dong River in Long An Province, southern Vietnam. Archaeological excavations at the site have identified sequences of midden deposit, floor... more
A B S T R A C T Loc Giang is an early Neolithic settlement located on the east bank of the Vam Co Dong River in Long An Province, southern Vietnam. Archaeological excavations at the site have identified sequences of midden deposit, floor surfaces, postholes and hearths, suggesting that the settlement consisted of ground-built dwellings. Throughout the life of the settlement several phases of reconstruction and expansion could be discerned. A comprehensive radiometric-dating program indicates that the initial phases of activity within the excavated area started around 2000 cal. BCE and Neolithic activity continued until c. 1300 cal. BCE or slightly later. Comparisons with An Son, another mounded Neolithic settlement just 700 m to the east of Loc Giang, demonstrate that the two sites overlapped chronologically and were both constructed in similar ways. The new chronology from Loc Giang tightly brackets characteristic pottery types within the different phases of construction and has aided in refining the burial chronology at An Son. The material culture from Loc Giang and An Son is identical, specific to the Vam Co Dong River settlements, and distinctive from that recorded in sites on the Dong Nai Plain and along the coast. This suggests that, following initial settlement by agricultural populations who predominantly owed their origins to more northerly regions within East Asia, there was relatively rapid cultural and social diversification within the southern Vietnamese region.
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We report on the first prehistoric identifications of the Greater Adjutant (Leptoptilos dubius) (Gmelin 1789) in the prehistoric archaeological record of Vietnam, the earliest known example of this species in Mainland... more
We report on the first prehistoric identifications of the Greater Adjutant (Leptoptilos dubius) (Gmelin 1789) in the prehistoric archaeological record of Vietnam, the earliest known example of this species in Mainland Southeast Asia (MSEA). The two bone fragments, a proximal tarsometatarsus and a distal tibiotarsus, were found in the hunter-gatherer midden/cemetery site of Con Co Ngua in Thanh Hoa Province, and date to c. 6,000 – 5,500 BP. The tarsometatarsus has been modified into an edge ground implement similar to artefacts recorded at other archaeological sites in the region. Modifications to the functional end suggest the implement is consistent with the manipulation and/or manufacture of plant-based fibres.
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Research Interests:
We examine the southern Vietnamese site of Rach Nui, dated to between 3390 and 3850 cal BP, in the context of threemajor aspects of the Neolithic in Mainland Southeast Asia: mound formation and chronology, construction techniques, and... more
We examine the southern Vietnamese site of Rach Nui, dated to between 3390 and 3850 cal BP, in the context of threemajor aspects of the Neolithic in Mainland Southeast Asia: mound formation and chronology, construction techniques, and subsistence economy. Results indicate that this ca. 75 m in diameter, 5 m high mound, comprising over a dozen phases of earthen platforms, upon which were raised sophisticated wooden structures, was built in <200 years. While consuming domesticated millet, rice, and occasionally dogs and pigs, the main subsistence orientation included managed tubers and fruits and a range of mangrove ecosystem taxa: catfishes, turtles, crocodiles, monitor lizards, macaques and langurs, to name a few. This combined vegeculture foraging lifeway in a mangrove forested environment, likely in the context of a tradable goods extractive industry, adds to a growing picture of significant diversity, and sophisticated construction skills in the Southeast Asian Neolithic.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
decades Palaeolithic research viewed the development of early modern human behaviour as largely one of progress down a path towards the ‘modernity’ of the present. The European Palaeolithic sequence – the most extensively studied – was... more
decades Palaeolithic research viewed the development of early modern human behaviour as largely one of progress down a path towards the ‘modernity’ of the present. The European Palaeolithic sequence – the most extensively studied – was for a long time the yard-stick against which records from other regions were judged. Recent work undertaken in Africa and increasingly Asia, however, now suggests that the European evidence may tell a story that is more parochial and less universal than previously thought. While tracking developments at the large scale, the grand narrative, remains important, there is growing appreciation that to achieve a comprehensive understanding of human behavioural evolution requires an archaeologically regional perspective to balance this. One of the apparent markers of human modernity that has been sought in the global Palaeolithic record, prompted by finds in the European sequence, is innovation in bone-based technologies. As one step in the process of re-evaluating and contextualising such innovations, in this paper we explore the role of prehistoric bone technologies within the Southeast Asian sequence, where they have at least comparable antiquity to Europe and other parts of Asia. We observe a shift in the technological usage of bone – from a minor component to a medium of choice – during the second half of the Last Termination and into the Holocene. We suggest this is consistent with it becoming a focus of the kinds of inventive behaviour demanded of foraging communities as they adapted to the far-reaching environmental and demographic changes that were reshaping this region at that time. This record represents one small element of a much wider, much longer term adaptive process, which we would argue is not confined to the earliest instances of a particular technology or behaviour, but which forms part of an on-going story of our behavioural evolution.
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The Niah Caves in Sarawak, Borneo, have captured evidence for people and economies of 8000 and 4000 years ago. Although not continuous on this site, these open two windows on to life at the cultural turning point, broadly equivalent to... more
The Niah Caves in Sarawak, Borneo, have captured evidence for people and economies of 8000 and 4000 years ago. Although not continuous on this site, these open two windows on to life at the cultural turning point, broadly equivalent to the transition from Mesolithic to Neolithic. They have much in common, inferring that the occupants, perhaps belonging to an older maritime dispersal, had a choosy appetite for the Neolithic package.
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Research Interests: Evolutionary Biology, Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Paleontology, Anthropology, and 24 moreHuman Evolution, Palaeoenvironment, Environmental Archaeology, Archaeological Science, Palaeolithic Archaeology, Southeast Asia, Neolithic Archaeology, Southeast Asian Archaeology, Physical Anthropology, Human, Humans, Fossils, Radiocarbon Dating, Case Study, Animals, Skull, Human Activities, Biological evolution, Forest Edge, Human Activity, Hominidae, Montane Forest, Tropical Climate, and Environment
Research Interests: Evolutionary Biology, Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Paleontology, Anthropology, and 24 moreHuman Evolution, Palaeoenvironment, Environmental Archaeology, Archaeological Science, Palaeolithic Archaeology, Southeast Asia, Neolithic Archaeology, Southeast Asian Archaeology, Physical Anthropology, Human, Humans, Fossils, Radiocarbon Dating, Case Study, Animals, Skull, Human Activities, Biological evolution, Forest Edge, Human Activity, Hominidae, Montane Forest, Tropical Climate, and Environment
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Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The authors compare pottery assemblages in the Marianas and the Philippines to claim endorsement for a first human expansion into the open Pacific around 1500 BC. The Marianas are separated from the Philippines by 2300km of open sea, so... more
The authors compare pottery assemblages in the Marianas and the Philippines to claim endorsement for a first human expansion into the open Pacific around 1500 BC. The Marianas are separated from the Philippines by 2300km of open sea, so they are proposing an epic pioneering voyage of men and women, with presumably some cultivated plants but apparently no animals. How did they manage this unprecedented journey?
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The recently discovered human remains from Callao Cave, northern Luzon, Philippines securely date the migration of hominins into the Philippines to ca. 70 kya (thousands of years ago). The direct route to reach Luzon from the Asian... more
The recently discovered human remains from Callao Cave, northern Luzon, Philippines securely date the migration of hominins into the Philippines to ca. 70 kya (thousands of years ago). The direct route to reach Luzon from the Asian mainland is via Borneo, Palawan, through Mindoro and into Luzon. Our research focuses on Mindoro Island as a potential stepping stone to the main Philippine Archipelago. While Palawan and Luzon have produced evidence for early human occupation, no systematic research on the prehistory of Mindoro has been conducted until now. We report on recent archaeological investigations at the Bubog rockshelter sites on the small island of Ilin just off the coast of Mindoro. The excavations produced evidence of stratified sequences of human habitation at the two rockshelter sites in the form of dense shell middens that date to ca. 11 kya onwards. They provide direct evidence on how variability in landscape formation, sea levels, and landmass during the terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene influenced the behavior of early human populations. Numerous species of molluscs were recorded and provisional results indicate variations in the invertebrate faunas throughout the stratigraphic sequences, resulting from sea level rise and the establishment of coral reefs between Ilin and Mindoro at the end of the Pleistocene. Our results contribute substantially to our understanding of the processes of human island adaptation, complement ongoing research into Island Southeast Asia’s paleogeography, and enhance current knowledge of prehistoric subsistence strategies across the region.
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Renewed archaeological investigation of the West Mouth of Niah Cave, Borneo has demonstrated that even within lowland equatorial environments depositional conditions do exist where organic remains of late glacial and early post-glacial... more
Renewed archaeological investigation of the West Mouth of Niah Cave, Borneo has demonstrated that even within lowland equatorial environments depositional conditions do exist where organic remains of late glacial and early post-glacial age can be preserved. Excavations by the Niah Cave Research Project (NCP) (2000–2003) towards the rear of the archaeological reserve produced several bone points and worked stingray spines, which exhibit evidence of hafting mastic and fibrous binding still adhering to their shafts. The position of both gives strong indication of how these cartilaginous points were hafted and gives insight into their potential function. These artefacts were recovered from secure and 14C dated stratigraphic horizons. The results of this study have implications for our understanding the function of the Terminal Pleistocene and Early Holocene bone tools recovered from other regions of Island Southeast Asia. They demonstrate that by the end the Pleistocene rainforest foragers in Borneo were producing composite technologies that probably included fishing leisters and potentially the bow and arrow.
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Excavations at Liang Bua, a limestone cave on the island of Flores, East Indonesia, have yielded a well dated archaeological and faunal sequence spanning the last 95 k.yr., major climatic fluctuations, and two human species – H.... more
Excavations at Liang Bua, a limestone cave on the island of Flores, East Indonesia, have yielded a well dated archaeological and faunal sequence spanning the last 95 k.yr., major climatic fluctuations, and two human species – H. floresiensis from 95 to 17 k.yr.1, and modern humans from 11 k.yr. to the present. The faunal assemblage comprises well-preserved mammal, bird, reptile and mollusc remains, including examples of island gigantism in small mammals and the dwarfing of large taxa. Together with evidence from Early-Middle Pleistocene sites in the Soa Basin, it confirms the long-term isolation, impoverishment, and phylogenetic continuity of the Flores faunal community. The accumulation of Stegodon and Komodo dragon remains at the site in the Pleistocene is attributed to Homo floresiensis, while predatory birds, including an extinct species of owl, were largely responsible for the accumulation of the small vertebrates. The disappearance from the sequence of the two large-bodied, endemic mammals, Stegodon florensis insularis and Homo floresiensis, was associated with a volcanic eruption at 17 ka and precedes the earliest evidence for modern humans, who initiated use of mollusc and shell working, and began to introduce a range of exotic animals to the island. Faunal introductions during the Holocene included the Sulawesi warty pig (Sus celebensis) at about 7 ka, followed by the Eurasian pig (Sus scrofa), Long-tailed macaque, Javanese porcupine, and Masked palm civet at about 4 ka, and cattle, deer, and horse - possibly by the Portuguese within historic times. The Holocene sequence at the site also documents local faunal extinctions - a result of accelerating human population growth, habitat loss, and over-exploitation.
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Research Interests:
The South-east Asian zoogeographical region is divided into Indochinese, Sundaic, and Philippine subregions. Two clades of tapirs Tapirus spp. have been recognized in Quaternary South-east Asia. A review of sites at which they occurred... more
The South-east Asian zoogeographical region is divided into Indochinese, Sundaic, and Philippine subregions. Two clades of tapirs Tapirus spp. have been recognized in Quaternary South-east Asia. A review of sites at which they occurred shows that representatives of both clades, one of which was ancestral Malayan tapir Tapirus indicus, co-existed with a diversity of other Pleistocene mammal megafauna. The process of replacement of archaic large mammals was progressive and prolonged through the Quaternary. Zooarcheological investigation has extended knowledge of the former occurrence and distribution of tapirs and other large mammals of the region, with discoveries beyond the outer limits of their previously known ranges. These large mammals were subjected to paleo-environmental changes as a consequence of the Quaternary cycles of glacials and interglacials. Archeological evidence suggests that hunting pressure has intensified the effects of altered environments, leading ultimately to the local disappearance of Malayan tapir in most of South-east Asia, including Borneo. The survival of Malayan tapir through the Quaternary until the present shows that the species is both resilient to environmental change and flexible in its ecological requirements and, given proper protection, could continue to inhabit tropical South-east Asia. To assist the species conservation, re-introduction is proposed from the remaining range of Malayan tapir in the wild, to suitable sites of past occurrence in Borneo, where these ancient survivors of the Quaternary megafauna could be accommodated and safeguarded alongside other forms of land-usage.
Research Interests:
decades Palaeolithic research viewed the development of early modern human behaviour as largely one of progress down a path towards the ‘modernity’ of the present. The European Palaeolithic sequence – the most extensively studied – was... more
decades Palaeolithic research viewed the development of early modern human behaviour as largely one of progress down a path towards the ‘modernity’ of the present. The European Palaeolithic sequence – the most extensively studied – was for a long time the yard-stick against which records from other regions were judged. Recent work undertaken in Africa and increasingly Asia, however, now suggests that the European evidence may tell a story that is more parochial and less universal than previously thought. While tracking developments at the large scale, the grand narrative, remains important, there is growing appreciation that to achieve a comprehensive understanding of human behavioural evolution requires an archaeologically regional perspective to balance this.
One of the apparent markers of human modernity that has been sought in the global Palaeolithic record, prompted by finds in the European sequence, is innovation in bone-based technologies. As one step in the process of re-evaluating and contextualising such innovations, in this paper we explore the role of prehistoric bone technologies within the Southeast Asian sequence, where they have at least comparable antiquity to Europe and other parts of Asia. We observe a shift in the technological usage of bone – from a minor component to a medium of choice – during the second half of the Last Termination and into the Holocene. We suggest this is consistent with it becoming a focus of the kinds of inventive behaviour demanded of foraging communities as they adapted to the far-reaching environmental and demographic changes that were reshaping this region at that time. This record represents one small element of a much wider, much longer term adaptive process, which we would argue is not confined to the earliest instances of a particular technology or behaviour, but which forms part of an on-going story of our behavioural evolution.
One of the apparent markers of human modernity that has been sought in the global Palaeolithic record, prompted by finds in the European sequence, is innovation in bone-based technologies. As one step in the process of re-evaluating and contextualising such innovations, in this paper we explore the role of prehistoric bone technologies within the Southeast Asian sequence, where they have at least comparable antiquity to Europe and other parts of Asia. We observe a shift in the technological usage of bone – from a minor component to a medium of choice – during the second half of the Last Termination and into the Holocene. We suggest this is consistent with it becoming a focus of the kinds of inventive behaviour demanded of foraging communities as they adapted to the far-reaching environmental and demographic changes that were reshaping this region at that time. This record represents one small element of a much wider, much longer term adaptive process, which we would argue is not confined to the earliest instances of a particular technology or behaviour, but which forms part of an on-going story of our behavioural evolution.
Excavations in Callao Cave, in the lowland (ca. 85 m elevation) Cagayan River Valley of northeastern Luzon, Philippines, have produced the first fossils of any endemic genera of Philippine murid rodents. Three dentaries dated to the Late... more
Excavations in Callao Cave, in the lowland (ca. 85 m
elevation) Cagayan River Valley of northeastern Luzon, Philippines, have produced the first fossils of any endemic genera of Philippine murid rodents. Three dentaries dated to the Late Pleistocene, between ca. 50,000 and 68,000 BP, are referred to the genera Batomys and Apomys; the former is a member of the endemic ‘‘Phloeomys Division’’ of Philippine murids, and the latter of the ‘‘Chrotomys Division,’’ also endemic to the Philippines. Batomys is currently known from five extant species from Luzon, Mindanao, and Dinagat islands; the two species known from Luzon differ in size and dental and mandibular morphology from the two fossil mandibles, and both occur only at elevations above 1350 m. Apomys is currently known from two subgenera on Luzon; the fossil is a member of the nominate subgenus, which contains two species on Luzon, one of which, Apomys microdon, is conspecific with one fossil. We hypothesize that the Batomys fossils represent a different species from the living taxa, but we do not name it due to the fragmentary nature of the specimens. These Apomys and Batomys represent the first fossil small mammals from the main body of the Philippine archipelago (east of Huxley’s Line), and the Batomys are the first suspected extinct Pleistocene small mammal from the Philippines. The fossils indicate greater species richness and broader distributions than at present within this distinctive and diverse endemic radiation of mammals.
elevation) Cagayan River Valley of northeastern Luzon, Philippines, have produced the first fossils of any endemic genera of Philippine murid rodents. Three dentaries dated to the Late Pleistocene, between ca. 50,000 and 68,000 BP, are referred to the genera Batomys and Apomys; the former is a member of the endemic ‘‘Phloeomys Division’’ of Philippine murids, and the latter of the ‘‘Chrotomys Division,’’ also endemic to the Philippines. Batomys is currently known from five extant species from Luzon, Mindanao, and Dinagat islands; the two species known from Luzon differ in size and dental and mandibular morphology from the two fossil mandibles, and both occur only at elevations above 1350 m. Apomys is currently known from two subgenera on Luzon; the fossil is a member of the nominate subgenus, which contains two species on Luzon, one of which, Apomys microdon, is conspecific with one fossil. We hypothesize that the Batomys fossils represent a different species from the living taxa, but we do not name it due to the fragmentary nature of the specimens. These Apomys and Batomys represent the first fossil small mammals from the main body of the Philippine archipelago (east of Huxley’s Line), and the Batomys are the first suspected extinct Pleistocene small mammal from the Philippines. The fossils indicate greater species richness and broader distributions than at present within this distinctive and diverse endemic radiation of mammals.
Research Interests:
We examine the southern Vietnamese site of Rach Nui, dated to between 3390 and 3850 cal BP, in the context of three major aspects of the Neolithic in Mainland Southeast Asia: mound formation and chronology, construction techniques, and... more
We examine the southern Vietnamese site of Rach Nui, dated to between 3390 and 3850 cal BP, in the context of three major aspects of the Neolithic in Mainland Southeast Asia: mound formation and chronology, construction techniques, and subsistence economy. Results indicate that this ca. 75 m in diameter, 5 m high mound, comprising over a dozen phases of earthen platforms, upon which were raised sophisticated wooden structures, was built in <200 years. While consuming domesticated millet, rice, and occasionally dogs and pigs, the main subsistence orientation included managed tubers and fruits and a range of mangrove ecosystem taxa: catfishes, turtles, crocodiles, monitor lizards, macaques and langurs, to name a few. This combined vegeculture-foraging lifeway in a mangrove forested environment, likely in the context of a tradable goods extractive industry, adds to a growing picture of significant diversity, and sophisticated construction skills in the Southeast Asian Neolithic.
Research Interests:
Excavations at the Ille site in north Palawan have produced a large Terminal Pleistocene to the Late Holocene faunal assemblage. Derived both from the natural deaths of small mammals and the human hunting of large and intermediate game,... more
Excavations at the Ille site in north Palawan have produced a large Terminal Pleistocene to the Late Holocene faunal assemblage. Derived both from the natural deaths of small mammals and the human hunting of large and intermediate game, the bone assemblage provides important new information about changes in the composition and structure of the mammal community of Palawan over the last ca. 14 000 years. The Ille zooarchaeological record chronicles the terrestrial vertebrate fauna of the island, and the disappearance of several large taxa since the end of the last glacial period due to environmental change and human impacts.
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Research Interests:
Archaeological Studies Program, University of the Philippines (authorship)
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Victor Paz, Wilfredo Ronquillo, Helen Lewis, Philip Piper, Jane Carlos, Emil Robles, Vito Hernandez, Taj Vitales, Janine Ochoa, Tara Reyes and Hermine Xhauflair
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Helen Lewis, Victor Paz, Jonathan Kress, Myra G. Lara, Jack G. L. Medrana, A. Jane Carlos, Phil Piper, Vito Hernandez, Huw Barton, Emil Robles, Timothy J. Vitales, Andrea Ragragio, Wilhelm Solheim II and Wilfredo Ronquillo
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Research Interests:
This chapter presents preliminary observations relating to the butchery and craft modification of primate bones from late Pleistocene and early Holocene deposits in the Niah Caves, East Malaysia. An overview of the history of excavation... more
This chapter presents preliminary observations relating to the butchery and craft modification of primate bones from late Pleistocene and early Holocene deposits in the Niah Caves, East
Malaysia. An overview of the history of excavation at the site is followed by a discussion of the faunal assemblage with particular attention paid to evidence for the butchery of primates (Cercopithecidae), including remarks on the occurrence, type and placement of butchery traces. Early results suggest that primate carcasses were being processed in careful and notably selective ways. A particular feature of this processing sequence appears to have been tool production.
Malaysia. An overview of the history of excavation at the site is followed by a discussion of the faunal assemblage with particular attention paid to evidence for the butchery of primates (Cercopithecidae), including remarks on the occurrence, type and placement of butchery traces. Early results suggest that primate carcasses were being processed in careful and notably selective ways. A particular feature of this processing sequence appears to have been tool production.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Ongoing research in the Philippines is producing important new insights into the Palaeolithic of Island Southeast Asia. The recent discovery of the Callao 3rd metatarsal in northern Luzon, which has been provisionally identified as a... more
Ongoing research in the Philippines is producing important new insights into the Palaeolithic of Island Southeast Asia. The recent discovery of the Callao 3rd metatarsal in northern Luzon, which has been provisionally identified as a small bodied Homo sapiens and dated to 67 ka, suggests an earlier colonization of Island Southeast Asia by our species than previously considered. Landscape reconstructions are aiding in building a better understanding of how people adapted to the new and varied environments they encountered across the region, and recent lithic use wear analyses are demonstrating that tool technologies and hence human behaviour was more complex than had been previously envisaged. Wear traces and residues on unretouched and morphologically less characteristic flaked artefacts provided evidence for hafting and the use of adhesives showing that they could have served as hafted armatures of multicomponent tools.
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The subsistence strategies of our early ancestors provide important insights into the behavioural complexities, ingenuity and adaptive capacity of our species. The Late Pleistocene colonization of Mainland and Island Southeast Asia... more
The subsistence strategies of our early ancestors provide important insights into the behavioural complexities, ingenuity and adaptive capacity of our species. The Late Pleistocene colonization of Mainland and Island Southeast Asia presented numerous challenges that needed to be overcome by early human groups. In this paper we draw on data from a number of keys sites across the region to show how these challenges were met during the Late Glacial. We propose that one of the keys to the successful colonization of Southeast Asia lay in an ability to develop foraging strategies to cope with its diverse range of environments, their unique structure and local cycles of resource availability and abundance. We argue that these were adaptive processes; involving the development of new localised responses and innovations, rather than the use of strategies suited to western Eurasian contexts, as previously assumed.
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Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This chapter describes the analysis and interpretation of the terrestrial vertebrate remains from the islands of Itbayat and Sabtang. The results indicate that pigs were present in the islands from the earliest recognized phases of... more
This chapter describes the analysis and interpretation of the terrestrial vertebrate remains from the islands of Itbayat and Sabtang. The results indicate that pigs were present in the islands from the earliest recognized phases of colonization and were the only large mammal resource during the prehistoric period from at least 1200 BC until after AD 1000, when the goat was introduced into the islands. Dogs appear to be present by at least 500 BC, as well as a species of civet cat from a similar or slightly earlier date on Itbayat, that has now been extirpated from the island.
Research Interests:
Ongoing research in the Philippines is producing important new insights into the Palaeolithic of Island Southeast Asia. The recent discovery of the Callao 3rd metatarsal in northern Luzon, which has been provisionally identified as a... more
Ongoing research in the Philippines is producing important new insights into the Palaeolithic of Island Southeast Asia. The recent discovery of the Callao 3rd metatarsal in northern Luzon, which has been provisionally identified as a small bodied Homo sapiens and dated to 67 ka, suggests an earlier colonization of Island Southeast Asia by our species than previously considered. Landscape reconstructions are aiding in building a better understanding of how people adapted to the new and varied environments they encountered across the region, and recent lithic use wear analyses are demonstrating that tool technologies and hence human behaviour was more complex than had been previously envisaged. Wear traces and residues on unretouched and morphologically less characteristic flaked artefacts provided evidence for hafting and the use of adhesives showing that they could have served as hafted armatures of multicomponent tools.
Chapter 11, in: R. Dennell and M. Porr (Eds.) 2014, Southern Asia, Australasia and the search for modern human origins, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 135-147.
Chapter 11, in: R. Dennell and M. Porr (Eds.) 2014, Southern Asia, Australasia and the search for modern human origins, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 135-147.