Island Life: Shellfish exploitation over millennia in the Wallacean archipelago

Abstract

This thesis analyses shellfish, both subsistence and artefactual, uncovered from excavations on Timor Island (Timor-Leste) and a neighbouring island - Alor Island (Indonesia). Both islands are located in the Wallacean region of the Indonesian Archipelago and are part of the Island Southeast Asia (ISEA) complex. These islands are well known for their depauperate, indigenous terrestrial fauna. Nevertheless, we know that people colonised these islands, and others in ISEA from at least 46,000 yBP and were able to subsite in these environments for millennia. These early people understood the nature of the seas, coastlines, and the environment around them. They were able to exploit these environments to their ultimate advantage and were technologically advanced enough to make sea journeys from Sunda to Sahul as early as 65,000 yBP. This thesis analyses whole shell assemblages and shell artefacts from three sites: Asitau Kuru and Matja Kuru (Timor-Leste) and Tron Bon Lei (Alor Island). It details the types of shellfish being targeted, the shell habitats, and how and why these environments and foraging strategies changed over time. Analysing people's subsistence patterns and observing the changes to these patterns through time contributes to the understanding of adaptive responses in areas of low terrestrial resources and through environmental changes. Analysis from the subsistence shellfish and shell artefacts also inform the theoretical underpinnings of social and symbolic behaviours of people in the region throughout the time sequence. Shell artefact analysis, in parallel with shell subsistence analysis, further contributes to adaptive response to environmental changes with relation to the social changes seen through the region. Show more