The human occupation record of Gua Mo’o hono shelter, Towuti-Routa region of Southeastern Sulawesi

Abstract

Here we describe the excavation, chronology and assemblage from Gua Mo’o hono, a rockshelter in the Lake Towuti region in Southeast Sulawesi. The excavation produced glass, ceramics and pottery, dense faunal and lithic assemblages and a diversity of bone tools. The Gua Mo’o hono sequence demonstrates that humans were active in and around the rockshelter from at least 6500 cal BP, and informs on early to late Holocene subsistence and technology in this region. Although the occupants of Gua Mo’o hono exploited a diverse range of fauna from a variety of habitats around the site, there appears to have been a particular focus on suids, both the babirusa and the Sulawesi warty pig.