Holocene site occupancy in Sulawesi

Abstract

This contribution presents an analysis of the number of Sulawesi sites (summed probability) occupied per 500-year interval between 10,000 and 0 BP, based on radiometric dates. The number of occupied sites was low between 10,000 and 4500 BP, ranging between 1 to 4 per half-millennium. There were subsequent increases in the number of occupied sites per halfmillennium to 5–8 between 4500 and 2000 BP, 9–13 between 2000 and 1000 BP, and over 30 between 1000 and 0 BP. These figures would be consistent with a scenario of substantial population increases at around 4500, 2000 and 1000 BP. However, care should be exercised in making a literal interpretation of these figures. For instance, with respect to the 4500–2500 BP period, the number of closed sites was highest during 4500–3500 BP and the number of openair sites highest during 3500–2000 BP. Also, the large number of documented sites dating to the last millennium BP reflects a particular focus of Sulawesi archaeological research on sites related ethnohistorically to the Bugis and other major ethno-linguistic divisions in South Sulawesi.