Shell fishhooks, shell tools and maritime adaptation in West Wallacea: New evidences from Selayar Island, Indonesia

Abstract

Wallacea was an important region for maritime adaptation by Homo sapiens during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene. Evidence for maritime adaptation includes intensive use of shell tools and ornaments. Such evidence has been common in South and East Wallacea but scarce in North and West Wallacea. Here we report the first evidence for extensive use of shell tools and marine resources from a karstic cave site on Selayar Island in West Wallacea. The new evidence includes shell serrated points, scrapers, and fishhooks. Shell fishhooks are known from the Late Pleistocene in South and East Wallacea and the Ryukyu Islands of Japan. In Wallacea, the development and dispersal of such shell hooks and other shell tools occurred during the Terminal Pleistocene and Early Holocene, but is limited in South and East Wallacea to the islands of Timor, Alor and Kisar. Two hypotheses can be proposed to explain the absence of fishhooks in North and West Wallacea; (1) technological or cultural differences, or (2) environmental factors such as island size and the abundance of terrestrial resources. The serrated point is a representative cultural artifact from South Sulawesi, which are usually made of stone. The shell serrated point and fish hooks in Selayar provide significant insights into Early Holocene modern human activities on a small remote island between the large islands of Sulawesi and Flores, and demonstrate a high level of adaptation to the maritime environment. The technological analysis of the artifacts suggests advanced tool-making techniques, emphasizing the critical role of marine resources in the daily lives of the prehistoric inhabitants in Selayar, an island with limited terrestrial resources, supporting hypothesis (2). We also discuss modern human maritime and island adaptation in Maritime Asia during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene from this comparative perspective.

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