Hawkins, Stuart, Zetika, Gabriella, Kinaston, Rebecca, Firmando, Yulio, Sari, Devi, Suniarti, Yuni, Lucas, Mary, Roberts, Patrick, Reepmeyer, Christian, Maloney, Tim, Kealy, Shimona, Stirling, Claudine, Reid, Michael, Barr, David, Kleffmann, Torsten, Kumar, Abhishek, Yuwono, Pratiwi, Litster, Mirani, Husni, Muhammad, Ririmasse, Marlon, Mahirta, -, Mujabuddawat, Muhammad, Harriyadi, -, and O'Connor, Susan (2024) Earliest known funerary rites in Wallacea after the last glacial maximum. Scientific Reports, 14. 282.

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Abstract

The insular region of Wallacea has become a focal point for studying Pleistocene human ecological and cultural adaptations in island environments, however, little is understood about early burial traditions during the Pleistocene. Here we investigate maritime interactions and burial practices at Ratu Mali 2, an elevated coastal cave site on the small island of Kisar in the Lesser Sunda Islands of eastern Indonesia dated to 15,500–3700 cal. BP. This multidisciplinary study demonstrates extreme marine dietary adaptations, engagement with an extensive exchange network across open seas, and early mortuary practices. A flexed male and a female, interred in a single grave with abundant shellfish and obsidian at Ratu Mali 2 by 14.7 ka are the oldest known human burials in Wallacea with established funerary rites. These findings highlight the impressive flexibility of our species in marginal environments and provide insight into the earliest known ritualised treatment of the dead in Wallacea.

Item ID:	81535
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	2045-2322
Keywords:	Wallacea; funerary
Copyright Information:	This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Funders:	Australian Research Council (ARC)
Projects and Grants:	ARC FL120100156, ARC DE200100133
Date Deposited:	08 Jan 2024 23:01
FoR Codes:	43 HISTORY, HERITAGE AND ARCHAEOLOGY > 4301 Archaeology > 430102 Archaeology of Asia, Africa and the Americas @ 100%
SEO Codes:	13 CULTURE AND SOCIETY > 1307 Understanding past societies > 130702 Understanding Asia’s past @ 100%
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