Paper short abstract:

Fortified structures abound in hilltop locations in the contemporary landscape of East Timor. Dating suggests construction from 1300AD. Archaeologists have linked fort-building with rapid climate change leading to resource scarcity and inter-group conflict. Anthropologists have suggested otherwise.

Paper long abstract:

The remains of fortified walled structures abound in remote hilltop locations in the contemporary landscape of East Timor. While few have so far been mapped, dated or otherwise investigated, preliminary radiocarbon dating suggests that they were constructed from about 1300 AD. Oral accounts indicate that walled villages continued to be constructed and used up until the middle of the twentieth century. Some archaeologists have linked the emergence of fortified settlements in Timor Leste post 1000 AD with a period of rapid climate change and environmental variation leading to resource scarcity and inter-group conflict. However anthropological investigations and historical accounts indicate that the trade in sandalwood from the island, in exchange for value goods such as iron and ceramics, may have led to inequalities in wealth and control and acted as a catalyst for fort-building. There is also evidence to suggest that the regional trade in slaves may have also played a role, at least in the 17th and 18th centuries. This paper describes a recent collaboration between archaeology and anthropology to document the nature and timing of cultural change in East Timor over the last 1000 years, through a detailed investigation of the fortifications. The results are tested against independent scientific data to establish whether climate change was in fact a catalyst for cultural change, or whether fortifications were the result of other social and economic factors.