Paper short abstract:

Human subsistence strategies in Timor Leste have been shown to be heavily dependent on marine resources. Here we discuss the zooarchaeological assemblages from a new site in Alor Island, to the north of Timor Leste, which shows a similar reliance on marine foods during the late Pleistocene-early Holocene.

Paper long abstract:

Modern human colonizing the Wallacean Islands had to deal with an impoverished terrestrial fauna and thus appear to have adapted their subsistence strategies to the exploitation of a broad range of marine resources. Sites excavated in Timor Leste, such as Jerimalai or Lene Hara, have produced evidences of pelagic fishing from 42,000 BP and through the Holocene. Here we present the faunal assemblages documented in Alor, a neighboring island in Nusa Tenggara Timor. This site has yielded an archaeological sequence dating from the late Pleistocene through the LGM and the early-mid Holocene. Fish dominate the faunal composition in the whole sequence, but there are differences among layers and occupational phases, which could be related to changes in fishing technology, maritime skills or ecological changes in the offshore environment. Results from the analysis of Alor fauna will complement the data obtained from Timor Leste and allow us to produce a framework of human adaptations and changing fishing practices in the Wallacean Islands during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene periods.