The Southern Route to Sahul: Modern Human Dispersal and Adaptation in the Pleistocene

Abstract

In this chapter we examine the evidence for modern human dispersal, early settlement and later adaptations to the southern islands of the Wallacean Archipelago. We discuss the features that distinguish modern human occupation in southern Wallacea during the Pleistocene from those in the northern islands. In this context we examine the location of sites in the landscape, as well as technology and subsistence across this maritime realm between 50,000 and 20,000 years ago. We then look at the changes that occurred in the terminal Pleistocene after ~20,000 years ago. Such changes include an increase in marine resource use and occupation intensity more generally, as well as initial occupation of inland regions and very small islands. Accompanying these changes is the appearance of new maritime technology in the form of shell fishhooks and adzes. Perhaps most remarkable, is the onset of an obsidian exchange network connecting at least three of the southern islands from ~17,000 years ago. These changes coincide with new forms of artistic expression, in both personal ornamentation and rock art. Greater social connectivity during the terminal Pleistocene in the southern islands seems to have ushered in new symbolic concerns.