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Shell valuable exchange in the New Guinea Highlands has been a key interest in anthropology, providing insight into economics, aesthetics, and social stratification among banded communities. This article describes how shell exchange at ethnographic present reflects deeper historical processes. We trace the origins and subsequent changes in shell use from the terminal Pleistocene to the Late Holocene at the site of Kiowa in Chimbu Province, Papua New Guinea. Zooarchaeological and technological analyses of Kiowa's shell artifacts indicates riverine mussel was procured locally from the terminal Pleistocene (9,500-10,000 years ago) and featured as a minor component in the diet into the recent precolonial period. In contrast, evidence for marine shell valuables only appears in the Late Holocene in the form of Trochus armbands and Tegillarca granosa and Polymesoda cf. erosa multifunctional tools. This challenges ideas that associate the gradual dispersal of marine shell into the highlands with the spread of agriculture around the Wahgi Valley at the start of the Holocene and supports punctuated pulses of coastal contact. In doing so, we formulate a testable model for the development of shell exchange into the highlands, with implications for the emergence of stratification and the conduits between the interior and coast. [shell valuables, trade and exchange, coastal contact, stratification, New Guinea Highlands].

This paper presents a reassessment of the archaeological record at Leang Burung 2, a key early human occupation site in the Late Pleistocene of Southeast Asia. Excavated originally by Ian Glover in 1975, this limestone rock-shelter in the Maros karsts of Sulawesi, Indonesia, has long held significance in our understanding of early human dispersals into 'Wallacea', the vast zone of oceanic islands between continental Asia and Australia. We present new stratigraphic information and dating evidence from Leang Burung 2 collected during the course of our excavations at this site in 2007 and 2011-13. Our findings suggest that the classic Late Pleistocene modern human occupation sequence identified previously at Leang Burung 2, and proposed to span around 31,000 to 19,000 conventional 14C years BP (~35-24 ka cal BP), may actually represent an amalgam of reworked archaeological materials. Sources for cultural materials of mixed ages comprise breccias from the rear wall of the rock-shelter-remnants of older, eroded deposits dated to 35-23 ka cal BP-and cultural remains of early Holocene antiquity. Below the upper levels affected by the mass loss of Late Pleistocene deposits, our deep-trench excavations uncovered evidence for an earlier hominin presence at the site. These findings include fossils of now-extinct proboscideans and other 'megafauna' in stratified context, as well as a cobble-based stone artifact technology comparable to that produced by late Middle Pleistocene hominins elsewhere on Sulawesi.

This paper presents a reassessment of the archaeological record at Leang Burung 2, a key early human occupation site in the Late Pleistocene of Southeast Asia. Excavated originally by Ian Glover in 1975, this limestone rock-shelter in the Maros karsts of Sulawesi, Indonesia, has long held significance in our understanding of early human dispersals into 'Wallacea', the vast zone of oceanic islands between continental Asia and Australia. We present new stratigraphic information and dating evidence from Leang Burung 2 collected during the course of our excavations at this site in 2007 and 2011-13. Our findings suggest that the classic Late Pleistocene modern human occupation sequence identified previously at Leang Burung 2, and proposed to span around 31,000 to 19,000 conventional 14C years BP (~35-24 ka cal BP), may actually represent an amalgam of reworked archaeological materials. Sources for cultural materials of mixed ages comprise breccias from the rear wall of the rock-shelter-remnants of older, eroded deposits dated to 35-23 ka cal BP-and cultural remains of early Holocene antiquity. Below the upper levels affected by the mass loss of Late Pleistocene deposits, our deep-trench excavations uncovered evidence for an earlier hominin presence at the site. These findings include fossils of now-extinct proboscideans and other 'megafauna' in stratified context, as well as a cobble-based stone artifact technology comparable to that produced by late Middle Pleistocene hominins elsewhere on Sulawesi.

This paper presents a reassessment of the archaeological record at Leang Burung 2, a key early human occupation site in the Late Pleistocene of Southeast Asia. Excavated originally by Ian Glover in 1975, this limestone rock-shelter in the Maros karsts of Sulawesi, Indonesia, has long held significance in our understanding of early human dispersals into 'Wallacea', the vast zone of oceanic islands between continental Asia and Australia. We present new stratigraphic information and dating evidence from Leang Burung 2 collected during the course of our excavations at this site in 2007 and 2011-13. Our findings suggest that the classic Late Pleistocene modern human occupation sequence identified previously at Leang Burung 2, and proposed to span around 31,000 to 19,000 conventional 14C years BP (~35-24 ka cal BP), may actually represent an amalgam of reworked archaeological materials. Sources for cultural materials of mixed ages comprise breccias from the rear wall of the rock-shelter-remnants of older, eroded deposits dated to 35-23 ka cal BP-and cultural remains of early Holocene antiquity. Below the upper levels affected by the mass loss of Late Pleistocene deposits, our deep-trench excavations uncovered evidence for an earlier hominin presence at the site. These findings include fossils of now-extinct proboscideans and other 'megafauna' in stratified context, as well as a cobble-based stone artifact technology comparable to that produced by late Middle Pleistocene hominins elsewhere on Sulawesi.

Shell middens are particularly susceptible to post-depositional processes that can rework and redistribute material through a deposit. As archaeological material is moved from its original primary context, the assumption that a temporal connection exists with spatially associated material becomes tenuous. It therefore becomes critical to identify displaced archaeological material within a deposit to ensure correct chronologies are being built. Radiometric dating techniques can identify individual displaced materials, but are sometimes prohibitively costly to utilise on a large scale. This study presents a new application of amino acid racemisation (AAR) dating that identifies stratigraphically displaced midden shell from within a deposit from the northwest Kimberley, Western Australia. Low-cost AAR analysis of 72 samples identified a sample of downwardly-displaced midden shell. Upon close inspection, comparison of AAR and AMS radiocarbon determinations identified fine-grained inconsistencies. Possible processes generating these discrepancies are considered with future avenues for research presented. While an enormous amount of potential is contained within AAR, more work is required to bring the method to the same level of precision as other commonly utilised dating techniques in archaeological research.

Shell middens are particularly susceptible to post-depositional processes that can rework and redistribute material through a deposit. As archaeological material is moved from its original primary context, the assumption that a temporal connection exists with spatially associated material becomes tenuous. It therefore becomes critical to identify displaced archaeological material within a deposit to ensure correct chronologies are being built. Radiometric dating techniques can identify individual displaced materials, but are sometimes prohibitively costly to utilise on a large scale. This study presents a new application of amino acid racemisation (AAR) dating that identifies stratigraphically displaced midden shell from within a deposit from the northwest Kimberley, Western Australia. Low-cost AAR analysis of 72 samples identified a sample of downwardly-displaced midden shell. Upon close inspection, comparison of AAR and AMS radiocarbon determinations identified fine-grained inconsistencies. Possible processes generating these discrepancies are considered with future avenues for research presented. While an enormous amount of potential is contained within AAR, more work is required to bring the method to the same level of precision as other commonly utilised dating techniques in archaeological research.

Shell middens are refuse deposits composed solely or primarily of molluscan shells. Although they are most frequently thought of as comprising the refuse of ancient human meals, shell waste piles can also be accumulated through other cultural behaviors such as building and industrial activities. The recognition of shell middens in the landscape is not always a simple matter. Some nonhuman animals (e.g., crabs, octopuses, and muskrats) create shell middens. Additionally, a range of natural coastal and landscape processes can generate piles of molluscan shell prompting debates as to their origin.

Three freshwater mussel shell tools recovered from the Lake Mungo lunette, in semi-arid south-eastern Australia with bracketing age estimates of 40-30 ka, and a possible fourth tool with bracketing age estimates of 50-40 ka, are described. An experimental approach, combined with detailed structural and taphonomic analysis of the shell establishes the presence of both deliberate cultural modification and wear traces from use on the mussel fragments. The characterization of Australian Pleistocene stone artefacts as being simple and unchanging is steadily being challenged through recent studies of Pleistocene assemblages from Lake Mungo and elsewhere, and these early shell tools reinforce the multidimensionality of ancient Australian technologies.

Shanidar Cave contains one of the most important Palaeolithic archaeological sequences in West Asia. During renewed excavations of Baradostian (Upper Palaeolithic) layers in the cave, an incised land-snail shell fragment was recovered. A natural cause seems unlikely and it does not appear likely to reflect palaeoeconomic functions. It is suggested tentatively that this may have been made during manufacture of a composite artefact designed for visual display. Although Upper Palaeolithic ornaments are often reported, composite ornaments of this period are rather unusual.

Shell middens are refuse deposits composed solely or primarily of molluscan shells. Although they are most frequently thought of as comprising the refuse of ancient human meals, shell waste piles can also be accumulated through other cultural behaviors such as building and industrial activities. The recognition of shell middens in the landscape is not always a simple matter. Some nonhuman animals (e.g., crabs, octopuses, and muskrats) create shell middens. Additionally, a range of natural coastal and landscape processes can generate piles of molluscan shell prompting debates as to their origin.

Three freshwater mussel shell tools recovered from the Lake Mungo lunette, in semi-arid south-eastern Australia with bracketing age estimates of 40-30 ka, and a possible fourth tool with bracketing age estimates of 50-40 ka, are described. An experimental approach, combined with detailed structural and taphonomic analysis of the shell establishes the presence of both deliberate cultural modification and wear traces from use on the mussel fragments. The characterization of Australian Pleistocene stone artefacts as being simple and unchanging is steadily being challenged through recent studies of Pleistocene assemblages from Lake Mungo and elsewhere, and these early shell tools reinforce the multidimensionality of ancient Australian technologies.

Shell middens are refuse deposits composed solely or primarily of molluscan shells. Although they are most frequently thought of as comprising the refuse of ancient human meals, shell waste piles can also be accumulated through other cultural behaviors such as building and industrial activities. The recognition of shell middens in the landscape is not always a simple matter. Some nonhuman animals (e.g., crabs, octopuses, and muskrats) create shell middens. Additionally, a range of natural coastal and landscape processes can generate piles of molluscan shell prompting debates as to their origin.

Shanidar Cave contains one of the most important Palaeolithic archaeological sequences in West Asia. During renewed excavations of Baradostian (Upper Palaeolithic) layers in the cave, an incised land-snail shell fragment was recovered. A natural cause seems unlikely and it does not appear likely to reflect palaeoeconomic functions. It is suggested tentatively that this may have been made during manufacture of a composite artefact designed for visual display. Although Upper Palaeolithic ornaments are often reported, composite ornaments of this period are rather unusual.

Three freshwater mussel shell tools recovered from the Lake Mungo lunette, in semi-arid south-eastern Australia with bracketing age estimates of 40-30 ka, and a possible fourth tool with bracketing age estimates of 50-40 ka, are described. An experimental approach, combined with detailed structural and taphonomic analysis of the shell establishes the presence of both deliberate cultural modification and wear traces from use on the mussel fragments. The characterization of Australian Pleistocene stone artefacts as being simple and unchanging is steadily being challenged through recent studies of Pleistocene assemblages from Lake Mungo and elsewhere, and these early shell tools reinforce the multidimensionality of ancient Australian technologies.

Shell middens are particularly susceptible to post-depositional processes that can rework and redistribute material through a deposit. As archaeological material is moved from its original primary context, the assumption that a temporal connection exists with spatially associated material becomes tenuous. It therefore becomes critical to identify displaced archaeological material within a deposit to ensure correct chronologies are being built. Radiometric dating techniques can identify individual displaced materials, but are sometimes prohibitively costly to utilise on a large scale. This study presents a new application of amino acid racemisation (AAR) dating that identifies stratigraphically displaced midden shell from within a deposit from the northwest Kimberley, Western Australia. Low-cost AAR analysis of 72 samples identified a sample of downwardly-displaced midden shell. Upon close inspection, comparison of AAR and AMS radiocarbon determinations identified fine-grained inconsistencies. Possible processes generating these discrepancies are considered with future avenues for research presented. While an enormous amount of potential is contained within AAR, more work is required to bring the method to the same level of precision as other commonly utilised dating techniques in archaeological research.

The main fieldwork of the NCP concentrated on the West Mouth, but we also carried out small-scale archaeological investigations in three other entrances of the Great Cave complex in the Bukit Bekejang massif where the Harrissons had worked: Lobang Hangus (or Lobang Angus as they referred to it in the earlier publications), Lobang Tulang, and Gan Kira, and in the north-facing entrance to Kain Hitam, the so-called ‘Painted Cave’ located a few hundred metres northeast of Gan Kira (Fig. 1.1). An account of the work undertaken at these sites by the earlier archaeological projects was provided in Volume One (in Chapter 2 especially), so where relevant only an overview of this is included in the following discussion of the work undertaken by the NCP, unless the discussion of the Harrisson findings provides a critical context for the interpretations of our own findings.

Molluscan remains were the most ubiquitous class of material recovered from the Harrissons' excavations. Present at all levels, although increasing in density through time, the Niah shell provides insights into not only aspects of subsistence but also the changing character of local waterways through times of climatic upheaval.

The main fieldwork of the NCP concentrated on the West Mouth, but we also carried out small-scale archaeological investigations in three other entrances of the Great Cave complex in the Bukit Bekejang massif where the Harrissons worked: Lobang Hangus (or Lobang Angus as they referrerd to it in the earlier publications), Lobang Tulanf, and Gan Kira, and in the north-facing entrance to Kain Hitam, the so-called 'Painted Cave' located a few hundred metres north-east of Gan Kira.

Artefacts produced in molluscan shell are a conspicuous feature of both the ethnographic and archaeological records of the Asia-Pacific region. There is definite evidence for shell tool production and shell ornament use by modern humans from c 40,000-30,000 years ago in Indonesia and Australia.

Molluscan remains were the most ubiquitous class of material recovered from the Harrissons' excavations. Present at all levels, although increasing in density through time, the Niah shell provides insights into not only aspects of subsistence but also the changing character of local waterways through times of climatic upheaval.

Artefacts produced in molluscan shell are a conspicuous feature of both the ethnographic and archaeological records of the Asia-Pacific region. There is definite evidence for shell tool production and shell ornament use by modern humans from c 40,000-30,000 years ago in Indonesia and Australia.

The main fieldwork of the NCP concentrated on the West Mouth, but we also carried out small-scale archaeological investigations in three other entrances of the Great Cave complex in the Bukit Bekejang massif where the Harrissons worked: Lobang Hangus (or Lobang Angus as they referrerd to it in the earlier publications), Lobang Tulanf, and Gan Kira, and in the north-facing entrance to Kain Hitam, the so-called 'Painted Cave' located a few hundred metres north-east of Gan Kira.

The main fieldwork of the NCP concentrated on the West Mouth, but we also carried out small-scale archaeological investigations in three other entrances of the Great Cave complex in the Bukit Bekejang massif where the Harrissons worked: Lobang Hangus (or Lobang Angus as they referrerd to it in the earlier publications), Lobang Tulanf, and Gan Kira, and in the north-facing entrance to Kain Hitam, the so-called 'Painted Cave' located a few hundred metres north-east of Gan Kira.

Artefacts produced in molluscan shell are a conspicuous feature of both the ethnographic and archaeological records of the Asia-Pacific region. There is definite evidence for shell tool production and shell ornament use by modern humans from c 40,000-30,000 years ago in Indonesia and Australia.

Molluscan remains were the most ubiquitous class of material recovered from the Harrissons' excavations. Present at all levels, although increasing in density through time, the Niah shell provides insights into not only aspects of subsistence but also the changing character of local waterways through times of climatic upheaval.

Time-averaging is a process that affects almost every form of archaeological deposit. The conflation of two or more units from different time periods masks the true temporal span of units which is hidden by post-depositional processes. The implications of this are obvious as archaeological material found in close stratigraphic association may differ in age by hundreds or thousands of years. Some sites have a greater tendency towards the effects of time-averaging, with shell middens being one of the more susceptible. Conventional approaches to midden excavation or analysis, however, do little to tackle the issue of time-averaging. Using amino acid racemisation (AAR), an intensive relative dating programme was undertaken on shell midden excavated from a potentially time-averaged midden deposit. This approach revealed temporally distinct units that had been conflated into one deposit resulting in shell specimens temporally separated by up to 6000 years being found in close stratigraphic association. The application of AAR allowed us to define the temporal parameters of the various comingled deposits, and in doing so isolate temporal units which showed very different depositional patterns. These contrasting units imply different depositional behaviours and in turn changes in site use through time. This new application of AAR offers a way to approach shell midden archaeology to expose instances and repercussions of time-averaging that were previously hidden.

A small marine pearl was recovered at the Brremangurey rockshelter, on the Kimberley coast, from layers dating to approximately 2000 years ago. In an area famous for its pearls and history of cultured pearl production, public interest centred on whether the pearl was as old as the layer in which it was contained, or whether it was a recent cultured pearl that had infiltrated down from above. The near-spherical shape of the pearl hinted at a possible cultured origin. Owing to the uniqueness and historic cultural significance of this find, non-invasive analytical techniques were used to investigate whether the Brremangurey pearl was cultured or natural. Midden analysis was further used to assess the likely origin of the pearl within the stratified deposits. Analysis confirmed that the pearl is of natural origin and a dense midden lens of Pinctada albina shells is its likely origin.

Pleistocene tools manufactured in shell are rarely identified. This may in part be due to the complexity of shell as a raw material and associated challenges in recognising and interpreting shell modification. A series of unusually-shaped Scutellastra flexuosa limpets from c. 30,000 year old deposits in Golo Cave, eastern Indonesia were identified as putatively modified during midden analysis. A pilot programme of investigations into the microstructure and natural fracture patterns of this species, coupled with a series of use-wear experiments, demonstrates that some S. flexuosa shells were used as scrapers. The shells were used in unmodified form and were 'repurposed' after having been gathered for subsistence purposes. Taken together with other forms of early shell-working already reported for Golo Cave, the identification of these new unmodified shell tools expands the corpus of shell tool use at the site and presents a picture of diversity and complexity not seen in the associated lithic assemblage.

Time-averaging is a process that affects almost every form of archaeological deposit. The conflation of two or more units from different time periods masks the true temporal span of units which is hidden by post-depositional processes. The implications of this are obvious as archaeological material found in close stratigraphic association may differ in age by hundreds or thousands of years. Some sites have a greater tendency towards the effects of time-averaging, with shell middens being one of the more susceptible. Conventional approaches to midden excavation or analysis, however, do little to tackle the issue of time-averaging. Using amino acid racemisation (AAR), an intensive relative dating programme was undertaken on shell midden excavated from a potentially time-averaged midden deposit. This approach revealed temporally distinct units that had been conflated into one deposit resulting in shell specimens temporally separated by up to 6000 years being found in close stratigraphic association. The application of AAR allowed us to define the temporal parameters of the various comingled deposits, and in doing so isolate temporal units which showed very different depositional patterns. These contrasting units imply different depositional behaviours and in turn changes in site use through time. This new application of AAR offers a way to approach shell midden archaeology to expose instances and repercussions of time-averaging that were previously hidden.

A small marine pearl was recovered at the Brremangurey rockshelter, on the Kimberley coast, from layers dating to approximately 2000 years ago. In an area famous for its pearls and history of cultured pearl production, public interest centred on whether the pearl was as old as the layer in which it was contained, or whether it was a recent cultured pearl that had infiltrated down from above. The near-spherical shape of the pearl hinted at a possible cultured origin. Owing to the uniqueness and historic cultural significance of this find, non-invasive analytical techniques were used to investigate whether the Brremangurey pearl was cultured or natural. Midden analysis was further used to assess the likely origin of the pearl within the stratified deposits. Analysis confirmed that the pearl is of natural origin and a dense midden lens of Pinctada albina shells is its likely origin.

Pleistocene tools manufactured in shell are rarely identified. This may in part be due to the complexity of shell as a raw material and associated challenges in recognising and interpreting shell modification. A series of unusually-shaped Scutellastra flexuosa limpets from c. 30,000 year old deposits in Golo Cave, eastern Indonesia were identified as putatively modified during midden analysis. A pilot programme of investigations into the microstructure and natural fracture patterns of this species, coupled with a series of use-wear experiments, demonstrates that some S. flexuosa shells were used as scrapers. The shells were used in unmodified form and were 'repurposed' after having been gathered for subsistence purposes. Taken together with other forms of early shell-working already reported for Golo Cave, the identification of these new unmodified shell tools expands the corpus of shell tool use at the site and presents a picture of diversity and complexity not seen in the associated lithic assemblage.

Time-averaging is a process that affects almost every form of archaeological deposit. The conflation of two or more units from different time periods masks the true temporal span of units which is hidden by post-depositional processes. The implications of this are obvious as archaeological material found in close stratigraphic association may differ in age by hundreds or thousands of years. Some sites have a greater tendency towards the effects of time-averaging, with shell middens being one of the more susceptible. Conventional approaches to midden excavation or analysis, however, do little to tackle the issue of time-averaging. Using amino acid racemisation (AAR), an intensive relative dating programme was undertaken on shell midden excavated from a potentially time-averaged midden deposit. This approach revealed temporally distinct units that had been conflated into one deposit resulting in shell specimens temporally separated by up to 6000 years being found in close stratigraphic association. The application of AAR allowed us to define the temporal parameters of the various comingled deposits, and in doing so isolate temporal units which showed very different depositional patterns. These contrasting units imply different depositional behaviours and in turn changes in site use through time. This new application of AAR offers a way to approach shell midden archaeology to expose instances and repercussions of time-averaging that were previously hidden.

A small marine pearl was recovered at the Brremangurey rockshelter, on the Kimberley coast, from layers dating to approximately 2000 years ago. In an area famous for its pearls and history of cultured pearl production, public interest centred on whether the pearl was as old as the layer in which it was contained, or whether it was a recent cultured pearl that had infiltrated down from above. The near-spherical shape of the pearl hinted at a possible cultured origin. Owing to the uniqueness and historic cultural significance of this find, non-invasive analytical techniques were used to investigate whether the Brremangurey pearl was cultured or natural. Midden analysis was further used to assess the likely origin of the pearl within the stratified deposits. Analysis confirmed that the pearl is of natural origin and a dense midden lens of Pinctada albina shells is its likely origin.

Pleistocene tools manufactured in shell are rarely identified. This may in part be due to the complexity of shell as a raw material and associated challenges in recognising and interpreting shell modification. A series of unusually-shaped Scutellastra flexuosa limpets from c. 30,000 year old deposits in Golo Cave, eastern Indonesia were identified as putatively modified during midden analysis. A pilot programme of investigations into the microstructure and natural fracture patterns of this species, coupled with a series of use-wear experiments, demonstrates that some S. flexuosa shells were used as scrapers. The shells were used in unmodified form and were 'repurposed' after having been gathered for subsistence purposes. Taken together with other forms of early shell-working already reported for Golo Cave, the identification of these new unmodified shell tools expands the corpus of shell tool use at the site and presents a picture of diversity and complexity not seen in the associated lithic assemblage.

This chapter discusses the character of human activity at Niah after the transition to the Holocene, the modern climate era. The beginning of the Holocene was marked by an abrupt warming in the palaeotemperature records of the Greenland ice cap at 11,700 BP (Rasmussen et al. 2006; as in the case of Chapter 5, this is rounded here to 11,500 Br), and the end of the major climate swings which had marked the terminal stages of the Pleistocene (Rasmussen et al. 2008; Svensson et al. 2006). The geography of Southeast Asia had changed markedly in the millennia leading up to the Holocene, as the vast exposed plains of the Pleistocene Sundaland continent were progressively inundated by rising sea levels (Sathiamurthy & Voris 2006). The process continued but with complex and localized dynamics into the Holocene, relative sea levels in some parts of Southeast Asia reaching and briefly surpassing modern values by 3-5 m between about 6000 BP and 4500 BP before gradually stabilizing (Bird et al. 2006; 2010; Hanebuth et al. 2000; Horton et al. 2005; Tanabe et al. 2006; Tjia 1996; Fig. 6.1). The Mid Holocene high sea stand is taken as the approximate boundary between this chapter and the next, though it is not easily visible at Niah.

In the first chapter of this book we set out the three principal research questions about the prehistory of Island Southeast Asia that provided the intellectual framework for the Niah Caves Project as it was formulated in the late 1990s: when did Homo sapiens first come to the region? how did our species adapt to living in the tropical environments that they encountered here? and how did farming begin in the region? As the intervening chapters have described, the new fieldwork by the Niah Caves Project, and our studies of the materials from these excavations and from the excavations by Tom and Barbara Harrisson in the 1950s and 1960s, have provided rich data with which to address these questions. At the same time, other questions also emerged as important as part of the process of organic growth that characterizes many complex archaeological projects: in part as new people joined the team bringing new interests and questions; in part as the fieldwork and archive studies threw up unexpected discoveries; in part as the wider research framework in which the project was situated developed. The purpose of this chapter is to summarize our principal findings relating both to our original questions and to those that developed during the course of the project, and to reflect on their wider ramifications for the long-term history of people and rainforest in Island Southeast Asia (Fig. 9.1).

The purpose of this chapter is to summarize the history of archaeological excavation in the Niah Caves between 1954, the first season of the Harrisson excavations, and 2004, the final season of the NCP excavations, and of the studies undertaken by the latter project on the materials from both sets of excavations, to provide the context for the following chapters integrating the results of these investigations. In 2000, when we embarked on the project, we were faced with a series of large voids, most notably in the West Mouth of the Great Cave but also in many of the other entrances investigated by the Harrissons. To exploit the potential of the hugely rich Harrisson Excavation Archive in order to address the research questions discussed in the previous chapter, we had to try to reconstruct what had once been in those voids and to tie that information to the stratigraphic sequences that we were able to establish from our own studies of the surviving archaeological sections.

loped in Africa and then spread across the globe, or whether they had also developed outside Africa from antecedent hominin populations such as Homo erectus (Brauer 1992; Trinkaus 2005). Questions about modern human adaptation and ecology were also significant given the debates about whether the rainforest was a limiting factor in the spread of humans and whether adaptation to it has only been a very recent, probably Holocene, event (Bailey & Headland 1991; Bailey et al. 1989; Brosius 1991; Colinvaux & Bush 1991; Endicott & Bellwood 1991; Townsend 1991 NOT IN REFS 1990?; and see Chapter 1). We begin by summarizing what was known about human presence in the region before our fieldwork and the impact on the research agenda of new discoveries during it; and then consider the evidence collected by the project and how it contributes to this agenda.

This chapter discusses the character of human activity at Niah after the transition to the Holocene, the modern climate era. The beginning of the Holocene was marked by an abrupt warming in the palaeotemperature records of the Greenland ice cap at 11,700 BP (Rasmussen et al. 2006; as in the case of Chapter 5, this is rounded here to 11,500 Br), and the end of the major climate swings which had marked the terminal stages of the Pleistocene (Rasmussen et al. 2008; Svensson et al. 2006). The geography of Southeast Asia had changed markedly in the millennia leading up to the Holocene, as the vast exposed plains of the Pleistocene Sundaland continent were progressively inundated by rising sea levels (Sathiamurthy & Voris 2006). The process continued but with complex and localized dynamics into the Holocene, relative sea levels in some parts of Southeast Asia reaching and briefly surpassing modern values by 3-5 m between about 6000 BP and 4500 BP before gradually stabilizing (Bird et al. 2006; 2010; Hanebuth et al. 2000; Horton et al. 2005; Tanabe et al. 2006; Tjia 1996; Fig. 6.1). The Mid Holocene high sea stand is taken as the approximate boundary between this chapter and the next, though it is not easily visible at Niah.

In the first chapter of this book we set out the three principal research questions about the prehistory of Island Southeast Asia that provided the intellectual framework for the Niah Caves Project as it was formulated in the late 1990s: when did Homo sapiens first come to the region? how did our species adapt to living in the tropical environments that they encountered here? and how did farming begin in the region? As the intervening chapters have described, the new fieldwork by the Niah Caves Project, and our studies of the materials from these excavations and from the excavations by Tom and Barbara Harrisson in the 1950s and 1960s, have provided rich data with which to address these questions. At the same time, other questions also emerged as important as part of the process of organic growth that characterizes many complex archaeological projects: in part as new people joined the team bringing new interests and questions; in part as the fieldwork and archive studies threw up unexpected discoveries; in part as the wider research framework in which the project was situated developed. The purpose of this chapter is to summarize our principal findings relating both to our original questions and to those that developed during the course of the project, and to reflect on their wider ramifications for the long-term history of people and rainforest in Island Southeast Asia (Fig. 9.1).

This chapter describes the evidence for the antiquity and character of initial human occupation at Niah. The chronological boundaries of the chapter are set by, on the one hand, the approximate age of the first main lithofacies in the West Mouth that was associated with human activity (Lithofacies 2, and that part of Lithofacies 2C interdigitated with it, as described in the previous chapter) and, on the other hand, the likely age of the mudflow (Lithofacies 3) that overwhelmed these earlier sediments.

This chapter describes the evidence for the antiquity and character of initial human occupation at Niah. The chronological boundaries of the chapter are set by, on the one hand, the approximate age of the first main lithofacies in the West Mouth that was associated with human activity (Lithofacies 2, and that part of Lithofacies 2C interdigitated with it, as described in the previous chapter) and, on the other hand, the likely age of the mudflow (Lithofacies 3) that overwhelmed these earlier sediments.

This chapter discusses the character of human activity at Niah after the transition to the Holocene, the modern climate era. The beginning of the Holocene was marked by an abrupt warming in the palaeotemperature records of the Greenland ice cap at 11,700 BP (Rasmussen et al. 2006; as in the case of Chapter 5, this is rounded here to 11,500 Br), and the end of the major climate swings which had marked the terminal stages of the Pleistocene (Rasmussen et al. 2008; Svensson et al. 2006). The geography of Southeast Asia had changed markedly in the millennia leading up to the Holocene, as the vast exposed plains of the Pleistocene Sundaland continent were progressively inundated by rising sea levels (Sathiamurthy & Voris 2006). The process continued but with complex and localized dynamics into the Holocene, relative sea levels in some parts of Southeast Asia reaching and briefly surpassing modern values by 3-5 m between about 6000 BP and 4500 BP before gradually stabilizing (Bird et al. 2006; 2010; Hanebuth et al. 2000; Horton et al. 2005; Tanabe et al. 2006; Tjia 1996; Fig. 6.1). The Mid Holocene high sea stand is taken as the approximate boundary between this chapter and the next, though it is not easily visible at Niah.

Despite the evidence of the Gan Kira pollen core for sustained human activity in the forest around the Niah Caves from c. 6000 BP (Fig. 6.7), the caves themselves do not appear to have been used at that time. The earliest evidence for the resumption of activity is a radiocarbon date obtained from loose charcoal collected during the excavation of an extended burial (B50) in the West Mouth of the Great Cave, of 3285±168 bp or 3078-3963 cal. BP (AA-27957) (Krigbaum 2001). Targeted radiocarbon dating of charcoal in the Harrisson Excavation Archive from excavated contexts in the West Mouth, interpreted as possible candidates for the beginning, middle and end of the long gap between the Early Holocene occupation and the start of the Neolithic cemetery, failed to produce dates in this period, or even dates between 6000 BP and 4000 BP contemporary with the palynological evidence. After c. 3500 BP there is a consistent number of radiocarbon dates with narrow calibrated date ranges produced on charcoal samples from a number of caves in the Niah complex. The West Mouth again became a focus for human activity, in particular for the burial of the dead. Use of this space for human burial continued over the course of the next 1500 years, resulting in one of the largest prehistoric cemeteries in Island Southeast Asia. At the same time several other caves in the Gunung Subis massif investigated by the Harrissons, caves differing widely in size and character but used predominantly for burial, provide a further rich source of data (Fig. 7.1). The quality of this archaeology offers an opportunity unique in the region to investigate the nature of the funerary rituals practised through this 255 period and, through that lens, to make inferences about the nature and structure of the 'Neolithic' societies who buried their dead in the caves.

Formal shell artefacts are commonly reported from Holocene deposits around the world, and largely consist of recognizable ornament and tool types. The reporting of shell artefacts from Pleistocene sites is rarer and often controversial. I argue that a typologically-driven culture-historical approach to reporting is obscuring our ability to recognize, describe and interpret early shell-working. In addition, our lack of understanding of the properties of shell as a raw material is resulting in the application of intuitive methodologies, sometimes underpinned by faulty assumptions. Speaking to a recent claim of shell tool use by Homo erectus in Indonesia, I conclude that, in order to move forward, we need to develop our understandings of the properties of different types of shell and develop a more inclusive analytical framework.

We report on previously unknown early archaeological sites in the Bolivian lowlands, demonstrating for the first time early and middle Holocene human presence in western Amazonia. Multidisciplinary research in forest islands situated in seasonally-inundated savannahs has revealed stratified shell middens produced by human foragers as early as 10,000 years ago, making them the oldest archaeological sites in the region. The absence of stone resources and partial burial by recent alluvial sediments has meant that these kinds of deposits have, until now, remained unidentified. We conducted core sampling, archaeological excavations and an interdisciplinary study of the stratigraphy and recovered materials from three shell midden mounds. Based on multiple lines of evidence, including radiocarbon dating, sedimentary proxies (elements, steroids and black carbon), micromorphology and faunal analysis, we demonstrate the anthropogenic origin and antiquity of these sites. In a tropical and geomorphologically active landscape often considered challenging both for early human occupation and for the preservation of hunter-gatherer sites, the newly discovered shell middens provide evidence for early to middle Holocene occupation and illustrate the potential for identifying and interpreting early open-air archaeological sites in western Amazonia. The existence of early hunter-gatherer sites in the Bolivian lowlands sheds new light on the region's past and offers a new context within which the late Holocene "Earthmovers" of the Llanos de Moxos could have emerged.

The term 'Metal Age', sometimes with locally-specific sub-divisions such as 'early', 'develop d' and 'protohistoric', is used in Island Southeast Asia a harthand for the p · riod from about 200 years g until the arrival of Europ ans. Tt \· as originally pr posed because of th· Ia k f clear chron logical sep<~ ration between the appearan e of iron and bronze in th region, compared with on the Asian Mainland (Bellwood 1999, 116; Fox 1970, 121-2; T. Harrisson 1970, 30; van Heekeren 1958, 1). Despite the fact that people at Niah may have been acquainted with metal from c. 2500 BP (Chapter 7, pp. 289-90), the term Metal Age remains a useful tag for a period beginning c. 2000 BP that is inherent! diverse, and often eclectic. Perhaps because of this diversit there have been remarkably few attempts at synthesi , scholars tending to focus on the technology and distribution of metal artefacts (e.g. Chia 2007; Soejeno 1980) or on dominant external cultural influences and their local manifestations (e.g. been able to undertake thus far. Hence we can only present here a preliminary assessment of the material and its implications for the nature of the 1etal Age in northwest Borneo, Anal !;is is complicated by the lack of an agreed Met

Midden shell was present at a number of the sites excavated in the Batanes during the course of this project. While sample sizes and states of preservation are highly variable, the variety in terms of site type, geographic location, and chronology allows for a summary overview of shellfish exploitation throughout the prehistoric sequence of the Batanes Islands. Drawing upon these variables, we will situate each assemblage within its spatio-temporal context and compare and contrast midden shell deriving from different islands, different geographic situations (e.g. sea caves, inland shelters, open sites) and different time periods.

Despite the evidence of the Gan Kira pollen core for sustained human activity in the forest around the Niah Caves from c. 6000 BP (Fig. 6.7), the caves themselves do not appear to have been used at that time. The earliest evidence for the resumption of activity is a radiocarbon date obtained from loose charcoal collected during the excavation of an extended burial (B50) in the West Mouth of the Great Cave, of 3285±168 bp or 3078-3963 cal. BP (AA-27957) (Krigbaum 2001). Targeted radiocarbon dating of charcoal in the Harrisson Excavation Archive from excavated contexts in the West Mouth, interpreted as possible candidates for the beginning, middle and end of the long gap between the Early Holocene occupation and the start of the Neolithic cemetery, failed to produce dates in this period, or even dates between 6000 BP and 4000 BP contemporary with the palynological evidence. After c. 3500 BP there is a consistent number of radiocarbon dates with narrow calibrated date ranges produced on charcoal samples from a number of caves in the Niah complex. The West Mouth again became a focus for human activity, in particular for the burial of the dead. Use of this space for human burial continued over the course of the next 1500 years, resulting in one of the largest prehistoric cemeteries in Island Southeast Asia. At the same time several other caves in the Gunung Subis massif investigated by the Harrissons, caves differing widely in size and character but used predominantly for burial, provide a further rich source of data (Fig. 7.1). The quality of this archaeology offers an opportunity unique in the region to investigate the nature of the funerary rituals practised through this 255 period and, through that lens, to make inferences about the nature and structure of the 'Neolithic' societies who buried their dead in the caves.

The purpose of this chapter is to summarize the history of archaeological excavation in the Niah Caves between 1954, the first season of the Harrisson excavations, and 2004, the final season of the NCP excavations, and of the studies undertaken by the latter project on the materials from both sets of excavations, to provide the context for the following chapters integrating the results of these investigations. In 2000, when we embarked on the project, we were faced with a series of large voids, most notably in the West Mouth of the Great Cave but also in many of the other entrances investigated by the Harrissons. To exploit the potential of the hugely rich Harrisson Excavation Archive in order to address the research questions discussed in the previous chapter, we had to try to reconstruct what had once been in those voids and to tie that information to the stratigraphic sequences that we were able to establish from our own studies of the surviving archaeological sections.