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Early Metal Age interactions in Island Southeast Asia and Oceania: jar burials from Aru Manara, northern Moluccas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 August 2018

Rintaro Ono ,
Adhi Agus Oktaviana ,
Marlon Ririmasse ,
Masami Takenaka ,
Chiaki Katagiri  and
Minoru Yoneda
Rintaro Ono*
Affiliation:
Tokai University, School of Marine Science and Technology, Orido 3-20-1, Shimizu, Shizuoka 424-8610, Japan
Adhi Agus Oktaviana
Affiliation:
Pustat Penelitian Arkeologi Nasional Indonesia, Jalan Raya Condet Pejaten No.4, Pejaten Barat, Jakarta 12510, Indonesia
Marlon Ririmasse
Affiliation:
Balai Arkeologi Ambon, Jalan Namalatu-Latuhalat, Nusaniwe, Kodya Ambon 97118, Indonesia
Masami Takenaka
Affiliation:
Kagoshima Women’s College, Korai-cho 6-9, Kagoshima 890-8565, Japan
Chiaki Katagiri
Affiliation:
Okinawa Prefectural Archaeology Centre, Uehara 193-7, Nishihara-cho, Nakagami-gun 903-0125, Japan
Minoru Yoneda
Affiliation:
The University Museum, The University of Tokyo, Hongo 7-3-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
*
* Author for correspondence (Email: [email protected])
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Abstract

New evidence from the rockshelter site of Aru Manara, on the island of Morotai, in the northern Moluccas, East Indonesia, suggests an earlier than previously assumed date for extensive interactions between this area of Southeast Asia and the wider Pacific. Shared mortuary customs and associated ceramic grave goods, along with other practices such as megalithic traditions, appear to start in the Late Neolithic, but become more widespread and consolidated in the Early Metal Age. Excavations at Aru Manara show that the northern Moluccas may have figured prominently in the newly established network of interaction evidenced at this time, making it an important location in the spread and dispersal of people and culture throughout Island Southeast Asia and into Oceania.

Keywords

Moluccas IslandsIndonesiaNeolithicMetal Agetrade networkpottery
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 92 , Issue 364 , August 2018 , pp. 1023 - 1039
Copyright
© Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2018 

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