Observations on the Northern Moluccan excavated animal bone and shell collections

Abstract

Due to their isolation, the Northern Moluccan islands today contain only a very impoverished and mainly marsupial indigenous Wallacean vertebrate fauna that includes the cuscuses Phalanger ornatus and Phalanger alexandriae (Flannery and Boeadi 1995), the sugar glider Petaurus breviceps (not found so far in any archaeological contexts in the Northern Moluccas), and the large placental rodent Rattus morotaiensis (Flannery 1995a). These species have been supplemented by several humanly mediated introductions of placental mammal species, such as Rattus exulans, R. tanezumi, Suncus marinus, Paradoxurus hermaphroditus, Cervis timorensis, plus pigs and dogs (Flannery et al. 1995). The 1990s excavations in the Moluccas produced several substantial vertebrate assemblages dating to the late Pleistocene and Holocene. The initial report on the assemblage from Gua Siti Nafisah on Halmahera was published in 1995 (Flannery et al. 1995), in which an extinct wallaby (Dorcopsis sp.) and a bandicoot related to the Echymipera/Rhynchomeles group found in the Holocene deposits of that cave were described as 'quite unexpected', and reported as occurring with the extant Moluccan cuscus species Phalanger ornatus. The opinion was expressed that the two extinct marsupial species were probably 'indigenous elements in the fauna'. The succeeding report (Flannery et al. 1998) announced the further discovery of wallaby bones in Golo Cave and Wetef rockshelter on Gebe, and of Rattus morotaiensis on Morotai. This second report established that the wallaby was not found on Kayoa or Morotai (hence, so far only on Halmahera and Gebe), and that the bandicoot was only found in Gua Siti Nafisah on Halmahera. Further, the main author, Tim Flannery, suggested on the basis of his dental comparisons that the Halmahera and Gebe wallaby species was sufficiently close in its dentition to an extant indigenous wallaby species (Dorcopsis muelleri mysoliae) on Misool Island, southwest of the Bird's Head of Papua, to represent a deliberate human translocation, possibly from there. The absence of this taxon from the modern Northern Moluccan fauna and its apparently abrupt Early Holocene appearance in the archaeological record of Gebe Island thus raised important questions about the origin of this species, the potential timing of its introduction to Gebe, and the reasons for its eventual extinction.

Early ground axe technology in Wallacea: The first excavations on Obi Island

“…Cuscus are the dominant terrestrial fauna throughout the Kelo sequences, with cuscus also dominating at other Holocene sites in North Maluku including Tanjung Pinang on Morotai, Siti Nafisah on Halmahera, and Uattamadi on Kayoa ( Fig 1A ) [ 43 ]. Ethnographic information from Seram, immediately to the south of Obi, indicates that cuscus are the main wild terrestrial protein source, favoured for their ease of capture and their distinctive flavour [ 44 ].…”

Two new species of Halmaheramys (Murinae: Rattini) from archaeological deposits on Morotai Island, North Moluccas, Indonesia

“…The archaeological context of the remains was described by Bellwood et al (1993Bellwood et al ( , 1998Bellwood et al ( , 2019 and Flannery et al (1998). All of the material is of terminal Pleistocene to Holocene age, the bulk probably dating to within the last 6000 years or so (Bellwood, 2019;Hull et al, 2019). Molar cusp names and other anatomical terminology are used according to the conventions established especially by Guy Musser in numerous publications (e.g., Musser, 1981Musser, , 1991Musser & Newcomb, 1983;Aplin & Helgen, 2010).…”

“…Utara) Province, Indonesia. The bulk of the remains are believed to date from terminal Pleistocene to mid-Holocene times (Flannery et al, 1998;Hull et al, 2019). Hull et al (2019) noted that "these sole cranial elements of rodent in the [Daeo Cave no.…”

“…The bulk of the remains are believed to date from terminal Pleistocene to mid-Holocene times (Flannery et al, 1998;Hull et al, 2019). Hull et al (2019) noted that "these sole cranial elements of rodent in the [Daeo Cave no. 2] assemblage are from Squares E4-E5 at 10-15 cm, and hence postdate the C14 date of 6463-6194 cal.…”

“…However, an additional key resource for understanding Morotai's rodent diversity is a collection of murine remains deriving from archaeological excavation in 1991 of several sites on the island by archaeologist Professor Peter Bellwood and collaborators, particularly the Holocene site known as Daeo Cave no. 2 on the south coast of the island (Bellwood et al, 1993(Bellwood et al, , 1998(Bellwood et al, , 2019Flannery et al, 1998;Hull et al, 2019). Subfossil rodent material from Daeo Cave no.…”