Possible Prehistoric Translocation of Non-human Primates to Remote Oceania

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

New archaeological excavation at the Ucheliungs site, located in the Rock Islands region of Palau (northwest tropical Pacific), has yielded evidence of mortuary activity and small-scale marine foraging dating to the earliest period of human settlement in the Palauan archipelago, ca. 3000 BP. The assemblage includes a small number of artifacts consisting of undecorated ceramic sherds and a single carved bone fragment that appears to be a harpoon tip used for fishing. Because this type of artifact has not been identified elsewhere in Palau, Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) analysis was employed in an effort to identify the bone’s taxon and shed light on the construction of early Palauan bone tool and fishing technologies. Preliminary results suggest that the bone belonged to a non-human primate and was likely a member of the Hylobatidae family. This is the first potential evidence for the prehistoric translocation of non-human primates or primate materials to Remote Oceania and raises questions about broader mobility patterns and intra-regional exchange systems in the region prior to European contact. Targeted sequencing of additional hylobatid taxa and associated radiocarbon dates are currently underway to more specifically identify the timing of movement and origin of this unique artifact.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 25299