The Burial from Aleti Tunu Bibi Cave, Atauro Island, East Timor: A Possible Victim of a Crocodile Attack?
The Aleti Tunu Bibi cave, located on the small volcanic island of Atauro close to the island of Timor, is a sacred site for the region's inhabitants. The cave's archaeological potential was revealed in 2015 with the discovery of artifacts, rock art depicting marine fauna (mammals and reptiles), huma...
| Publicado en: | Asian Perspectives: Journal of Archeology for Asia & the Pacific Vol. 64; no. 2; pp. 205 - 237 |
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| Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
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University of Hawai'i
2025
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=191125769&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 191125769 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00668435 53G jtl: Asian Perspectives: Journal of Archeology for Asia & the Pacific issn: 00668435 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: 2025 vid: 64 iid: 2 pid: 740 pub: University of Hawai'i artinfo: ui: 191125769 10.1353/asi.2025.a981947 ppf: 205 ppct: 32 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 8MB tig: atl: The Burial from Aleti Tunu Bibi Cave, Atauro Island, East Timor: A Possible Victim of a Crocodile Attack? aug: au: Bacon, Anne-Marie Duringer, Philippe Ponche, Jean-Luc Delabarde, Tania Joannes-Boyau, Renaud Talamo, Sahra Tassoni, Laura Wacker, Lukas Ligot, Mélanie Demeter, Fabrice Galipaud, Jean-Christophe su: Caves Archaeological discoveries Crocodile attacks Rock art (Archaeology) Human beings Funerals Antiquities Indo-Australian Region sug: subj: Indo-Australian Region Caves Archaeological discoveries Crocodile attacks Rock art (Archaeology) Human beings Funerals Antiquities keyword: Homo sapiens mortuary rituals Wallacea ab: The Aleti Tunu Bibi cave, located on the small volcanic island of Atauro close to the island of Timor, is a sacred site for the region's inhabitants. The cave's archaeological potential was revealed in 2015 with the discovery of artifacts, rock art depicting marine fauna (mammals and reptiles), human remains, and a few remains of marine and terrestrial fauna. New material discovered in 2017 included sporadic remains of marine fauna, goats, and pigs, and a partial human skeleton with perimortem bone lesions. The analysis of these additional elements is presented here. Direct dating of the skeleton (14C AMS and U-series on bones and teeth) gave a burial date of ca. 4900 cal. b.p., indicating that this individual lived during the Holocene. The burial context suggests a primary burial. After thorough examination of the bone lesions, it was concluded that the individual may have been attacked by a saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus), which is probably represented by the zoomorphic figures painted on the cave wall. The more recent remains of goats and pigs are associated with sacrificial rituals. Overall, the evidence points to intermittent use of the Aleti Tunu Bibi cave site as early as 18,000 years ago. Rock art and the intentional human burial allow us to describe the symbolic behavior of hunter-gatherers who heavily depended on a maritime environment. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Asian Perspectives: Journal of Archeology for Asia & the Pacific is the property of University of Hawai'i and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Asian Perspectives: Journal of Archeology for Asia & the Pacific holder: University of Hawai'i dt: @attributes: year: 2025 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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