The talking dead: burials inform migrations in Indonesia



The Australian National University (ANU) researchers' discovery of three bodies on Indonesia's Alor Island, dated from 7,500 to 13,000 years ago, has provided new insight into the burial customs and movement patterns of the oldest humans in island Southeast Asia.

The three burials are crucial, according to Dr. Sofia Samper Carro, the author of a recent research that was published by PLOS ONE, since the placement of each body reveals a different mortuary procedure.

According to Dr. Samper Carro, this might be connected to the numerous migration routes that passed through the region thousands of years ago.

Dr. Samper Carro stated that "burials provide a unique cultural manifestation to explore waves of migration through the terminal Pleistocene to the Holocene period in Southeast Asia."

Our findings "contribute to a growing body of research describing prehistoric socio-cultural behavior in this region" by offering "important new data for understanding the evolution and diversification of burial practices in mainland and island Southeast Asia."

More than 50,000 bones were found by Dr. Samper Carro and the international team of researchers from the Australian National University and Gadjah Mada University in Indonesia. This featured the three bodies, one of which had its extremities purposefully amputated before burial, and two other people who had been placed in seated and flexed (on the side) positions.

Fish hooks and a human skull that was older than 12,000 years were discovered during the first digs we conducted in 2014, according to Dr. Samper Carro.

"Two additional bodies were discovered buried in various positions atop one another when the Australia-Indonesian team went back in 2018 to excavate the original grave.

"The three extremely odd and interesting burials demonstrate diverse funeral customs, which might link to recent discoveries of several migratory routes through the islands of Wallacea from thousands of years ago," says the author.

The COVID-19 epidemic caused delays in the process of analyzing every item, but according to Dr. Samper Carro, the wait was beneficial.

"I had a very lengthy process of examining each and every component once we realized we had unearthed such remarkable facts. Because of the narratives that each piece of this paper tells, we gave it the title The Talking Dead, explained Dr. Samper Carro.

We're delighted to publish a report that demonstrates how burial customs can supplement genetic diversity information from one of Southeast Asia's current research hotspots.

Using a Gerda Henkel research grant, Dr. Samper Carro finished her investigation of the Tron Bon Lei graves. The ARC Center of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage provided funding for fieldwork in Alor.

Australian National University

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