Talking Dead. New burials from Tron Bon Lei (Alor Island, Indonesia) inform on the evolution of mortuary practices from the terminal Pleistocene to the Holocene in Southeast Asia

Burial elaborations are a human behaviour that, in recent contexts can inform on social diversification, belief systems, and the introduction of new practices resulting from migration or cultural transmission. The study of mortuary practices in Mainland and Island Southeast Asia has revealed comple...

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Main Authors: Samper-Carro, Sofia C., O’Connor, Sue, Mahirta, Mahirta, Kealy, Shimona, Shipton, Ceri
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: PLOS 2022
Subjects:
Online Access:https://repository.ugm.ac.id/283349/1/Mahirta-2_IB.pdf
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author Samper-Carro, Sofia C.
O’Connor, Sue
Mahirta, Mahirta
Kealy, Shimona
Shipton, Ceri
author_facet Samper-Carro, Sofia C.
O’Connor, Sue
Mahirta, Mahirta
Kealy, Shimona
Shipton, Ceri
author_sort Samper-Carro, Sofia C.
collection UGM
description Burial elaborations are a human behaviour that, in recent contexts can inform on social diversification, belief systems, and the introduction of new practices resulting from migration or cultural transmission. The study of mortuary practices in Mainland and Island Southeast Asia has revealed complex and diverse treatments of the deceased. This paper contributes to this topic with the description of three new burials excavated in Tron Bon Lei (Alor Island, Indonesia) dated to 7.5, 10, and 12 kya cal BP. In addition to the bioskeletal profiles and palaeohealth observations, we propose the adoption of archaeothanatological methods to characterise burial types in the region. Through the analysis of skeletal element representation, body position, articulation, and grave associations, we provide an example of a holistic approach to mortuary treatments in the Lesser Sunda Islands. Our results provide significant new data for understanding the evolution and diversification of burial practices in South- east Asia, contributing to a growing body of literature describing prehistoric socio-cultural behaviour in this region.
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spelling oai:generic.eprints.org:2833492023-11-20T07:26:31Z https://repository.ugm.ac.id/283349/ Talking Dead. New burials from Tron Bon Lei (Alor Island, Indonesia) inform on the evolution of mortuary practices from the terminal Pleistocene to the Holocene in Southeast Asia Samper-Carro, Sofia C. O’Connor, Sue Mahirta, Mahirta Kealy, Shimona Shipton, Ceri Archaeology Culture, Arts and Language History and Archaeology Burial elaborations are a human behaviour that, in recent contexts can inform on social diversification, belief systems, and the introduction of new practices resulting from migration or cultural transmission. The study of mortuary practices in Mainland and Island Southeast Asia has revealed complex and diverse treatments of the deceased. This paper contributes to this topic with the description of three new burials excavated in Tron Bon Lei (Alor Island, Indonesia) dated to 7.5, 10, and 12 kya cal BP. In addition to the bioskeletal profiles and palaeohealth observations, we propose the adoption of archaeothanatological methods to characterise burial types in the region. Through the analysis of skeletal element representation, body position, articulation, and grave associations, we provide an example of a holistic approach to mortuary treatments in the Lesser Sunda Islands. Our results provide significant new data for understanding the evolution and diversification of burial practices in South- east Asia, contributing to a growing body of literature describing prehistoric socio-cultural behaviour in this region. PLOS 2022-08-24 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en https://repository.ugm.ac.id/283349/1/Mahirta-2_IB.pdf Samper-Carro, Sofia C. and O’Connor, Sue and Mahirta, Mahirta and Kealy, Shimona and Shipton, Ceri (2022) Talking Dead. New burials from Tron Bon Lei (Alor Island, Indonesia) inform on the evolution of mortuary practices from the terminal Pleistocene to the Holocene in Southeast Asia. PLOS ONE, 17 (8). pp. 1-32. ISSN 1932-6203 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0267635 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0267635
spellingShingle Archaeology
Culture, Arts and Language
History and Archaeology
Samper-Carro, Sofia C.
O’Connor, Sue
Mahirta, Mahirta
Kealy, Shimona
Shipton, Ceri
Talking Dead. New burials from Tron Bon Lei (Alor Island, Indonesia) inform on the evolution of mortuary practices from the terminal Pleistocene to the Holocene in Southeast Asia
title Talking Dead. New burials from Tron Bon Lei (Alor Island, Indonesia) inform on the evolution of mortuary practices from the terminal Pleistocene to the Holocene in Southeast Asia
title_full Talking Dead. New burials from Tron Bon Lei (Alor Island, Indonesia) inform on the evolution of mortuary practices from the terminal Pleistocene to the Holocene in Southeast Asia
title_fullStr Talking Dead. New burials from Tron Bon Lei (Alor Island, Indonesia) inform on the evolution of mortuary practices from the terminal Pleistocene to the Holocene in Southeast Asia
title_full_unstemmed Talking Dead. New burials from Tron Bon Lei (Alor Island, Indonesia) inform on the evolution of mortuary practices from the terminal Pleistocene to the Holocene in Southeast Asia
title_short Talking Dead. New burials from Tron Bon Lei (Alor Island, Indonesia) inform on the evolution of mortuary practices from the terminal Pleistocene to the Holocene in Southeast Asia
title_sort talking dead new burials from tron bon lei alor island indonesia inform on the evolution of mortuary practices from the terminal pleistocene to the holocene in southeast asia
topic Archaeology
Culture, Arts and Language
History and Archaeology
url https://repository.ugm.ac.id/283349/1/Mahirta-2_IB.pdf
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