Shark-tooth artefacts from middle Holocene Sulawesi

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Langley, Michelle C
Duli, Akin
Stephenson, Birgitta
Nur, Muhammad
Matherson, Carney
Burhan, Basran
Hakim, Budianto
Sumantri, Iwan
Oktaviana, Adhi Agus
Syahdar, Fardi Ali
Mcgahan, David
Brumm, Adam
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2023
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Abstract

Although first identified 120 years ago, knowledge of the Toalean technoculture of Middle Holocene Sulawesi, Indonesia, remains limited. Previous research has emphasised the exploitation of largely terrestrial resources by hunter-gatherers on the island. The recent recovery of two modified tiger shark teeth from the Maros-Pangkep karsts of South Sulawesi, however, offers new insights. The authors combine use-wear and residue analyses with ethnographic and experimental data to indicate the use of these artefacts as hafted blades within conflict and ritual contexts, revealing hitherto undocumented technological and social practices among Toalean hunter-gatherers. The results suggest these artefacts constitute some of the earliest archaeological evidence for the use of shark teeth in composite weapons.

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Antiquity

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© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Antiquity Publications Ltd. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Archaeology

Science & Technology

Social Sciences

Life Sciences & Biomedicine

Anthropology

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Langley, MC; Duli, A; Stephenson, B; Nur, M; Matherson, C; Burhan, B; Hakim, B; Sumantri, I; Oktaviana, AA; Syahdar, FA; Mcgahan, D; Brumm, A, Shark-tooth artefacts from middle Holocene Sulawesi, Antiquity, 2023

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