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Scratching the Surface: Engraved Cortex as Portable Art in Pleistocene Sulawesi

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Abstract

Recent excavations at Leang Bulu Bettue, a limestone cave on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, have yielded a collection of flaked chert and limestone artefacts with cortical surfaces that had been deliberately incised prior to or after the knapping process. The markings engraved on these artefacts, which were recovered from deposits ranging in age between approximately 30–14 thousand years ago (30–14 ka), comprise cross-hatched patterns and other non-figurative imagery. This behaviour is of interest because of the almost total absence of portable art in the Pleistocene record of Island Southeast Asia, and the long-standing idea that the early modern human lithic technology of this region was fundamentally simple and remained so over tens of millennia. Here, we take stock of these incised stone artefacts from methodological and theoretical perspectives. Our findings suggest that unless one is specifically examining cortex on stone artefacts for these fine incisions, they are easily overlooked, and hence, we focus on how to improve detection of these faint engravings. We also consider why the Leang Bulu Bettue inhabitants engraved stone tool cortex, a practice we regard as an enigmatic form of portable lithic art and an apparent example of the creative process being as important as the end product—if not more so. We conclude that otherwise unremarkable lithic assemblages in Island Southeast Asia and beyond may potentially harbour hidden evidence for symbolic content in the form of often barely perceptible markings on remnant cortical surfaces.

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Notes

  1. Leang Bulu Bettue is the same cave site that was explored by the Thai-Maros 1986 expedition, which first observed the rock art, although this French team mistakenly called it Leang Sampaeng 1 (Leclerc 1987). The site name means The Tunnel Hill Cave in the Bugis language and would normally be transcribed as Léang Bulu’ Bettué (C. Macknight, pers. comm. 2019). Published versions of the name (as well as local signage) have followed a simplified orthography as Leang Bulu Bettue (Brumm et al. 2017) or Leang Bettue (Ockenden 1987). Here, we continue use of the former.

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Acknowledgements

For authorising the Indonesian field research, we thank the Director of Pusat Penelitian Arkeologi Nasional, Drs. I. Made Geria, Head of Balai Arkeologi Sulawesi Selatan, Drs. Irfan Mahmud, and Head of Balai Pelestarian Cagar Budaya, Drs. Laode Aksa, along with the State Ministry of Research and Technology, which issued the relevant research permits. We also thank Campbell Macknight for his advice on Bahasa Bugis spelling conventions. For permission to reproduce images, and for providing illustrations for reproduction in this paper, we thank Viet Nguyen, Alla Yaroshevich, Françoise Aujogue, Marie-Sylvie Larguèze, Francesco d’Errico, and The Gault School of Archaeological Research.

Funding

The 2013–2015 excavations at Leang Bulu Bettue were supported by an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Early Career Research Award (DE130101560) to AB, with additional support provided by the Wenner Gren Foundation (post-PhD grant). The 2017–2018 excavations at the site were supported by an ARC Future Fellowship (FT160100119) awarded to AB, along with strategic funding support from Griffith University. The 2015–2016 lithic analysis was supported by an ARC Australian Research Fellowship (DP1096558) to M.W.M.

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  1. Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University, Nathan, Australia

    Adam Brumm, Michelle C. Langley, Yinika Perston & Basran Burhan

  2. Balai Arkeologi Sulawesi Selatan, Makassar, Sulawesi, Indonesia

    Budianto Hakim &  Suryatman

  3. Pusat Penelitian Arkeologi Nasional, Jakarta, Indonesia

    Adhi Agus Oktaviana

  4. Place, Evolution and Rock Art Heritage Unit (PERAHU), Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia

    Adhi Agus Oktaviana

  5. Stone Tools and Cognition Hub, Archaeology and Palaeoanthropology, University of New England, Armidale, Australia

    Mark W. Moore

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Brumm, A., Langley, M.C., Hakim, B. et al. Scratching the Surface: Engraved Cortex as Portable Art in Pleistocene Sulawesi. J Archaeol Method Theory 27, 670–698 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-020-09469-4

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