Toalean culture

The earliest peopling of Sulawesi is considered to be related to a wave of migration through Indonesia around 45 thousand years ago, during which some people stayed in the area while others continued to eventually reach Sahul.[10] A number of related Pleistocene sites in the area are known for their rockart.[11][12] These sites predate the Toalean culture, and an absence of archaeological sites dated to the intervening period between 12-8kya prevent a direct link.

Prior to a standardised chronology, three phases of Toalean culture have been roughly classified as:

• The Early Toalean phase, between 7500–5500 BP, which saw the emergence of bone points and microliths.
• The Late Preceramic Toalean phase, dating to 5500–3500 BP, marked by the appearance of Maros Points.
• The Ceramic Toalean phase, from 3500–2000 BP, which saw traces of the emerging Neolithic culture.[13]

Neolithic-period, Post-Toalean changes in the archaeological assemblages, characterised by ceramics, ground-edge axes, and rice-farming are seen to represent the arrival of Austronesian-speaking or Nusantoa migrants.[14][15][4]

In 1902, Swiss naturalists Paul and Fritz Sarasin excavated several caves in the highlands of southern Sulawesi. Their work uncovered distinctive and finely crafted stone implements, arrowheads, and small tools fashioned from bone.[16]

Australian archaeologist Fred McCarthy continued excavations in the late 1930s with an interest in the typological similarities between the finely made, serrated Toalean Maros points, and Australia's broadly contemporary "small tool tradition".[17] A series of poorly documented excavations throughout the later 20th century noted serrated artefacts, earthenware sherds, and bone. Some 6,000 artefacts were given to Jakarta's National Museum with uncertain attributions to excavations at Panganreang Tudea and Batu Ejaya by Van Stein Callenfels and Willems.[4]

Excavations of both cave sites and open sites in Southern Sulawesi are ongoing.

Known Toalean sites are largely concentrated in the southern third of the southwest peninsula of Sulawesi, in the caves of the limestone karst system, that runs through the lowland plains of the Maros and Pangkajene dan Kepulauan (or ‘Pangkep’) regencies, to the north-east of Makassar. The southern extent includes Selayar Island. As of 2021, no Toalean sites have been found north of Lake Tempe.[1]

Map of South Sulawesi, Indonesia, showing sites identified with Toalean artefacts. Map by K. Newman & Y.L.Perston

Toalean assemblages include several diagnostic artefact types that distinguish them from earlier or later deposits. These include the hollow-based lithic ‘Maros points’ with denticulated edges,[22] pirri points, small ‘bone’ points, backed microliths, and sawlettes.[9]

Archaeologists from Griffith University, the University of New England and the Balai Arkeologi Sulawesi Selatan conducted an analysis of the morphological and technological features of 1,739 Toalean-age lithic artefacts from the limestone caves and shelters of Leang Pajae, Leang Rakkoe, Leang Panninge, Leang Bulu’ Sipong 1, Leang Bulu Bettue, Leang Jarie, Leang Lambatorang, and Leang Lompoa, and the open site of Tallasa to form a standardised system of Toalean stone tool classification.[23] This study further divided Maros points into four sub-classes: classic Maros Points, Mallinrung Points, Lompoa Points, and Pangkep Points.[9] The majority of Toalean stone tools from these sites were made on chert, with a small percentage made on limestone or other materials.

The Bulu’ Sipong sawlettes are tiny backed microliths with narrow denticulations that were carefully formed using a thin pressure flaker.[9] These were first identified by Muhammad Nur (Unhas) and David McGahan (Griffith University) during their excavation of the Leang Bulu’ Sipong 1 cave site in 2018 with further examples found at Leang Jarie.[24] Their function is currently unknown.

• 
  Classic Maros Points with basal indents and denticulated margins.
• 
  Mallinrung Points have denticulated margins without a basal indent
• 
  Lompoa Points are a type of Maros point with a basal indent and without denticulations.
• 
  Pangkep Points are Maros Points without denticulations and no basal indent.
• 
  Sawlettes are a distinctive stone tool associated with the Toalean technocomplex.

Archaeologists from the University of Hasanuddin in Makassar first discovered human remains at Leang Panninge in the Mallawa district of Maros. In 2015, excavations uncovered the first relatively complete human burial from a secure Toalean context.[18] The burial provided an example of modern human evolution in southeast Asia. The remains were identified as belonging to a young female hunter-gatherer who was aged around 17-18 years at her time of death. Her discoverers named her Bessé’ (pronounced bur-sek), a nickname bestowed on newborn princesses among the Bugis people who now live in southern Sulawesi.[25]

Bessé’ was buried in a foetal position and partially covered by large cobbles. Her cause of death is unknown with no obvious signs of injuries or infections that leave their mark in bone.[10] Stone tools (including Maros points) and red ochre were found in her grave, along with the bones of animals known to be hunted. The skull was crushed post-mortem. Burial was dated to 7.3–7.2 kyr cal BP by 14C dating of a galip nut seed (Canarium sp).[18]

DNA from the inner ear bone of Bessé’ provided the first direct genetic evidence of the Toaleans.[26] Genomic analysis shows Bessé’ belonged to a population with a previously unknown ancestral composition. She shares about half of her genetic makeup with present-day Indigenous Australians and people in New Guinea and the Western Pacific, along with a previously unknown divergent human lineage that branched off approximately 37,000 years ago (after Onge-related and Hòabìnhian-related lineages) including substantial DNA inherited from the now-extinct Denisovans.[18]