| Abstract: |
Leang Sarru is a small rockshelter on the coast of Salebabu Island (Talaud group, northeastern Indonesia). Excavation has revealed a circa 100 cm thick cultural deposit, consisting of at least four observable stratigraphic layers and containing pottery (within the uppermost layers), lithic materials, food shells, and occasional pieces of ochre. C14 dates suggest c. 30,000 years of human occupation here. Although it is possible to establish a general cultural sequence for this site (three cultural phases are proposed), difficulties arise when one attempts to reconstruct more detailed habitation processes, especially in the second phase (21,000-10,000 BP). In this time span, it is unclear whether the cultural deposit is the result of relatively continuous habitation over a long period of time, or whether it resulted from a single but very intensive period of use of the site as a lithic workshop. After considering the available data on lithic technology, ecofactual evidence, and the provenances of the absolute dates, it is possible to suggest a general history of human use of the cave from c. 30,000 years ago up to the ethnographic present.
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