Late Pleistocene to Holocene Seafaring in Near Oceania and Wallacea: Archaeological and Ethnographic Evidence

For late Pleistocene to Holocene seafaring in Near Oceania andWallacea, the main actors were modern humans (Homo sapiens). Their prehistoricsea-crossing routes in Near Oceania and Wallacea can be tracedfrom archaeological evidence, particularly obsidian, pottery, and animalbone remains. Obsidian trails in these maritime and island regions displaycomplex relationships between production sites and destinations over thousandsof kilometres across Island Southeast Asia (ISEA, includingWallacea) and Near Oceania. Trails of pottery and animal remains spanmore limited areas among certain island groups but also help to reconstructpast human migration, especially for Austronesian groups from IslandSoutheast Asia as they entered Near and Remote Oceania. Dentate-stampedpottery traditions, including Lapita, may indicate past migration routes anddates of early Austronesian people during middle Holocene, while recentzoo-archaeological and genetic studies of animal remains (e.g., pigs, dogs,chikens, marsupials, and rats) are also indicative of past human migrationroutes at various times. Here, we focus on past translocations of marsupialsin Wallacea and Near Oceania. Based on the sum of archaeological and ethnographic evidence, we consider (1) early seafaring in Near Oceania andWallacea, and (2) seafaring and maritime networks from the latePleistocene to the late Holocene.