Maritime Migration, Adaptation, and Funerary Practice by Toalean People on Selayar Island, Indonesia

Fakhri1,2*, Hasanuddin1,2, Supriadi3, Bernadeta A.K.W.3, Marlon Ririmasse1,2, Syahruddin Mansyur1,2, YAMANO Kenyojiro4, ISHIHARA Yoshiro5, FUJITA Masaki6, and ONO Rintaro7

Recent excavations concerning the Toalean cultural presence in Selayar Island, located over 10km from the southern coast of Sulawesi revealed evidence of flexed burial practices. These burials were identified within a cultural context characterized by Toalean technological traditions, including bone points, artificially modified shell ornaments, and shell artifacts morphologically resembling the Maros Point from the Sulawesi mainland peninsula. Radiocarbon dating from the Baloiya Site indicates a chronology of approximately 7,000 BP. This Middle Holocene period corresponds with flexed burial practices documented across mainland Southeast Asia, including the Wallacean region. The inhabitants of the Baloiya Site demonstrated adaptive strategies to their maritime environment by optimizing the use of marine shells as resources. Such adaptations are reflected in the production of ornamental jewellery, fishhooks, and other hunting implements crafted from shell. These findings suggest that the flexed burial tradition, which developed on the Sulawesi mainland, was also practiced in coastal areas. The latest data indicate that Toalean communities in Selayar engaged in migration and environmental adaptation while maintaining their inherited mortuary traditions.