The Kolana Cemetery Site and Early Neolithic Settlement in Nusa Tenggara Timur

Stuart Hawkins1*, Mahirta2, Anna Pineda1, Devi Mustika Sari2, Fayeza Shasliz Arumdhati2, Tsabita Nafiah2, Sekar Kinanthi Wibowo2, Azzam Alhaq2, Abdillah Irfan2, Lanang Adiyatma2, Kirana Saraswati2, Gendro Keling3, Wachid Azis4, Marlon Ririmasse5, Rama Putra Siswantara5, Mirani Litster6, Sue O’Connor1, Stuart Bedford1, Harriyadi7, and Pratiwi Yuwono8

The Austronesian expansion during the Late Holocene was a transformative period in Island Southeast Asia, yet archaeological understanding of its eastern extent in insular Wallacea remains constrained by a reliance on cave sites. The recent discovery of the Kolana open cemetery on Alor Island, Indonesia, provides a critical opportunity to investigate this era through direct evidence of mortuary practices, subsistence behaviour and settlement patterns. Excavations in 2023 revealed a stratigraphically complex site with at least 16 burials in which 20 people were interred within raised beach cobble deposits. Absolute dating places interments from 3500 to 2500 cal BP , within the Austronesian dispersal period. The artefactual assemblage suggests long distance and local exchange networks while distinctive jar burials for ceremonial mortuary practices and primary inhumations with shell ornaments suggest broad regional affinities spanning from Asia to the Pacific. Preliminary faunal and botanical analyses reveal a mixed economy of maritime foraging and horticulture. As the easternmost studied Neolithic period cemetery in Wallacea, Kolana illuminates the complex interplay between incoming Austronesian influences and indigenous Papuan communities, demonstrating the adoption of Neolithic practices within a linguistically diverse setting and underscoring the role of maritime interaction in shaping Late Holocene Wallacea.