Laili is a

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...

cave located near the town of Laleia,

Manatuto District Manatuto (, ) is one of the municipalities (formerly districts) of East Timor, located in the central part of the country. It has a population of 45,541 (Census 2010) and an area of 1,783.3 km². The capital of the municipality is also n ...

East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-w ...

. Archeological findings in Laili provide evidence that the cave was occupied by

modern humans Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...

44,600 years ago, making it the second oldest known such habitation in

Wallacea Wallacea is a biogeographical designation for a group of mainly Indonesian islands separated by deep-water straits from the Asian and Australian continental shelves. Wallacea includes Sulawesi, the largest island in the group, as well as ...

aside from

Madjedbebe Madjedbebe (formerly known as Malakunanja II) is a sandstone rock shelter in Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory of Australia, said to be the site of the oldest evidence of human habitation in the country. It is located about from the ...

in mainland Northern Australia. The age of findings made in Laili corroborates the theory that humans spread from Asia to Australia through the Southern route, via Java and the

Lesser Sunda Islands The Lesser Sunda Islands or nowadays known as Nusa Tenggara Islands ( id, Kepulauan Nusa Tenggara, formerly ) are an archipelago in Maritime Southeast Asia, north of Australia. Together with the Greater Sunda Islands to the west they make up ...

Location

Today, the cave lies at an altitude of . 44,600 years ago, during initial settlement, the sea level was lower than today. During the

Last Glacial Maximum The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), also referred to as the Late Glacial Maximum, was the most recent time during the Last Glacial Period that ice sheets were at their greatest extent. Ice sheets covered much of Northern North America, Northern Eu ...

, about 20,000 years ago, the sea level was lower than today. The steepness of the shore near Laili means that the distance from the cave to the shore has stayed relatively unchanged over time, from during the peak of the glacial era to today.

Occupation

Findings from the cave provide evidence for occupation spanning 44,600 to 11,200 years before present. Usage of the cave increased towards the end of the Last Glacial Maximum 15,000 years ago, suggesting a dramatic increase of the population as sea levels rose.

Findings

Animal remains

The remains of fruit bats, rodents, birds, fishes and turtles were found in Laili. Not all can be attributed to human hunting. For example, presence of

murids In Sufism, a ''murīd'' (Arabic مُرِيد 'one who seeks') is a novice committed to spiritual enlightenment by ''sulūk'' (traversing a path) under a spiritual guide, who may take the title murshid, '' pir'' or ''shaykh''. A ''sālik'' or Su ...

(small rodents) was relatively constant during the occupation of the cave, suggesting that humans had little impact on murids. As there is no evidence of fishing by owls present in Timor at the time, fish remains (parrotfish and freshwater eel) can be attributed to human consumption. However, unlike in

Jerimalai Jerimalai is a limestone cave southeast of Tutuala, on the eastern tip of East Timor. Fish remains and fish hooks excavated in Jerimalai provide evidence for advanced fishing technique by inhabitants of Timor 42,000 years ago. Jerimalai has the ...

, it is thought that these fishes were caught using traps or spears, and not with fishing hooks. While abundant bird remains were found in Laili, it is thought that most were deposited by avian predators. However, larger birds like ducks and imperial pigeons were probably hunted by humans. Despite being close to the sea, few faunal remains found in Laili come from the sea. In that regard, Laili is similar to inland caves like Uai Bobo and Matja Kuru. Birds and fruit bats suggest that the local environment was covered by forests during the

Ice Age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...

Tools

A high number of stone artefacts were excavated at Laili, suggesting that tools used by occupants of the cave were primarily made from the reduction of stones. This contrasts with the

cave, where tools and jewelry made from seashells were found.

Migration to the Australian continent

The Laili cave findings show that Timor was colonised at least 44,600 years ago. However, the oldest findings in Northern Australia date back more than 50,000 years. It is possible that some findings in Laili are older, but their age could not be determined using

radiocarbon dating Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon. The method was de ...

Luminescence dating Luminescence dating refers to a group of methods of determining how long ago mineral grains were last exposed to sunlight or sufficient heating. It is useful to geologists and archaeologists who want to know when such an event occurred. It uses var ...

, which was used to date the earliest sites in Northern Australia, could produce earlier results.

References

{{Navbox prehistoric caves Archaeological sites in East Timor Caves of East Timor Manatuto Municipality