LATE PLEISTOCENE AND EARLY HOLOCENE FORAGER ORGANIZATIONS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA] Using community, composition and structural variation in terminal Pleistocene vertebrate assemblages to identify human hunting behaviour at the Niah caves, Borneo

Abstract

Variation in the temporal and spatial composition of large vertebrate communities is often used as a proxy for identifying local or regional differences in palaeoenvironment and/or hominid hunting strategy. Differences in the structure of vertebrate communities, however, are rarely identified in the archaeological record, and the relevance that any observed variation might have for our understanding of human foraging behaviour is rarely considered. In this paper we discuss the possible reasons for the significant differences in the population structure of the dominant taxa from two almost contemporaneous Terminal Pleistocene vertebrate assemblages that are the product of human hunting activities from the West Mouth and Lobang Hangus entrances to Niah Cave, Borneo. The results indicate that hunting strategy might have been determined by the vertical location of the two cave mouths and local variation in the ecology and topography of the surrounding environment.