Austronesian diaspora in Indonesian archipelago arrived at the last migration wave

Abstract

Austronesian migration in the last 4500 years ago is a unique phenomenon in the history of human civilization, related to the vast area and the time of spreading. Not many papers summarize the Austronesian traces from a paleoanthropological perspective. This paper describes the Austronesian diaspora in the Indonesian Archipelago based on the physical characteristics and human remains (especially craniodental) found in the archaeological context. Human remains with neolithic burial context were found in several cave sites on the karstic mountains around 3500 years ago, while skeletal remains with a paleometallic burial context were found from several coastal jar burial sites dating back 2000 years ago. In the future, intensive research is needed to determine whether the two different burial characteristics result from cultural evolution or reflect two layers of migration.