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The case for complex fishing technologies: a response to Anderson

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Sue O'Connor  and
Rintaro Ono
Sue O'Connor
Affiliation:
1Department of Archaeology and Natural History, College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia (Email: [email protected])
Rintaro Ono
Affiliation:
2Department of Maritime Civilizations, School of Marine Science and Technology, Tokai University, Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan
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Extract

For one who is so intent on factual accuracy and precision in others, Anderson is surprisingly lenient on himself, and misrepresents our arguments. Some points of clarification are required before we proceed to address the more substantive issues regarding Pleistocene fishing and fishing technology. In the introduction to his critique, Anderson (above) states that "in regard to Wallacea, O'Connell et al. (2010: 60) cite" the evidence for fishing at Buang Merabak and Kilu Cave (Papua New Guinea), and Jerimalai (Timor-Leste) and that they conclude that "these data are best read to indicate angling from boats well offshore". Firstly, as outlined in O'Connor et al. (2011) Wallacea is a strictly defined biogeographic region which comprises the Indonesian Islands lying to the east of Sundaland and to the west of Sahul and Near Oceania. Kilu Cave and Buang Merabak are in Near Oceania, not in Wallacea, and while the two island regions share depauperate terrestrial faunas the biota of the two are very different.

Type
Debate
Information
Antiquity , Volume 87 , Issue 337 , September 2013 , pp. 885 - 888
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2013

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