Subsistence at the Song Toyapakeh Underwater Cave Site

Research on underwater caves in Indonesia remains limited despite the country encompassing a vast archipelago. Located off the island of Nusa Penida, southeast of Bali, the Song Toyapakeh site is an underwater cave wherein significant artifacts and ecofacts have been discovered. These findings are crucial for understanding the subsistence strategies and migration patterns of humans during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and after. The research reported in this article aimed to find out about human life at Song Toyapakeh and understand the significance of the site within the context of prehistoric human dispersal along the southern migration route. We used scuba technology to document cave chamber surfaces and sample artifacts, ecofacts, and faunal remains found on the cave floor. The distribution of findings was analyzed using Underwater Photography Transect (UPT). We applied the landscape archaeology approach and compared our findings with studies from other sites to investigate the subsistence of the site’s inhabitants. We drew from other scholarly literature to determine the cave’s chronology and found that it supports the theory of migration through a southern route. The results reveal evidence that humans inhabiting Song Toyapakeh subsisted on both marine and terrestrial fauna. Crustaceans and turtles dominated the marine assemblage, while cervids represented the main terrestrial prey. Marine fauna were more frequently exploited due to the site’s location on the coast and the relative ease of their capture strategy compared to terrestrial fauna. These prehistoric human activities support the interpretation of the Song Toyapakeh site as an early settlement on Nusa Penida.

Crustacea · deer · early settlement · ecofacts · faunal remains · human dispersal · Last Glacial Maximum · Nusa Penida · prehistoric subsistence · terrestrial fauna · turtles · underwater caves · Maritime and Coastal Archaeology · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology