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Fortification as a human response to late Holocene climate change in East Timor
Author(s) -
LAPE PETER V.,
CHINYUNG CHAO
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
archaeology in oceania
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1834-4453
pISSN - 0728-4896
DOI - 10.1002/j.1834-4453.2008.tb00026.x
Subject(s) - fortification , holocene , el niño southern oscillation , settlement (finance) , climate change , geography , archaeology , variation (astronomy) , physical geography , ecology , climatology , geology , biology , physics , world wide web , computer science , astrophysics , payment
We present evidence for a significant shift in human landscape use in post 1000 AD East Timor towards fortified and defensively‐oriented settlement sites. We propose a model of agents selecting to invest in fortification building that is based on the spatial and temporal variation in the availability of rainfall‐dependent resources. These resources may have been significantly impacted by climatic events associated with ENSO variation, and we discuss spatial and temporal correlation with ENSO warm phase frequency and dates of initial fortification building.