The Lena Hara cave is the main cave of a system of solutional caves in the Lautém District at the eastern tip of East Timor (Timor-Leste), close to the village of Tutuala. Others are Ile Kére Kére and Jerimalai. Lene Hara has provided evidence that Timor has been occupied by humans since at least 35,000 years Before Present[1] and thus is evidence that humans crossed the waters of Wallacea between the Pleistocene continents of Sunda and Sahul.
O'Connor et al pointed out that the earliest occupation of Australia is dated to around 55,000 BP, so it is unclear whether the early Timor settlers belong to the same wave of colonisation as the first Australian settlers.[1]
In May 2009, carved faces were found high in the cave, and have since been dated to 10,000 years. This was reported in the journal Antiquity of February 2011.[4] Paintings in Ile Kére Kére are believed to be 2,000 to 6,000 years old.
In March 2020, 16 hand stencils were discovered at Lene Hara cave, painted in the Pleistocene epoch.[5]
References
^ abcdO'Connor, Sue; Spriggs, Matthew; Veth, Peter (March 2002). "Excavation at Lene Hara Cave establishes occupation in East Timor at least 30,000–35,000 years ago". Antiquity. 76 (291): 45–49. doi:10.1017/S0003598X0008978X.
^O’Connor, Sue; Veth, Peter (June 2005). "Early Holocene shell fish hooks from Lene Hara Cave, East Timor establish complex fishing technology was in use in Island South East Asia five thousand years before Austronesian settlement". Antiquity. 79 (304): 249–256. doi:10.1017/S0003598X0011405X.
^O'Connor, Sue; Spriggs, Matthew; Veth, Peter (2002). "Direct Dating of Shell Beads from Lene Hara Cave, East Timor". Australian Archaeology (55): 18–21. JSTOR40287598.
