The emergence of pottery-using communities in Lautem District, Timor Leste: Ceramics assemblages from Lene Hara and Telupunu

The initial use of pottery in Island Southeast Asia has been a much-debated topic prompting researchers to highlight various characteristics to explain its uneven temporal and spatial distribution throughout the region. Many scholars identify the Neolithic associations of pottery and highlight diagnostic qualities such as red-slipping, while others point out that pottery first occurs at many locations during the Metal Age and is characterised by more surface decorations. In eastern Indonesia and Timor-Leste the features of first pottery assemblages show generic similarities but scant unifying features over time and space. By providing pottery case studies from the relatively close together cave sites of Lene Hara and Telupunu, at the very east of Timor-Leste, we are able to demonstrate the variability that attends the initial use of pottery in this region. The case studies provide detail on the chronology, characteristics and petrographic analysis of the pottery, and enable a comparison between these sites as well as within the context of other recorded Timor-Leste and regional pottery collections. The Lene Hara assemblage dates to around 3400 BP and features a significant proportion of red-slipped ware. In contrast, the pottery from Telupunu was deposited largely after 2000 years ago and shows a relatively high number of decorative techniques and designs. We discuss a range of factors that may account for the differences in pottery uptake and style.