Archaeology in Sulawesi, Indonesia

Alfred Russel Wallace visited southern Celebes in 18567. Captivated by its unique natural history, particularly its colourful butterflies, he concentrated upon collecting in the rugged limestone mountains around Bantimurung waterfall, east of Maros. Observing that the high, precipitous, cliffs were heavily vegetated, Wallace (1890, 181) wrote words of archaeological allurement—‘their surfaces are very irregular, broken into holes and fissures, with ledges overhanging the mouths of gloomy caverns’. He also made an incidental comment (1890, 165) of relevance a century later to Australian archaeologists, when he noted that his Makassarese servant had voyaged to the north Australian coast on several occasions to collect trepang (bêche-de-mer).