Page 59 - THE MELANESIA DIASPORA FILE CETAK ISI 10022017

edges are obvious. Apparently, the active part of the tools had been put close to the fire to
harden them so that the tools would be more durable and effective.
During this era, technology became more advanced. Evidence can be observed in the
diversity of materials used to produce a variety of tools. Besides stone, organic materials
were also utilized. The tools using lithic technology were still dominant and increasingly
used. Generally, the process of making stone tools took place in the caves as supported
by the findings of flakes, trimmer tools, and stone tools. As their predecessors had done,
silicified rock was mostly used to produce the tools, because it was flexible yet solid and its
fragments tended to be sharp so that they could immediately be used for various purposes.
But, when circumstances did not allow the use of silicified rock, other kinds of stone were
also used. In the Eastern part of Mount Sewu, chert stones were used to produce tools as
they were abundant and easily found.
The advancement of flaking methods had produced a variety of flake tools, such
as planes for shaving, points (tapering), drills or borers, notched scrapers, denticulate
(notched) saws, arrowheads, and blades. Various types of planes were the most common
flake stone found at every archaeological site. At Song Keplek, there were 13 types of planes
found with a higher percentage of plane types than other kinds of flake tools (Simanjuntak,
2002). In this Era, local tools emerged as the result of the development of basic flake-tool
techniques. There were typical convex-bottom arrowheads in the eastern part of Java, and
there were also concave-base arrowheads with serrated sides (Maros Points) in Maros,
Pangkep, South Sulawesi (Forestier, 1999). In East Timor, a typical pointed tool with a
wooden handle was developed (Heekeren, 1972), while along the Nulbaki River in West
Timor, long denticulate scrapers with rows of notches similar to fish scales were dominant.
These typical local tools are evidence of the advancement of cultural advancement in the
Indonesian archipelago during the Australomelanesian occupation.
Specifically, the information about the existence of flake tools made of obsidian in some
parts of the regions, such as South Sulawesi (Glover, 1973), Bangko and Kerinci (Heekeren,
1972), Flores (Bronson and Asmar, 1975), and also East Timor (Heekeren, 1955-1957) should
be added. These tiny tools (some could only have 0.5 centimeters long or even less) are
assumed to have had a function similar to what we now know as jack-planes, a tool with
a wooden stick handle used for cutting or slicing. Other lithic tools found included pestles
and mortars which usually contained traces of some red substance or hematite on their
surface. Probably, these tiny tools were also used to make hematite powder, a colored
substance which was poured over a dead body as part of ancient funeral rituals performed

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