Recovering a legend: The Wara Liang pottery assemblageand the origin story of Lamalera, Lembata, Indonesia

Wara Liang is a shoreline rockshelter on Lembata island, Indonesia,where excavation in 2017 revealed a deep stratigraphy preserving evi-dence of forager habitation from ca. 1200 years ago. At around600 BP, the nature of the occupation changes with a range of newzooarchaeological remains appearing, including domesticated animalsas well as a substantial assemblage of earthenware pottery with someexotic tradeware. The deposition of the Wara Liang pottery at thistime seemingly represents a strikingly late arrival of pottery technol-ogy at this site. Here we discuss the Wara Liang ceramics assemblageand consider a range of scenarios that may account for this apparentlate technology transfer. The historical context of the time and theintensification of exogenous contact and influence in Nusa TenggaraTimor, along with the essential environmental nature of the regionwith its history of natural disasters and displacement of populations,are discussed in terms of effects on local communities. We also high-light the oral history and origin legend of Lamalera, a village close bythe Wara Liang rockshelter and famous for its tradition of huntingwhales. This origin legend intriguingly sheds light on the first use ofpottery in the Wara Liang locale and provides information that cred-ibly supplements the pottery record.