Humans have shaped island ecosystems for tens of millennia. A crucial part of this process included the anthropogenic translocation of wild animals between islands. Archaeological evidence presented here suggests humans introduced forest wallabies to Island Southeast Asia from Sahul (Pleistocene New Guinea–Australia) before 12,800 years ago. This is the earliest reported anthropogenic translocation west of Sahul, and one of the earliest in the world. Our agent-based modelling indicates anthropogenic and natural processes could account for wallabies in the Raja Ampat Islands, but humans were likely needed to move animals further west into the Maluku Islands. Zooarchaeological analyses from Raja Ampat show wallabies were hunted throughout the Holocene but became locally extirpated in the Mid–Late Holocene. Zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry (ZooMS) indicates macropods (the family of forest wallabies) persisted until at least 4400–4200 years ago, with skeletons being reused for bone point manufacture. The capture, translocation, exchange, hunting, and recycling of marsupials was part of a wider process of ‘culturing’ island biomes centred around New Guinea in the Terminal Pleistocene to Mid Holocene. Recognising that Pleistocene humans partly shaped and extended the ‘native’ distribution of animals in island rainforests has important implications for tropical biogeography, ecology, and conservation.

中文翻译：

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岛屿生物群落培养：更新世-全新世期间新几内亚周围的有袋动物易位和骨器生产


数万年来，人类塑造了岛屿生态系统。这个过程的一个关键部分包括野生动物在岛屿之间的人为迁移。这里提供的考古证据表明，人类在 12,800 年前从 Sahul（更新世新几内亚-澳大利亚）将森林小袋鼠引入东南亚岛屿。这是 Sahul 以西最早报道的人为迁移，也是世界上最早的迁移之一。我们基于代理的模型表明，人为和自然过程可以解释四王群岛的小袋鼠，但可能需要人类才能将动物进一步向西迁移到马鲁古群岛。四王群岛的动物考古学分析表明，小袋鼠在整个全新世都被猎杀，但在全新世中晚期局部灭绝。质谱动物考古学 （ZooMS） 表明，大型动物（森林小袋鼠科）至少持续到 4400-4200 年前，骨骼被重新用于骨尖制造。有袋动物的捕获、易位、交换、狩猎和回收是更新世末期至全新世中期以新几内亚为中心的岛屿生物群落“培养”更广泛过程的一部分。认识到更新世人类在一定程度上塑造和扩展了岛屿雨林中动物的“原生”分布，这对热带生物地理学、生态学和保护具有重要意义。