BACKGROUND
The Indonesian archipelago occupies a strategic geographical position due to its location between two oceans, the Indian and Pacific, and between Mainland Asia and Australia-Oceania. Such a situation has made Indonesia a contact zone for diverse man and cultures since prehistoric times up to the present.
Archaeological research has demonstrated that the archipelago has been inhabited by humans since the Pleistocene epoch more than 1,5 million years ago. Only few areas in the world provide evidence for such ancient human existence. Since then, this area with its unique fauna, flora, and environment has been subjected to various cultural processes such as widespread dispersals of people, dissemination of new cultural traits, assimilation or acculturation of cultures, and new adaptation to changing environments.
Those processes have been imprinted in the form of artifacts, ecofacts, and features which are found in thousands of archaeological sites in many parts of the archipelago. For those reasons, the Indonesian archipelago has become one of the most promising areas in providing evidence revealing the evolution of people and cultures at local, regional and even global levels.