Chapter 9 Returning to East Timor: Prospects and Possibilities from an Archaeobotanical Project in the New Country

‘... Melanesia, with near regions of eastern Indonesia and southwestern Micronesia, is and always has been a unique region in the Austronesian pattern of diversity.’ (Bellwood 2004: 33) ‘... Elaborated systems of fallow and forest management in conjunction with gardens and field crops are not only widely in use today — they are also ancient.’ (Kennedy and Clarke 2004: 3) In East Timor’s diversified subsistence economy, rice and maize are today common staples in some areas but root crops and arboriculture, too, play an important role. Although a cultural and chronometric framework for the introduction of agriculture in East Timor has long been proposed, little is known about the exact history of early plant use in the island. This paper deals with preliminary fieldwork results and the prospects of contributing to the history of plant use in East Timor through the analyses of macro-botanical remains