Subsistence system diversification in southeast Asia and the Pacific: Where does Maluku fit

Two dominant traditional subsistence economies characterize Central Maluku, eastern Indonesia. One is a coastal strand/maritime-based economy in which marine resources play a central role. The other is an arboreal-based terrestrial economy in which forest resources play a dominant role. The research results presented in this thesis concern the nature of the arboreal-based economy. The development of more appropriate models concerning arboreal-based economies is one of the primary goals of the research project.; The Central Malukan arboreal-based economy can be modeled within an evolutionary and ecological framework. Subsistence system diversification explains the development of the Central Malukan economies throughout the last 40,000 years. The subsistence system may be viewed as a behavioral system or sub-system. The arboreal-based economy allows individuals to fill an unexploited ecological opportunity in the terrestrial environment. The arboreal-based subsistence system core facilitates fitness maximization within a diachronic framework. The aboreal/based subsistence system in Central Maluku is ecologically sustainable and centers on forest exploitation and long term forest maintenance. The overall model has implications concerning past developments at the regional level, which includes Sunda, Sahul, Wallacea, Near Oceania and even the more remote Pacific islands.; Finally, the traditional subsistence system still in practice today is assessed to aid archaeological interpretation and modeling. It is likely that the subsistence system core has maintained somewhat of a ‘structural stability’ over a considerable span of time. Thus, the traditional systems still in practice may have significant structural similarities with systems in the past. Traditional forest management practices may be useful for developing sustainable resource extraction strategies in the tropical forests. This knowledge should not be ignored.