Archaeological micro-worlds of the tropical Pacific basin

Island archaeology is one of the most rapidly developing fields of research in both Pacific and world archaeology. It deals with the study of the relationship between humans and islands in the past in terms of settlement, development, and adaptation. In this context, it is the small archipelagos and separate islands of the Pacific tropical belt that attract scholarly attention due to their ability to serve as a kind of “research laboratories “or “archaeological microcosms”. In this article, the authors use the case of the Moluccas, Timor Island, and the Palau Archipelago in the chronological framework of the Paleolithic - Paleometal epochs (43,000 -1,500 BP) to analyze the features of cultural process in the region.