Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T00:11:18.610Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Foragers, fishers and farmers: origins of the Taiwanese Neolithic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 January 2015

Hsiao-chun Hung  and
Mike T. Carson
Hsiao-chun Hung
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology and Natural History, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia
Mike T. Carson
Affiliation:
Micronesian Area Research Center, University of Guam, UOG Station, Mangilao, Guam, GU 92963, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Neolithic of Taiwan represents the first stage in the expansion of Austronesian-speaking peoples through the Pacific. Settlement and burial evidence from the Tapenkeng (TKP) or Dabenkeng culture demonstrates the development of the early Taiwanese Neolithic over a period of almost 2000 years, from its origin in the pre-TPK of the Pearl River Delta and south-eastern coastal China. The first TPK communities of Taiwan pursued a mixed coastal foraging and horticultural lifestyle, but by the late TPK rice and millet farming were practised with extensive villages and large settlements. The broad-spectrum subsistence diversity of the Taiwanese Neolithic was an important factor in facilitating the subsequent expansion of Austronesian-speaking peoples to the Philippines and beyond.

Keywords

TaiwanAustronesian dispersalTapenkeng (Dabenkeng)broad-spectrum foragingrice farminghuman migration
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 88 , Issue 342 , December 2014 , pp. 1115 - 1131
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2014

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bellwood, P. 1995. Hierarchy, founder ideology and Austronesian expansion, in Fox, J. & Sather, C. (ed.) Origins, ancestry and alliance: 18–40. Canberra: Department of Anthropology, Australian National University.Google Scholar
Bellwood, P. 1997. Taiwan and the prehistory of the Austronesian-speaking people. The Review of Archaeology 1997 (Fall): 39–48.Google Scholar
Bellwood, P. 2005. First farmers: the origins of agricultural societies. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Blust, R. 2009. The Austronesian languages. Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 2009. Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates. Radiocarbon 51: 337–60.Google Scholar
Chang, K.C. 1954. Contributions of the Yuanshan excavations to the prehistoric study of Taiwan. Dalu Magazine 9(2): 36–41 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Chang, K.C. 1969. Fengpitou, Tapenkeng and the prehistory of Taiwan. New Haven (CT): Yale University.Google Scholar
Chang, K.C. 1970. Prehistoric archaeology of Taiwan. Asian Perspectives 13: 59–77.Google Scholar
Chang, K.C. 1973. Radiocarbon dates from China: some initial interpretations. Current Anthropology 14: 525–28. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/201377 Google Scholar
Chang, K.C. 1995. Taiwan Strait archaeology and Protoaustronesian, in Li, P.J.K., Tsang, C.H. & Huang, Y.K. (ed.) Papers for the international symposium on Austronesian studies relating to Taiwan: 56–81. Taipei: Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica.Google Scholar
Chang, K.C. & Goodenough, W.. 1996. Archaeology of southeastern China and its bearing on the Austronesian homeland, in Goodenough, W.H. (ed.) Prehistoric settlement of the Pacific: 36–56. Philadelphia (PA): American Philosophical Society.Google Scholar
Chao, C.Y. 1994. Report on the archaeological excavation of the Changguang site in Taidong. Unpublished MA dissertation, National Taiwan University (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Chau, H.W. 1993. Periodisation of prehistoric cultures in the Pearl River Delta area, in Chau, H.W. (ed.) Collected essays on the culture of the ancient Yue people in South China: 40–55. Hong Kong: the Urban Council of Hong Kong (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Chen, C.Y. 2012. Excavation at Daowei-I, Liangdao, Matzu. Taipei: Academia Sinica (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Chen, W.S., Sung, S.H., Wu, L.C., Hsu, H.D. & Yang, H.C.. 2004. Shoreline changes in the coastal plain of Taiwan since the last glacial epoch. Bulletin of the Department of Anthropology 62: 40–55 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Chen, Y.B. 2006. TPK’s subsistence pattern: an analysis of phytoliths found in pottery. Bulletin of the Department of Anthropology 66: 125–54 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Chu, C.Y. 2003. Rethinking the cultural sequence of the southwest plain of Taiwan, part I: the periodisation and content of the Dabenkeng culture. Paper presented at Recent Studies of Prehistory and Ethnology in Taiwan: Special Conference in Honor of Professor Wen-Hsun Sung’s Eightieth Birthday, Taipei, 2003.Google Scholar
Fujian Museum & Tanshishan Site Museum. 2010. Report on excavation of the Tanshishan site in Minhou in 2004. Fujian Wenbo 2004(1): 1–12 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Fuller, D., Qin, L. Zheng, Y., Zhao, Z., Chen, X., Hosoya, L.A. & Sun, G.P.. 2009. The domestication process and domestication rate in rice: spikelet bases from the Lower Yangtze. Science 323: 1607–10. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1166605 Google Scholar
Guo, S.Q., Liu, Y.C. & Dai, R.C.. 2005. Study of adaption and migration in Jinmen Island. Taipei: Association of National Parks in the Republic of China, Taiwan (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Hsieh, J.S., Hsing, Y.C., Hsu, T.F., Li, P.J.K. Li, K.T. & Tsang, C.H.. 2011. Studies on ancient rice—where botanists, agronomists, archeologists, linguists, and ethnologists meet. Rice 2011: 178–83. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12284-011-9075-x Google Scholar
Huang, S.C. 1974. Archaeological investigation at Bajia, Guiren Xiang, Tainan, Taiwan. Bulletin of the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology 35–36: 62–68 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Huang, S.C. & Chen, Y.B.. 1990. Archaeological excavations for reconstructing the prehistoric culture of Donghe. Taipei: Anthropology Department, National Taiwan University (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Huang, S.C. & Liu, Y.C.. 1980. Investigations and suggestions on the reconstruction of the major archaeological sites in Taiwan Province. Taipei: Department of Anthropology, National Taiwan University (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Hung, H.C. 2004. A sourcing study of Taiwan stone adzes. Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association 24: 57–70.Google Scholar
Hung, H.C. 2005. Neolithic interaction between Taiwan and northern Luzon: the pottery and jade evidence from the Cagayan valley. Journal of Austronesian Studies 1(1): 109–33.Google Scholar
Hung, H.C. 2008. Migration and cultural interaction in southern coastal China, Taiwan and the northern Philippines, 3000 BC to AD 100: the early history of the Austronesian-speaking populations. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Australian National University.Google Scholar
Hung, H.C. 2013. From coastal southern China to the Pacific—an update of archaeological perspectives on early Austronesian expansion, in Chen, K.T. & Tsang, C.H. (ed.) New lights on East Asian archaeology: 279–331. Taipei: Academia Sinica (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Jiao, T.L. 2013. The Neolithic archaeology of southeast China, in Underhill, A.P. (ed.) A companion to Chinese archaeology: 599–611. Hoboken (NJ): John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Kano, T. 1946. Studies in the ethnology and prehistory of Southeast Asia, Vol. II. Tokyo: Yajima Shobo (in Japanese).Google Scholar
Li, K.C. 1983. Problems raised by the K’en-ting excavation of 1977. Bulletin of the Department of Anthropology 43: 86–116.Google Scholar
Li, K.T. 2011. Ecological approach of archaeological study. Paper presented at Re-read Taiwan: Review and Perspicacity of One Hundred Years of Anthropology Conference. Anthropology and Ethnology Association of Taiwan, Taipei, 18–19 November, 2011 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Li, K.T. 2013. First farmers and their coastal adaptation in prehistoric Taiwan, in Underhill, A.P. (ed.) A companion to Chinese archaeology: 612–33. Hoboken (NJ): John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Li, K.X. & Yeh, M.Z.. 2001. History of Taidong County: the prehistory. Taidong: Taidong County Government (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Li, T.J. 2003. Red cord-marked pottery in Taiwan, in National Taiwan University (ed.) Recent studies of prehistory and ethnology in Taiwan: a special conference in honour of Professor Wen-Hsun Sung’s eightieth birthday: ch. 9. Unpublished conference proceedings produced by the National Taiwan University (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Lin, G.W. 2005. Neolithic cultures in coastal Fujian, in Chen, C.Y. & J.G. Pan (ed.) The archaeology of southeast coastal islands of China conference: 75–90. Mazu: Lienjiang County Government (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Liu, L. & Chen, X.C.. 2012. Archaeology of China: from the Palaeolithic to the Early Bronze Age. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Liu, Y.C. 2002. The history of Formosan aborigines: prehistory. Nantou: Taiwan Historica (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Liu, Y.C. 2007. The earliest Austronesians and their movements inside Taiwan: settlement patterns and possible forcing factors, in Chiu, S. & Sand, C. (ed.) From Southeast Asia to the Pacific: 49–74. Taipei: Academia Sinica.Google Scholar
Liu, Y.C. 2011. The interaction between the early peoples of Taiwan Strait: reconsidering K.C. Chang’s theory, in Tsang, C.H. & Chen, C.Y. (ed.) 2011 International symposium on oceanic environment and culture of the Matzu Archipelago: 109–23. Lianjian: Lianjian Government of Fujian Province (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Liu, Y.C., Chung, Y.S. & Yen, T.Y.. 2006. Preliminary report on the excavation at Xuntangpu site in Bali Township, Taipei County. Paper presented at the Annual Archaeological Conference in Taiwan, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 5–6 May 2006 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Lu, T.L.-D. 2007. Natural resources and subsistence strategies in prehistoric Hong Kong. Kaogu 6: 36–45 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Meacham, W. 1978. Sham Wan, Lamma Island: an archaeological site study (Journal Monograph III). Hong Kong: Hong Kong Archaeological Society.Google Scholar
Pawley, A. 2002. The Austronesian dispersal: languages, technologies and people, in Bellwood, P. & Renfrew, C. (ed.) Examining the farming/language dispersal hypothesis: 251–73. Cambridge: MacDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.Google Scholar
Reimer, P.J., Baillie, M.G.L., Bard, E., Bayliss, A., Beck, J.W., Blackwell, P.G., Bronk Ramsey, C., Buck, C.E., Burr, G.S., Edwards, R.L., Friedrich, M., Grootes, P.M., Guilderson, T.P., Hajdas, I., Heaton, T.J., Hogg, A.G., Hughen, K.A., Kaiser, K.F., Kromer, B., Mccormac, B., Manning, S.W., Reimer, R.W., Richards, D.A., Southon, J.R., Talamo, S., Turney, C.S.M., Van Der Plicht, J. & Weyhenmeyer, C.E.. 2009. IntCal09 and Marine09 radiocarbon age calibration curves, 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 51: 1111–50.Google Scholar
Rolett, B.V., Chen, W.C. & Sinton, J.M.. 2000. Taiwan, Neolithic seafaring and Austronesian origins. Antiquity 74: 62–74.Google Scholar
Sather, C. 1995. Sea nomads and rainforest hunter-gatherers: foraging adaptation in the Indo-Malaysian archipelago, in Bellwood, P., Fox, J.J. & Tryon, D. (ed.) The Austronesians: historical and comparative perspectives: 229–68. Canberra: Australian National University.Google Scholar
Sung, W.H. 1980. The archaeology of Taiwan, in Chen, C.L. (ed.) Taiwan of China: 93–220. Taipei: Zhongyang Wenwu Gongyingshe (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Tang, C. (ed.). 2012. Origins of Clothes—Barkcloth exhibition catalogue. Hong Kong: Chinese University of Hong Kong (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Thiel, B. 1988. Austronesian origins and expansion: the Philippine archaeological data. Asian Perspectives 26: 119–29.Google Scholar
Tsang, C.H. 1990. Fine cord-marked pottery of Taiwan. Field Archaeology in Taiwan 1(2): 1–31 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Tsang, C.H. 1992. Archaeology of the Penghu Islands. Taipei: Academia Sinica.Google Scholar
Tsang, C.H. 1999. The archaeology of Taiwan. Taipei: Council for Cultural Affairs, Executive Yuan (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Tsang, C.H. 2005. Recent discoveries at the Tapenkeng culture sites in Taiwan: implications for the problem of Austronesian origins, in Sagart, L., Blench, R. & Sanchez-Mazas, A. (ed.) The peopling of East Asia: 63–73. London: Routledge Curzon.Google Scholar
Tsang, C.H., Li, K.T. & Chu, C.Y.. 2006. Footprints of ancestors: archaeological discoveries in Tainan Science-based Industrial Park. Tainan: Tainan County Government (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Tsang, C.H., Chen, W.S., Li, K.T. & Zeng, Y.X.. 2009. Report of the Baxiandong Cave sites, Changbin, Taidong County (the first year). Taipei: Academia Sinica (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Tsang, C.H., Chen, W.S., Li, K.T. & Zeng, Y.X.. 2011. Report of the Baxiandong Cave sites, Changbin, Taidong County (the second year). Taipei: Academia Sinica (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Yang, S.T. 1998. Essays of Linnan archaeology. Guangzhou: Guangdong Map Press (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Yang, X., Barton, H.J., Wan, Z., Li, Q., Ma, Z., Li, M., Zhang, D. & Wei, J.. 2013. Sago-type palms were an important plant food prior to rice in southern subtropical China. PLoS ONE 8(5): e63148. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0063148 Google Scholar
Yeh, M.C. 2004. Report on the test excavation at Chengzipu site, Taidong County. Taitung (Taidong) Historical Journal 10: 57–90 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Yen, T.Y. 2013. A preliminary report on Shin-yuang site and related issues. Field Archaeology in Taiwan 16(1): 85–118 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Zhang, C. & Hung, H.C.. 2008. The Neolithic of southern China—origin, development, and dispersal. Asian Perspectives 47: 299–329. http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/asi.0.0004 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, C. & Hung, H.C.. 2010. The emergence of agriculture in southern China. Antiquity 84:11–25.Google Scholar
Zhang, C. & Hung, H.C.. 2012. Later hunter-gatherers in southern China, 18 000–3000 BC. Antiquity 86: 11–29.Google Scholar