Foragers, fishers and farmers: origins of the Taiwanese Neolithic. (December 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hung, Hsiao-chun; Carson, Mike T.
• Is Part Of: Antiquity. Volume 88:Number 341(2014)
• Page Start: 1115
• Page End: 1131
• Publication Date: 2014-12
• Subjects: Taiwan, -- Austronesian dispersal, -- Tapenkeng (Dabenkeng), -- broad-spectrum foraging, -- rice farming, -- human migration; Archaeology -- Periodicals; Antiquities -- Periodicals; 930.05
• DOI: 10.1017/S0003598X00115352
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0003-598X

Abstract

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.