A New Hypothesis of
Austronesian Origin and
Dispersal：Archaeological
Evidence from Taiwan
Cheng-hwa Tsang
Institute of History & Philology
Academia Sinica
Taipei, Taiwan
Austronesian language family is one of the largest
language families in the world.
It covers a wide geographic area, from Madagascar to
Easter Island, and from Taiwan and Hawai'i to New
Zealand. This language family comprises more than 1,200
languages spoken by about 300 million of people
Since they share many common linguistic,
cultural and genetic characteristics, it has been
proposed that the Austronesian peoples
presumably originated from a common source
area.
Problem:
From where did the Austronesian-speaking
people originate and how did they disperse?
MANY HYPOTHESES !!
Hypotheses of the Austronesian Dispersal
before 1970s
1) the Dutch linguist H. A. Kern (1899) – the coastal area.
2) the Austrian Prehistorian von Heine-Geldrern (1932) –
migration waves theory-Asian mainland through IndoChina Peninsula to Island Southeast Asia.
3) the Filipino archaeologist H. Otley Beyer (1948) – Asian
Mainland.
4) the Norwegian writer, explorer and ethnographer Thor
Heyerdahl (1947)– Kon Tiki – South America-Polynesian
He believed that people from South America could have settled
Polynesia in pre-Columbian times.
www.aktivioslo.no/partnere/kon-tiki
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
Chinese ethnologist Ling Shun-sheng (1955) – China
south of the Yangtze River.
Chinese archaeologist Kwang-chih Chang (1959) –
South China
Janpanese Archaeologist Kano Tadao (1943) – South
China and the east coast of the Indo-China Peninsula
Isidore Dyen (1971) – lexicostatistics - New Guinea and
Bismarck Archipelago 。
Richard Shutler Jr. and Jeffrey C. Marck (1975) –
horticulturist - Taiwan
Current hypotheses about the Austronesian
dispersals:
1) Express Train or Out of China-Taiwan Hypotheses:
After Diamond 1988


Robert Blust (1985)
Peter Bellwood (1980)
After: Gray, R. D., & Jordan F.M. (2000)
.
2) Out of Southeast Asia Hypothesis
Welhelm G. Solheim II ( 1975)– Nusantao Hypothesis –
Bismarck and Southern Mindanao
William Meacham (1988) – Sunda Land and Nanhai Land Taiwan、Sumatra and Timor
3) Slow Boat Hypothesis
Stephen J. Oppenheimer (2001) – Y Chromosome DNA Polynesian markers – between Wallace and New Guinea
4 Proponents of Two Polarized hypotheses:
Out of China-Taiwan vs. Out of Southeast Asia
Photographed by Tsang Cheng-hwa on Dec. 11,
.
2006 at Uppsala, Sweden
Shortcomings of the Current Hypotheses:
Most of the Archaeological researches on the
Austonesian origin and dispersal problem have
been restricted to the impressionistic
comparison of the similarities among the
individual artifacts (mainly pottery and stone
tools), rather than to reveal the evidence from
the holistic and structured comparison of the
archaeological material from different sites.
.
Katherine Szabo and Sue O’Connor criticize the present state
of the research on the problem of Austronesian origin and
dispersal.
Three major shortcomings:
1. the ambiguity of similarity.
2. the consistent relationships among the cultural
assemblages are not yet established.
3. Lack careful consideration of the relationship
between language and material culture.
The Multi-route Hypothesis
The prehistoric cultures distributed
along the coastlines of Pearl River
Delta, Hainan, the Tonkin gulf
exhibited considerable uniformity
in the adaptation strategies of
extensively exploiting the marine
resources during the period of
around 6000 to 5000 BP. Probably
due to these extensive marine
exploitation activities, the crossocean interactions may have
occurred. Following the ocean
currents or seasonal monsoons, the
people may have been able to sail
to Taiwan, Philippines, Sarawak
and other southern islands through
any navigable routes from the
northerncoast of the South China
Sea.
Current Evidence
Evidence 1.
The New Discoveries of the Tapenkeng
Culture in Taiwan: Nanguanli and Nanguanli
East.
The pottery unearthed from Nan-kuan-li are mainly jars
and bowls tempered with sand, dark or reddish brown in
colour with cord-marked, painted and incised
decorations. A few plates with perforated low ring feet
were also found. Stone tools are mainly polished adzes,
arrowheads and net sinkers. It is noted that polished
adzes include both quadrangular and shouldered types.
One broken stone bark-cloth beater was also found.
Instead of stone knives, a large number of reaping
knives, which were made of pearl shells, were recovered.
A few bone and antler artefacts were uncovered,
including points, chisels and ornaments of beads and
pendants. A large quantity of shells and fish bones from
these two sites indicate that the TPK people explored
and take advantage of the marine resources very
intensively. But more importantly, the discovery of
carbonized rice in Nan-kuan-li and millet in Nan-kuan-li
East, along with a large number of shell reaping knives
and stone adzes, provide us with a concrete evidence of
rice and millet farming during the TPK period.
Evidence 2.
Comparing the newly discovered TPK Culture material
with the Neolithic material from the coasts of southeast
and south China, it is noted that the Neolithic cultures of
6000-5000 BP distributed along coastlines extending
from the Pearl River Delta to the northern coast of the
South China Sea exhibit considerable uniformity in their
tool kits as well as settlement and subsistence patterns.
svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/stories/Landsat/pearl_river.html
Dates:
6000-4000 BP: cord-marked pottery
4000-3000 BP: Geometric impressed pottery
鄧聰、區家發 1991
鄧聰、區家發 1991
鄧聰、區家發 1991
文物1990：11
The Guangxi and Hainan coast
Evidence 3.
The Neolithic sites with corded wares and
earlier dates on the SEA islands have been
found only along the southern coasts of the
South China Sea.
Duyong cave
Balabok Rock Shelter
Bukit Tengkorak
Gua Sireh
1). Migration or cultural contact?
2) Autronesian origin: China-Taiwan or Island Southeast Asia?
A new proposition: The Multi-route Hypothesis
Oppenheimer 2001, modified