A Companion to Chinese Archaeology (Underhill/A Companion to Chinese Archaeology) || First Farmers and their Coastal Adaptation in Prehistoric Taiwan

A Companion to Chinese Archaeology, First Edition. Edited by Anne P. Underhill.© 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Published 2013 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

First Farmers and Their Coastal Adaptation in Prehistoric Taiwan

LI Kuang-ti 李匡悌

The archaeological research in this chapter investigates the fi rst farmers in prehistoric Taiwan and their coastal adaptation when they fi rst arrived and settled about 5,000 years ago. Since no archaeological evidence indicates that Neolithic cultures in Taiwan developed from the earliest Paleolithic inhabitants of the island, we must assume that Neolithic peoples in prehistoric Taiwan arrived initially at the coast. This chapter will begin fi rst with a brief review of prehistory in Taiwan and then present the archaeo-logical remains recently unearthed and which can be dated to the time of the earliest Neolithic culture in southwestern Taiwan. My focus is on the interrelationships of human subsistence needs and available natural resources within this local environ-mental system. In contrast to inhabitants of non-coastal environments, coastal inhab-itants usually encounter both marine and terrestrial environments. This study will generate an understanding of broad cultural patterns as well as illuminate aspects of local prehistoric subsistence patterns and their coastal adaptation in this region of Taiwan. Furthermore, a theoretical consideration of how and why agriculture fi rst developed in prehistoric Taiwan is also presented in this chapter.

Taiwan is an island 386 km (240 miles) long and 158 km across at the widest part. It is separated from the mainland of China, the southeastern coast of Fujian 福建 province, by a body of shallow water 160 km wide, known as the Taiwan strait (or the Formosa strait). The island is located on the edge of the continental shelf and hence has affi nities to continental landforms. The Philippines is about 320 km to the

CHAPTER 30

FIRST FARMERS AND THEIR COASTAL ADAPTATION IN PREHISTORIC TAIWAN 613

south; Japan is nearly 1,118 km to the north. To the east, ocean topography drops rapidly to 4,000 m and nearly 7,000 m in the nearby Ryukyu Trench ( Chu 1971 ).

The climate of the island is infl uenced by both continental and marine conditions. There are two monsoon seasons, a winter one with northeast winds and a summer one with southwest winds. Taiwan has a subtropical climate because the Tropic of Cancer cuts it into two nearly equal halves. The present-day ecological situation in southwestern Taiwan varies signifi cantly from that of the remainder of the island. It constitutes the only true tropical zone on the whole island and has the warmest climate. In addition, the coastal environment predominates in the southern part, providing a situation where subsistence and other economic achievements probably differed from those prevailing elsewhere on the island.

The annual average temperature for Kee-lung 基隆 in the north is 20.3°C (68.5°F), and it is 22.5°C (72.5°F) for Heng-chun 恆春 in the south, based on weather station records between 1981 and 2010. Winter temperatures vary greatly; Kee-lung averages 13.9°C (57°F), and Heng-chun 18°C (64.3°F).

It is interesting that the dry and rainy seasons occur at different times in the north and south, depending on the monsoon that is blowing at the time. In general, the rainy season is from October to March in the north when the northeast monsoon prevails. In contrast, the rainy season is from May to September in the south because of the southwest monsoon. Most precipitation occurs within the typhoon season, which usually lasts from June to October.

More than 400,000 modern Austronesian-speaking aborigines live in Taiwan. Since Taiwan is located on the northern margin of the Austronesian-speaking zone, most scholars have paid a lot of attention to the possibilities of migration and cultural infl uence from neighboring regions. As the “Lungshanoid” theory fi rst proposed by Kwang-chih (K.C.) Chang 張光直 suggests ( Chang et al. 1969 ), archaeological remains of the west coast could probably be from the ancestors of the modern Austronesian-speaking aborigines in Taiwan. Similarly, after studying the “Austrone-sian homeland,” Bellwood ( 1985: 212–222; 1991 : 92) proposed that around 6,000 years ago, small groups of agricultural settlers crossed the Formosa strait from main-land China. These groups were characterized by cord-marked pottery, polished stone adzes and reaping knives, slate projectile points, and baked clay spindle whorls ( Chang 1989a, 1989b ). Archaeological evidence discovered at the sites of both Nan-kuan-li 南關里 and Nan-kuan-li East 南關里東 in Tainan, southern Taiwan, show that it was settled 5,000 years ago ( Tsang et al. 2006 ). It is an ideal location to provide essential evidence for studying how and why the fi rst farmers settled in pre-historic Taiwan and their strategy of coastal adaptation.

BRIEF REVIEW OF PREHISTORIC TAIWAN

Archaeological evidence has shown the earliest inhabitants of Taiwan can be dated to 30,000–20,000 years ago ( Shikama et al. 1976 ). Except for two fragments of human skull that were found at Tso-chen 左鎮 , Tainan city, no further cultural context of this earliest epoch is available at this point. The fi rst real Paleolithic locality was found at Chang-pin 長濱 , on the east coast of Taiwan. The earliest archaeological remains can be radiocarbon-dated to 22,000 years ago ( Tsang et al. 2009 ). An archaic

614 LI KUANG-TI

pebble-and-fl ake tool industry characterizes the cultural remains ( Sung 1980 ; Tsang et al. 2009 ). More information is needed about the early occupation at Chang-pin to supplement the reports so far ( Sung 1969 ; Tsang et al. 2009 ). However, based on geological studies ( Lin 1966 ), it is known that Taiwan was connected with main-land China by a land bridge during the Fourth Glacial Period (late Pleistocene), between 24,000 and 12,000 years ago. Thus, ancient hunter-gatherers living in the southern part of present-day mainland China may have extended their foraging into Taiwan. Thereafter, they settled in this area. Based on four other archaeological dates, all close to 5000 BP ( c. 3050 BC ), Sung ( 1969 : 89) suggested that Changpinian culture, named for the site of Chang-pin 長濱 on the east coast of Taiwan, did not disappear until that time. Kwang-chih Chang and his colleagues commented:

the location of the caves on or close to the beach and the nature of some of the fi nds (e.g., cultural remains located in situ in or near beach sands, concentrated loci of stone waste, and bone-antler fi shing gear) bespeak sites not of permanent settlement but of specialized microenvironment-exploitative activities. Perhaps these caves served as tem-porary shelters for fi shermen, who used them to prepare and launch fi shing-related activities in which pottery played no part, whose settlement sites were somewhere near but perhaps in the interior. ( Chang et al. 1969 : 136)

In addition to fi ndings from the Chang-pin site, Li Kuang-chou 李光周 (1984, 1985,), in the O-luan-pi 鵝鑾鼻 II site excavation report, defi ned a new pre-ceramic culture found at the sites of O-luan-pi II and Lung-k ’ eng 龍坑 in the O-luan-pi peninsula on the southern tip of Taiwan. Since the assemblages of pebble and fl ake implements and shell and bone tools are different from those of the Changpinian culture, Li proposed that they belonged to “upper paleolithic cultures” and a culture contemporaneous with that of Changpinian (Li 1984: 129–130). These two sites are similar to the Chang-pin cave site, and it is still uncertain whether they served as fi shing sites. Nevertheless, most archaeologists in Taiwan agree that the pre-ceramic cultures were unrelated to the Neolithic cultures on the island.

The fi rst Neolithic culture type found in Taiwan is known as the Ta-p ’ en-k ’ eng (or Tapenkeng; pinyin Dapenkeng) 大坌坑 culture, and it is characterized by cord-marked pottery. According to K.C. Chang et al. ( 1969 ; Chang 1981 ), the cord-marked pottery horizon occurred along the entire western coast of Taiwan. Based on the archaeological collections from eastern coastal areas, this cultural component might have extended along the eastern coast of Taiwan as well. The Ta-p ’ en-k ’ eng site in Taipei ( Chang et al. 1969 ), the Feng-pi-t ’ ou (or Fengpitou) 鳳鼻頭 site in Kao-hsiung 高雄 ( Chang et al. 1969 ), the Pa-chia-ts ’ un 八甲村 site in Tainan ( Huang 1974 ), and the Kuo-yeh 菓葉 site in P ’ eng-hu 澎湖 ( Tsang 1992 ) are the typical sites of this culture. Based on site location and archaeological remains, the most evident features of this culture ( Chang et al. 1969 ; Chang 1970, 1981 ; Huang 1974 ; Tsang 1992 ) are: (1) Sites are located on coastal and stream terraces; (2) Pottery is thick, heavily eroded, and sand-tempered with color ranging from buff to dark brown. The major shapes are globular jars with incised, everted rims decorated with wavy lines and short parallel strokes; (3) Most cross sections of stone adzes are quadrangular in shape; most are polished, some with hafting steps; (4) Pecked pebbles may have been used as net sinkers; (5) Perforated triangular slate points are often found; and (6) Bark-cloth beaters have been found. Most of these are recognized as the cultural traits of


Austronesian-speaking groups, especially bark-cloth beaters. Actually, the date of this culture in Taiwan is still uncertain. One sample of shell remains from the surface of the Pa-chia-ts ’ un site dates to 6000 BP (4050 BC ) ( Huang 1974 : 66). Based on the studies from Kuo-yeh site in P ’ eng-hu ( Tsang 1989, 1995 ), the Coarse Cord-marked Ware culture occurred during a period around 4800–4600 BP ( c. 2850–2650 BC ).

On the basis of archaeological remains from the sites of Nan-kuan-li and Nan-kuan-li East (discussed further below), toolkit inventories suggest hunting, fi shing, farming, and collecting were all major subsistence activities. Both carbonized rice and millet were discovered at these two sites, it seems likely that the Ta-p ’ en-k ’ eng people were already engaged in intensive agriculture.

Beginning around 4500 BP ( c .2550 BC ), the early people had differentiated into a series of Neolithic cultures: Chih-shan-yen (Zhishanyan) 芝山岩 and Yuan-shan (Yuanshan) 圓山 in the north, the “Lungshanoid” in the west-central area and along the southern coast, and the Ch ’ i-lin (Qilin) 麒麟 and Pei-nan (Beinan) 卑南 cultures on the eastern coast. Most sites in this time period are scattered along lowland marine or stream terraces (Li 1981). It is noteworthy that the earliest evidence of rice cul-tivation has been discovered in this time period. As Chang et al. ( 1969 ) suggested, the most distinctive subsistence activity is the development of intensive agriculture after 4500 BP .

The Chih-shan-yen site is well known as the fi rst archaeological site recognized in Taiwan in 1896. Two distinct cultural strata were superimposed there, Chih-shan-yen on the bottom and Yuan-shan on the top. The Chih-shan-yen culture has these diagnostic features: dark gray sandy ware, red ware with painted designs, and a lump of carbonized rice. The associated implements for subsistence activities include chipped and polished hoes and axes, adzes, knives, projectile points, and net sinkers. These remains can be traced back to about three to four thousand years ago ( Huang 1984 ).

The Yuan-shan culture was distributed over most of the northern part of the island. However, most of our knowledge of this culture comes from discoveries at the Yuan-shan and Ta-p ’ en-k ’ eng sites. The pottery is characterized by sandy buff ware; it is plain, occasionally with incised, net-impressed, and brush-painted designs. Stone artifacts include shoulder-axes, stepped adzes, Patu-type long hoes (the shape looks like a Maori club used ceremonially), and perforated triangular points ( Chang et al. 1969 ). Based on the archaeological remains, a large, permanent settlement could have existed at Yuan-shan. Agriculture was an important subsistence activity, but hunting, fi shing, and shellfi sh gathering also provided important food resources ( Sung 1954 ; Chang et al. 1969 : 28). This culture existed from 4500 to 2000 BP ( c. 2550–2050 BC ) at the Yuan-shan site ( Huang 1989 : 51).

The “Lungshanoid” culture was named after the Lungshan (Longshan) 龍山 culture of mainland China by Kwang-chih Chang in 1969. This culture was mainly distributed along the west coast of central Taiwan and in the southwest part of the island and can be dated back to 4500 to 2500 BP . The pottery is characterized by tripods, high perforated ring-feet, bottle forms, and the use of a slow wheel with one of the following ceramic types: fi ne paste, cord-marked red; sandy, incised brown-buff; or incised and impressed black wares ( Sung et al. 1967 ; Chang et al. 1969 : 220). The subsistence-associated artifacts are large numbers of ground-slate reaping knives and projectile points, stone hoes, and adzes.

616 LI KUANG-TI

The Neolithic cultures on the east coast consisted mainly of two parallel groups. The Ch ’ i-lin culture is characterized by a variety of megaliths, including cists, walls, columns, menhirs, dolmens, statues, and disks. The sites of this culture have been found chiefl y on the coastal side of the Tai-tung 台東 coastal hills. This culture existed around 4000 BP . The Pei-nan culture is mostly distributed in the Tai-tung rift valley ( Sung 1980 ). It is characterized by slate slab columns, slate slab coffi ns, slate troughs with multiple rectangular depressions, and slate pestles. The pottery is characterized by a coarse paste and orange plain ware. It is rarely found, with examples consisting of jars with a fl aring mouth and two vertical or horizontal handles. The subsistence-associated artifacts include a large number of knives, sickles, adzes, and hoes.

After 3500 BP (1550 BC ), the Neolithic cultural development in Taiwan was quite diverse. Several distinctive types of pottery have been defi ned, such as sandy buff, plain, incised, ring impressed, and brush-painted ( Chang et al. 1969 ). In addition, the number of archaeological sites greatly increased. The abundant stone hoes and the large number of jars, presumably for storage, may indicate an intensive agriculture system. Moreover, a number of carbonized seeds of plants, and two sherds bearing husk impressions have been found at the site of Yin-pu 營埔 ( Huang 1984 ). These archaeological remains can be traced back to about 3,000 years ago. Further, shellfi sh gathering and marine food resource procurement could have been an important subsistence activity of the inhabitants along the coast ( Chang et al. 1969 ). In contrast to the earlier sites, these archaeological sites are found scattered in diverse settings, including the plains, marine and stream terraces, interior basins and valleys, hills, and mountains (Li 1989: 150).

Two thousand years ago iron was introduced into Taiwan. However, stone imple-ments and pottery still predominated. Today, archaeologists in Taiwan believe that modern aborigines could be the descendants of these Neolithic groups. At this time, a large number of people immigrated to Taiwan, especially from mainland China, judging from artifact styles. Many scholars believe that there was considerable inter-marriage among aboriginal peoples and the more recent arrivals to Taiwan, the Han Chinese. As a result, the archaeological record is diverse across the island of Taiwan. The prehistoric stage of Taiwan did not end until historic documents became avail-able after Dutch people occupied southern Taiwan around AD 1600.

EARLIEST NEOLITHIC CULTURE IN TAIWAN

Geological evidence reveals that Taiwan did not separate from the mainland until the late Pleistocene period. Initial human settlement in Taiwan during the Neolithic era, around 6,000 years ago, could not have occurred without a well-developed seafaring technology. The characteristics found at the site of Ta-p ’ en-k ’ eng led K.C. Chang et al. ( 1969 ) to suggest that Ta-p ’ en-k ’ eng people were among the earliest horticultural-ists in Southeast Asia. In the last twenty years, some other new Ta-p ’ en-k ’ eng sites (Figure 30.1 ) have been discovered on Taiwan and the nearby P ’ eng-hu archipelago. The resulting archaeological evidence is of great importance.

In addition to Ta-p ’ en-k ’ eng and Feng-pi-t ’ ou, the Pa-chia-tsun site, located in Kui-ren 歸仁 district of Tainan city, was discovered in Taiwan before 1980. Shih-chiang Huang 黃士強 and others conducted surface collections at the site in 1972


and 1974. Globular jars with incised, everted rims decorated with wavy lines and short parallel strokes; potsherds with cord-marked impressions; stone tools including chipped stone axes, polished axes, and adzes; and bone points were found on the surface of the riverbed. A radiocarbon date of 6000 BP (4050 BC ) was obtained from a shell sample, found without provenance ( Huang 1974 ). Because no excavation was

Figure 30.1 Prehistoric Ta-p ’ en-k ’ eng (TPK) culture sites on the southwestern coast of Taiwan.

618 LI KUANG-TI

conducted at the site, the signifi cance and date of these materials have not been elucidated.

In 1984, Cheng-hwa Tsang 臧振華 discovered and excavated a site characterized by coarse, cord-marked pottery at Kuo-yeh 菓葉 village on P ’ eng hu island ( Tsang 1992 ). Excavated cultural materials included pottery, stone, and coral artifacts, as well as animal bones, deer antlers, and shells. Analyses of these materials indicate a shift in settlement patterns from temporary or occasional visits to more permanent habitation and more intensive exploration of the surrounding environment. Major subsistence resources for Kuo-yeh settlers were the marine resources found along the shoreline; shellfi sh, fi sh, and presumably seaweed from the intertidal rocks and coral reefs were likely dietary staples.

In recent years, more Ta-p ’ en-k ’ eng (TPK) culture sites have been discovered around southern, northern, and eastern coasts all over the island. Three typical sites in the south – including Fu-te-yie-miao 福德爺廟 , Liu-he 六合 , and Kung-chai 孔宅 – were discovered on the Fengshan 鳳山 tableland in Kao-hsiung city ( Tsang et al. 1994 ), and Nan-kuan-li and Nan-kuan-li East were found on the fl oodplain in Hsin-shih 新市 district of Tainan city ( Nanke Archaeological Team 2002 ). In the north, remains of the TPK culture were found in the sites of Yuan-shan, Chih-shan-yen, and Kuan-tu 關渡 of the Taipei basin ( Liu et al. 1996 ; Liu 2002 ). Besides, a series of sites are found on terraces along the northeastern coast ( Chen You-pei 2000 ; Liu and Kuo 2000 ). During the last two decades, Ta-p ’ en-k ’ eng-style potsherds have also been found in sites on the eastern coast, including Pei-nan ( Lien and Sung 1986 ), Chang-kuang 長光 ( Yeh 2000 ), and Tung-he-pei 東河北 ( Huang and Liu 1993 ).

Among these newly discovered Ta-p ’ en-k ’ eng culture sites, the discoveries from Nan-kuan-li and Nan-kuan-li East are most noteworthy, as they contain important archaeological evidence that relates to the beginning of agricultural cultivation.

Nan-kuan-li is located on the fl oodplain of the Shan-hwa 善化 district, Tainan city, where a science-based industrial park called Tainan Science Park was constructed. The archaeological cultural component layers were 7 m beneath the modern surface and contained abundant artifacts and faunal remains. When an area of about 1,000 sq m was excavated, two major depositional layers of the Ta-p ’ en-k ’ eng culture were uncovered. Archaeological remains were diagnostic, including pottery, stone, shell, and bone tools, as well as animal bones, plant remains, and human burials ( Tsang et al. 2006 ).

Pottery unearthed from Nan-kuan-li consisted mostly of jars and bowls, dark or reddish-brown in color, with cord-marked, painted, and incised decorations – char-acteristics strikingly similar in style and form to the pottery of Kuo-yeh and Pa-chia-tsun. Stone tools were mainly polished adzes, arrowheads, and net sinkers. It is noteworthy that polished adzes included both quadrangular-sectioned and shoul-dered types made of basalt believed to be from P ’ eng hu island. One broken-stone bark-cloth beater was also discovered. Instead of stone knives, a large number of reaping knives made of oyster shells, were recovered. A few bone and antler artifacts were also found, including points, chisels, and bead ornaments. Many faunal (fi sh, deer, pig, and dog) and plant remains, mostly seeds of Nigaki ( Picrasma quassioides ) and hackberry ( Celtis sinensis ), were recovered. Noteworthy was the discovery of a few carbonized rice grains. Twelve human burials were recovered; half belonged to infants and youths. Except for one skeleton buried in a fl exed posture, all the


skeletons were supine and extended, with skulls pointing south. Ten radiocarbon dates indicate that the human occupation was sometime between 5000 and 4300 BP (3050–2350 BC ) ( Tsang et al. 2006 ).

Nan-kuan-li East, also discovered due to building construction, is located about 500 m east of the Nan-kuan-li site. Plentiful Ta-p ’ en-k ’ eng potsherds were excavated about 7–8 m beneath the surface. A salvage excavation of an area about 2,400 sq m was conducted from September 2002 to March 2003. Excavated materials were similar to those uncovered from Nan-kuan-li, except for the discovery of thousands of carbonized millet grains ( Tsang et al. 2006 ). Because millet grains had never been recovered from an archaeological site in Taiwan, this discovery is of great signifi cance. So far, we have not identifi ed the species of the millet grains but they are morpho-logically similar to foxtail millet ( Setaria italica ) grown by Austronesian-speaking people in modern-day Taiwan ( Wang Ying-hao et al. 2006 ).

Carbonized rice seeds from the sites were used to explore the origin and evolution-ary diversifi cation of land-races of rice, Oryza sativa subspecies Hsien 秈 , ( indica ), and O. sativa subspecies Keng 粳 ( sinica/japonica ), in prehistoric Taiwan. We found a similar distribution of seed type and size in land-race populations between Nan-kuan-li East (NKL) and You hsien-fang 右先方 (You xian-fang, YHF), a subsequent cultural component believed to represent a continuous culture that developed from Ta-p ’ en-k ’ eng, with many similarities. The Nan-kuan-li and You-hsien-fang sites are located in the same region but are around 1,000 years apart in date. The changing pattern in both sites indicates that the rice land-race populations were selected for seed size ( Wang Ying-hao et al. 2006 ).

Comparing the distribution of seed size in the tested land-race population, we found no wild perennial rice seed. We infer that the land-race populations originated from a local wild progenitor and had been domesticated. The distribution of Hsien ( indica ) and Keng ( sinica/ japonica ) types in the population arose from two distinct gene pools of wild progenitors that diverged much earlier. The Keng ( sinica/japonica ) type-prone population (e.g., NKL site, 4800–4200 BP , or 2850–2250 BC and YHF site, 3800–3300 BP , or 1850–1350 BC ) and Hsien ( indica ) type-prone population (e.g., Wu-chien-tso, or WCT site; 1400–1000 BP , or AD 650–1050) might result from adaptive selection following domestication in the middle and late Neolithic period.

THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS ON THE BEGINNING OF AGRICULTURE IN PREHISTORIC TAIWAN

In the last century, many archaeologists ( Chang et al. 1969 ; Chang 1974, 1977a, 1986 ; Li 1981; Tsang 1992 ) developed models that articulated the origin of agri-culture in Taiwan. An overview of those theoretical considerations, based on the data available at that time, is described below.

K.C. Chang (et al. 1969 ) fi rst proposed the “Lungshanoid expansion” hypothesis to explain the rise of agriculture in prehistoric Taiwan four thousand years ago and suggested that cultivation resulted from the movement of agricultural people who lived in a nuclear area in northern China. In the late 1970s, based on new archaeo-logical data, Chang ( 1977b : 153) modifi ed the hypothesis, saying that:

620 LI KUANG-TI

At least two or possibly three regions in China crossed the threshold to agricultural ways of life. They centered in middle Yellow River valley of North China, the southeastern coastal areas, and lower Yangtze and the Huai river plains, and their cultures in these areas were known respectively as Yang-shao [Yangshao 仰韶 ], Ta-p ’ en-k ’ eng, and Ching-lien-kang [Qingliangang 青蓮崗 ].

In 1986, Chang proposed the concept of an “interaction sphere” ( Chang 1986 ) to replace the concept of the Lungshanoid expansion. By 7000 BP , he argued, several distinctive and individual regional cultures in southern China (including Ta-p ’ en-k ’ eng and Ho-mu-tu (Hemudu 河姆渡 ; see Chapter 27 ) and the early Ma-chia-pang (Majiabang 馬家浜 ) culture all featured cord-marked wares and may have been ances-tral to all rice-growing cultures in southern China. Not until 6000 BP , however, did archaeological remains suggest that “regional cultures that reached out to touch each other physically, interacted culturally, and show tangible and growing evidence of sustained and signifi cant interaction” ( Chang 1986 :237). Instead of agricultural people extending their territories to Taiwan, Chang suggested that rice cultivation in prehistoric Taiwan resulted from cultural interactions with southern Chinese cultures.

On the basis of archaeological remains from the site of Ken-ting 墾丁 , Li Kuang-chou (1976, 1981) proposed the model of “innovation adoption” to explain the earliest form of agriculture in prehistoric Taiwan. Li stated that, because no archaeo-logical evidence had been found to indicate otherwise, the early farmers developed agriculture independently in all parts of Taiwan. Furthermore, as evidence at the Ken-ting site has shown, these agricultural systems were well developed. As a conse-quence, Ken-ting inhabitants adopted a new type of cultivation, with possible ante-cedents in south China and Southeast Asia (Li 1981: 238–241, 254–255).

Based on the P ’ eng-hu 澎湖 archaeological record, Tsang Cheng-hwa (1992: 279) strongly asserted:

From the evidence at hand, we may say with more confi dence that the Red Corded Ware culture was essentially a continuous development of the Corded Ware culture, but that the change from the earlier to the later culture took place as the result of a complex process which involved the interplay of several factors, such as environmental changes, man–land relationships, regional–local interactions and cultural information fl ow, rather than any single internal or external mechanism.

This mechanism of interaction affected subsequent cultural groups inhabiting Taiwan. Nevertheless, archaeological materials from P ’ eng-hu (4700–2000 BP , or 2750–2050 BC ) indicate intensive marine exploitation; people relied upon marine resources for their staple food ( Tsang 1992, 1995 ).

While explanatory models may look different, they seem to correlate with one another. Will the newly discovered rice and millet remains in Tainan serve to modify these conceptualizations? First, if rice cultivation was adopted from mainland China, why did this happen in the Tainan area and not in other prehistoric Taiwanese set-tlements? Technologically, techniques of millet cultivation differ vastly from tech-niques of rice cultivation (e.g., dry versus wet fi elds and the cultivating procedures). Why would the Nan-kuan-li and Nan-kuan-li East people adopt two different tech-niques simultaneously?


How did the Nan-kuan-li and Nan-kuan-li East people base their food resources on two different crops? The newly discovered data combined with these problems could spark new thinking about the early forms of agriculture in prehistoric Taiwan.

RETHINKING THE BEGINNING OF RICE AND MILLET CULTIVATION IN PREHISTORIC TAIWAN

After carbonized rice and millet was unearthed from Nan-kuan-li and Nan-kuan-li East, a number of scholars have argued that this new evidence corroborates the idea that the earliest Neolithic culture – Ta-p ’ en-k ’ eng culture in Taiwan – was agricultur-ally based (e.g., Bellwood 2001, 2005a, 2005b ; Lu 2005; Tsang 2005 ). Moreover, Tsang Cheng-hwa proposed a more conclusive view that the varieties, styles, and forms of artifacts uncovered from Nan-kuan-li further supports the earlier view, based on evidence from Kuo-yeh of P ’ eng hu, that the Ta-p ’ en-k ’ eng culture of Taiwan was tied to the Neolithic cultures of Hong Kong and the Pearl river delta 珠江三角洲 of Guangdong 廣東 province. That is, the Pearl river delta is most probably the source area of the TPK culture in Taiwan ( Tsang 2005 ). Among these scholars, only Lu has questioned whether millet and rice were discovered in this TPK culture and time period (Lu 2005). Lu noticed that modern Formosan aborigines do not recognize rice as one of their fi rst cultivated crops, but do recognize millet in this way. Interest-ingly, based on several studies, the Formosan aborigines ’ cultivation of foxtail millet seems to be similar to what we would expect for an initial phase of millet farming ( Fogg 1983 ). All the evidence suggests that archaeological and ethnographic materi-als do not agree. Nevertheless, the main question to answer is why two staple crops (rice from southern part of mainland China and millet from the north) had developed within one cultural context, based on the newly advanced archaeological evidence from Tainan Science Park.

A MULTIFACTOR EXPLANATION OF THE FIRST FARMERS IN PREHISTORIC TAIWAN

Current scientifi c evidenc suggest that Taiwan was separated from mainland China in the late Pleistocene. Ta-p ’ en-k ’ eng settlers would have had to employ a well-developed seafaring technology to arrive at what is now Taiwan, and their main occupation must be assumed to have been fi shing. Because this paper focuses on the origins of rice and millet farming in Taiwan, the fi rst step in formulating a well-grounded theory to explain the agricultural origins and food production is to deter-mine whether the observed changes were due to stimuli from the biophysical environment, the cultural milieu, or social institutions ( Redman 1978 ).

The environment was crucial in many fundamental developments in the human career. Nan-kuan-li and Nan-kuan-li East are located on an alluvial plan between the Tseng-wen 曾文 and Yian-shui 鹽水 rivers with an elevation about 4–8 m above current sea level. Although archaeological deposits were unearthed 7 m below ground, the region was evidently available for growing crops. Environmental change has occurred continuously for 5,000 years and has left its legacies on the

622 LI KUANG-TI

landscape. Not long ago this area was even a sugarcane fi eld of the Taiwan Sugar Company.

If environmental variables are basic causal factors that serve to explain the origin of agriculture, why should they have had two crops as their staple? This question is related to many inquiries into human adaptations and cultural development. The critical point is that either rice or millet could have become an important dietary staple. But it has been recognized that cultivation of rice and millet was developed from the Yangzi and Yellow river valleys respectively (Lu 1999, 2005). Why were these grains adopted by ancient Nan-kuan-li East residents as early as 5,000 years ago? We lack the information to determine which site was earlier than the other; a distinctly different story would result if Nan-kuan-li East settlement came before the Nan-kuan-li settlement itself.

Explanations for different courses of development should be sought because, if they were convincingly tied to particular cultural variables, then the case for culture ’ s determining role would be strengthened. People learn and then transmit culture. The case of Nan-kuan-li East could be the result of “innovation adoption” of rice farmers through interaction with millet farmers. Nowadays, foxtail millet grows prodigiously in the eastern part of island. Unfortunately, we have no archaeological remains from the same time period. Alternatively, the ancient residents of southern Taiwan could have interacted with people in the northern part of China. The question still remains why they should need two staple crops. Given the variety of modern food resources, it seems reasonable that the Nan-kuan-li East residents would have adopted a new food item. The major question is whether the people introducing rice farming came fi rst and allowed millet to be introduced, or whether the adoption of millet was in response to a need to diversify local agricultural systems.

Social organization as a primary force is often discussed but infrequently docu-mented in the archaeological literature. There might have been a number of organi-zational reasons that affected the introduction of agriculture in Taiwan 5,000 years ago. The model of “push and pull” factors can be applied to discuss various scenarios for the introduction of agriculture. The idea of “push” is that when people live in a diffi cult and hostile environment there is a pressure to push them away. In contrast, “pull” factors mean a good environment attracting people to go and settle in a place. Relevant factors would have included availability of new lands at Nan-kuan-li area (pull factor) and perhaps a shortage of arable land due to increasing population at home (push factor). An alternative explanation is that in pursuing other available food resources people arrived by chance at Nan-kuan-li. Sometimes, social norms (e.g., only the eldest son inheriting family property) can be responsible for expanding agriculture areas. Similarly, seasonal changes can affect fi shermen living along the coast, who in turn seek new fi shing grounds or lands to inhabit.

Charles Redman ( 1978 ) proposed that the success of early farming depended upon the willingness and ability of people to store enough crop yields to use as seed in the subsequent year and for insurance against lean seasons. It is unlikely that Nan-kuan-li and Nan-kuan-li East inhabitants depended on farming or crop yields as their major food resources. Most scholars have surmised that Ta-p ’ en-k ’ eng settlers strongly relied on marine food resources. This conjecture has also validated the view that the rice that the land-race populations of Nan-kuan-li grew originated from a local wild progenitor and not domesticated until 2000 BP (2050 BC ).


FIRST FARMERS AND THEIR COASTAL ADAPTATION

Faunal analysis from the site of Nan-kuan-li and Nan-kuan-li East may point to several specifi c research goals. First, I use faunal data to reconstruct resource use. Second, examining the relative emphasis on terrestrial and marine fauna over time may further indicate whether a change in emphasis correlated with environmental changes at the site. Finally, carbon and oxygen isotopic analysis relates to the issue of seasonality of shellfi sh collecting and is discussed further to elucidate coastal adaptation strategy in relation to this natural resource.

Ancient shellfi sh gathering strategy Shell remains in Nan-kuan-li and Nan-kuan-li East seem to indicate that coastal food sources played a signifi cant role in the inhabitants ’ daily life during the period of occupation. In total, there are 313,459 pieces of shell; 3,138.83 kg were unearthed from locus E. At least 49 species of gastropods and bivalves have been identifi ed from these remains. They can be divided into three main categories: land snail, freshwater mollusk, and marine mollusk. The remains of land snails are too small to verify their role as a food source for prehistoric Nan-kuan-li and Nan-kuan-li East people. However, the remains of land snails at archaeological sites could be used as an indica-tor for reconstructing the paleoenvironment ( Christensen and Kirch 1981, 1986 ; Kirch 1993 ). The 15 most abundant shellfi sh identifi ed from both sites are: Sulcate swamp cerith 刻紋海蜷 ( Terebralia sulcata ), Telescope snail 望遠鏡海蜷 ( Telescopium telescopium ), Mud creeper 泥海蜷 ( Terebralia palustris ), Root horn shell 網目海蜷 ( Cerithidea rhizophorarum ), Waved nerite 粗紋蜑螺 ( Nerita undata ), Square mystery snail 石田螺 ( Sinotaia quadrata ), Granular ark 血蚶 ( Tegillarca granosa ), Knotty ark 結毛蚶 ( Tegillarca nodifera ), Venus clam 環文蛤 ( Cyclina sinensis ), Squamose venus 歪簾蛤 ( Anomalocardia squamosa ), Common geloina 紅樹蜆 ( Geloina erosa ), Giant pacifi c oyster 長牡蠣 ( Crassostrea gigas ), Chinese river oyster 近江牡蠣 ( Crassostrea rivularis ), Dalian Bay oyster 大連灣牡蠣 ( Crassostrea talienwhanensis ), and Crenulate rock oyster 黑齒牡蠣 ( Saccostrea mordax ). The results indicate a relatively constant composition of the 10 top-ranking taxa across the time of occupation. Five taxa in particular predominate, on the basis of ranking by count and weight: oysters, telescope snails, sulcate swamp cerith, granular ark, and square mystery snail. In the archaeologi-cal remains of Nan-kuan-li and Nan-kuan-li East, at least four species of oysters are identifi ed: giant pacifi c, Dalian Bay, crenulate rock, and Palmate. If we do not count and/or weigh their species separately, oysters would be the most abundant shellfi sh collected by those prehistoric inhabitants. It is noteworthy, when compared over time, the analysis found increasing difference of oyster-gathering in the upper stage. Oysters are still being collected commercially today for food and as a commercial farming product. While the fi eld excavation was being conducted, the local people commented that the size and species variations are less in the present day.

Among the fi rst fi ve highest-ranked shellfi sh, sulcate swamp cerith and telescope snail represent high frequencies in the beginning occupation stage (49.8%) and had largely decreased by the late period (5.2%). This may refl ect a change in Nan-kuan-li shellfi sh-gathering strategies and in the subsistence system as a whole. Granular ark is another species which played an important role in the ancient period of this area.

624 LI KUANG-TI

They presented merely 2.3 percent in the beginning but increased to 42.5 percent in the late occupation period. Noteworthy, these three species of shellfi sh are almost extinct in this area present day. As a whole, only a small number of taxa contributed to the Nan-kuan-li shell assemblage. Oyster, Asian clam, Venus clam, lucina, ark, and square mystery snail are the most abundant species. Oysters are commonly found in muddy estuaries along the southwestern coastline of Taiwan. Freshwater marsh clams, such as Asian clam ( Corbicula fl uminea ) are abundant around the rivers and lakes. Common geloina ( Geloina coacans ) are found in archaeological deposits but are almost extinct nowadays in Taiwan.

Another major goal of this study is to investigate the isotopic profi les in growth increments of these shells in order to have a better understanding of the dates of shellfi sh-gathering activities and the paleoenvironments that these shells inhabited. If those sites were being occupied by the same culture groups, the seasonal exploitation of food resources such as shellfi sh may elucidate the annual economy.

Shellfi sh studies show that shell growth results from the daily deposition of calcium carbonate (CaCO 3 ) on the growth surfaces of the shell organism. Accordingly, the shells are affected by changes in the water environment, such as chemical composi-tion, microstructure, and oxygen isotope ratios ( Deith 1983a : 69). While the shell is growing, the oxygen isotope ratios of the shell are partially determined by fl uctuat-ing temperatures and the isotopic composition of surrounding water ( Deith 1983b ; Wang Chung-ho and Peng 1990a, 1990b ). When delta oxygen values of sea water maintain consistency, variations of 0.2‰ in δ oxygen value are equivalent to changes of 1°C, the heavier values being produced by colder temperatures ( Deith 1983a : 69).

Based on the modern shells collected from estuaries in Tainan area, carbon isotopic values of marine shell are heavier than 0‰ and oxygen isotopic values are heavier than − 2‰ ( Wang Chung-ho and Peng 1990a , b). Carbon isotopic profi les from modern coastal water samples show a range of about 0.36‰, and the oxygen isotopic fl uctuation ranges between 0.1‰ and 0.5‰. The carbon isotopic values of freshwater streams are lower than seawater, ranging between − 1‰ and − 9‰ ( Li 1991 ).

The carbon isotopic values of archaeological shell samples ( Tsai 1993 ) fall into the same range as the current marine and freshwater environment in the Tainan area. Apparently, these shells were collected from estuary and freshwater environments similar to the modern environment near the Tainan coast. In the study of the archaeological materials, 37 samples of shell remains from the 10 most popular species were selected to carry out carbon isotopic analysis. These shells were ultra-sonically cleaned. Organic matter was destroyed by treatment with sodium hypochlo-rite (10%) for 24 hours. Subsamples of each specimen, weighing about 3 mg each, were removed sequentially with a dental drill from the apex of the shell, along the incremental line toward the edge of the shell. Carbon dioxide was released by reac-tion with 100 percent orthophosphoric acid at 50°C, purifi ed, and analyzed using a micromass isoprime isotope ratio mass spectrometer. The carbon isotopic distribu-tion of these specimens is as follows: common geloina ( Geloina coasans ) − 3.5‰ to − 11.5‰; knotty ark ( Anadara nodifera ) − 1.1‰ to − 5.1‰; granular ark ( Anadara granosa ) 0.1‰ to − 4.7‰; square mystery snail ( Sinotaia quadrata ) 4.2 to − 3.1; waved nerite ( Nerita undata ) − 2.8‰ to − 9.8‰; Venus clam ( Anomalocardia squa-mosa ) − 0.3‰ to − 2.8‰; Venus clam ( Cyclina sinensis ) − 1.3‰ to − 6.0‰; Lucina ( Eamesiella corrugata ) − 5.2‰ to − 8.6‰; subulate auger ( Terebralia sulcata ) − 3.1‰


to − 5.5‰; cingulate horn shell ( Cerithidea cingulata ) − 4.5‰ to − 9.6‰. Since the current freshwater carbon isotopic profi les range from − 1‰ and − 9‰, the water environments of these 37 shells were not signifi cantly different from the current southwestern coastal environments.

If shellfi sh-gathering was incorporated into a subsistence system, then various environmental or social changes might occur that could alter the role of that resource in the overall economy. It is important to learn how prehistoric inhabitants scheduled their gathering activities. Based on the delta oxygen value distribution of each speci-men, the life history of each shell can be deciphered. Those studies show that the prehistoric inhabitants of Nan-kuan-li did not collect shellfi sh often in the spring months. It is my opinion that shellfi sh may not have been eaten often in the spring months because other food resources were available, which made shellfi sh-collecting less economic. Second, the overall subsistence pattern may have been dif-ferent in the spring, so that prehistoric Nan-kuan-li inhabitants were only able to carry out limited shellfi sh-gathering.

TERRESTRIAL HUNTING

In addition to shell remains, terrestrial mammal and bird remains can provide signifi -cant information about the environmental adaptation strategy of the inhabitants. Remnants from seven families and eight species were uncovered from Nan-kuan-li and Nan-kuan-li East. These are dog ( Canis sp.), wild boar ( Sus scrofa taivanus , Formosan Wild Boar), deer ( Cervus nippon taiouanus , Formosan Sika Deer), muntjac ( Muntiacus reevesii micrurus , Formosan Reeve ’ s Muntjac), hare ( Lepus sinensis for-mosus , Formosan Hare), rat (Old World Rats and Mice), feline, civet ( Paguma larvata taivana , Formosan Gem-faced Civet). The kinds of terrestrial mammals found in Taiwan are similar to those found in mainland China and Southeast Asia. Since Taiwan is an island, the variations in its topography, elevation, and climate caused mammals to evolve independently from their counterparts on the Asian main-land into numerous endemic species and subspecies ( Lee and Lin 1992 ).

Generally speaking, these animals have been utilized as food resources, especially to provide necessary protein. Ethnohistoric and ethnographic materials have docu-mented the signifi cant role played by hunting in the lives of Formosan aborigines in the early 17th century. It is believed that some species became extinct because of over-hunting and other forms of human impact, such as clearing fi elds for horticul-ture. As matter of fact, Cervus nippon taiouanus (Formosan sika deer) became extinct in Taiwan at least two decades ago ( Lee and Lin 1992 ).

Dog remains are the most abundant terrestrial mammal remnants found through-out the whole occupation span at Nan-kuan-li and Nan-kuan-li East. Recent advanced genetic study suggest an East Asian origin for the domestic dog can be dated to about 15,000 years ago ( Savolainen et al. 2002: 1610–1613 ). No concrete evidence can verify that dog remains at Nan-kuan-li belonged to domesticated species. Nev-ertheless, they appear to be domesticated species since four of them are buried in the same way as humans.

Cervidae (deer) are the second most abundant terrestrial mammal remains found at Nan-kuan-li and Nan-kuan-li East. According to the mammalian survey, there are

626 LI KUANG-TI

at least three wild species of deer in Taiwan: Cervus nippon taiouanus , Cervus unicolor swinhoei (Formosan sambar), and Muntiacus reevesii micrurus (Formosan Reeve ’ s muntjac) ( Lydekker 1898 ; Chou 1963 ; J. Chen and Yu 1986 ; Lee and Lin 1992 ). Today, a small number of Formosan Reeve ’ s muntjac can still be found at elevations between 500 and 3,500 m. Only a few Formosan sambar are now seen at elevations between 2,000 and 3,500 m. No sightings of wild Formosan sika deer have been reported since the 1960s ( Lee and Lin 1992 ).

Chen Ti noted in his “Tung-fan-chi” “(Notes on Eastern Savages)” in 1602 (1959) that deer was the most abundant species of animal in Taiwan. Further, he described a winter scene in which a herd of deer appeared and more than a hundred people chased and hunted them. The hunted deer were piled up – and looked like a hill. An early document relates that when the Dutch occupied the south of Taiwan between AD 1624 and 1662, between 50,000 and 200,000 deer hides yearly were exported to Japan and other places ( Chou 1963 ). Apparently, deer played a signifi cant role in the daily life of inhabitants in Taiwan in the past.

Suidae (pigs and boars) are the second most common terrestrial mammal remains unearthed from Nan-kuan-li and Nan-kuan-li East. No domesticated species of pig existed in prehistoric Taiwan except at Lanyu (Orchid island), although pigs were the principal domesticated animals of early farmers (6000 BC ) in China ( Chang 1986 ). Sus scrofa taivanus (Formosan wild boar) was the only species found in the archaeological sites. In general, the wild boar has a bigger head than the domestic pig. The lower canines grow toward the outside and turn out, becoming long pro-truding teeth. The hair of wild boar is coarser than that of domestic ones. Today, most wild boars can be found at elevations from 1,000 to 3,000 m, and they still are widely distributed in Taiwan. Boars migrate to the lowlands during the wintertime. Traditionally, Formosan aborigines hunt this species, as it provides an important protein supplement to their diet.

Only a small number of rabbit, cat, civet, and rat remains were found at these two sites. In general, these can be viewed as an occasional food supplement. Based on the rarity of their presence, prehistoric inhabitants would not count on these animals to help fulfi ll their dietary needs. As a whole, the relative abundance of remains sug-gests that dogs, deer, and wild boars played most important roles in prehistoric hunting (Figure 30.2 A). They also appeared in increased quantities in the later occupations.

Marine and riverine fi shing Of all the fauna, fi sh bone assemblages represent the most abundant potential food resource at the Nan-kuan-li region (Figure 30.2 B). Apparently, marine and riverine exploitation was signifi cant to the area ’ s inhabitants fi ve thousand years ago. At least nine fi sh families can be identifi ed in the archaeological collections from the Nan-kuan-li site. They are: shark, stingray, common carp, sea bream, parrotfi sh, spotted sea catfi sh, large yellow croaker, porcupine fi sh, and grey mullet. More than 17 fami-lies can be found among the Nan-kuan-li East fi sh remains. In addition to those found at Nan-kuan-li, there are tiger-toothed croaker, konibe, mi-iuy croaker, javelin grunter, yellowfi n sea bream, Asian seabass, amur catfi sh, walking catfi sh, bar-tailed fl athead, knifetooth sawfi sh, groupers, tuna, and eels. Most of these fi sh were caught


inshore. Only a few are offshore species. Even sharks are quite often caught inshore. In the distribution frequency, javelin grunter has the most plentiful remains. Never-theless, 12 different species of sharks can also be identifi ed. It is noteworthy that current studies of knifetooth sawfi sh suggest that this kind of fi sh cannot be found around the Taiwan strait region. Overall, the analysis suggests that inshore fi sh fami-lies were a greater marine food resource than the offshore fi sh families during the prehistoric occupation of Nan-kuan-li and Nan-kuan-li East.

A SCENARIO FOR SUBSISTENCE SETTLEMENT PATTERNS OF ANCIENT TAIWAN

The proposed argument is not intended to be a conclusive, simplifi ed theory to explain the introduction of rice and millet farming in Nan-kuan-li and Nan-kuan-li East; rather, it affords an investigatory framework with which to evaluate current hypotheses and archaeological evidence. Instead of proposing a new model for the beginning of agriculture, we would like to integrate most of the proposed models

Figure 30.2 (A) Nan-kuan-li East faunal remains distribution by weight in grams (B) Distribution of fi sh remains at Nan-kuan-li East by weight in grams.

30,000

25,000

20,000

15,000

10,000

5,000

0

Fish

Dog

Dee

rCra

b

Mun

tjac

Rat

Turtl

e

Rab

bit

BirdCivet

Felin

e

Snake

Frog Bat

Wild

boa

r

2,000

1,800

1,600

1,400

1,200

1,000

800

600

400

200

0

Jave

lin g

runt

er

Knife

toot

h sa

wfis

h

Sea b

ream

s

Gre

y m

ullet

Sea b

ass

Spotte

d ca

tfish

Amur

cat

fish

Larg

e ye

llow cro

aker

Shark

s

Com

mon

stin

gray

Parro

tfish

Com

mon

car

p

Walking

cat

fish

Yello

wfin

sea

brea

mTu

na

Konibe

Dee

pwat

er flat

head

Tiger

-toot

hed

croa

ker

Ells

Gro

uper

s

Porcu

pine

-fish

Mi-iuy

cro

aker

A

B

628 LI KUANG-TI

and add more interpretations, in order to complete a holistic picture about the incep-tion of agriculture in ancient Taiwan. A plausible scenario follows.

At least 5,000 years ago, many fi shing and farming settlements were located along the coast of southeast China or on nearby islands. While fi shing and farming repre-sented major subsistence activities, inhabitants also relied upon hunting and gathering to meet their subsistence needs. Apparently, the inhabitants had considerable knowl-edge about seafaring and offshore fi shing. They might have crossed the Taiwan strait and learned of available locations for procuring more food resources. For undeter-mined reasons, fi shermen may have decided to move to newly available land. This movement may have been due to increased family size; social norms might have dictated that part of the family leave in order to establish a new home base. In such a scenario, Nan-kuan-li, sharing similar biogeographical conditions to their original home, may have been a suitable choice for settlement. Once settled, fi shing and farming continued as major subsistence activities; in addition to offshore fi shing, set-tlers grew rice on the alluvial plain. Stone artifacts uncovered from the sites indicate connections to settlers on the east coast of Taiwan and on the P ’ eng hu islands. Perhaps owing to lean seasons and/or a willingness to add variety to their food resources, settlers were induced to grow millet or trade for it with others from north China or eastern Taiwan. Archaeological materials suggest that, as a whole, prehis-toric Nan-kuan-li and Nan-kuan-li East settlers had well-developed coastal adaptation strategies. Faunal remains strongly indicate a marine food-resource procurement and dietary system. Marine foods were more central to their daily dietary system than farming.

CONCLUSIONS

Attempting to fi nd the origins of such activity is a challenging yet compelling task for archaeologists. In fact, it is diffi cult to pinpoint the exact driver that sparks the origin of any activity. Various stimuli from each driver are interrelated and seldom function in isolation. This dictum is similar to the Chinese saying that ideally, a perfect concordance exists among man, nature, and in human society.

For over 100 years, sites in Taiwan and the southeast coast of China have yielded abundant archaeological materials. From this accumulation of materials, research has concentrated on establishing the cultural sequence of prehistoric time periods. In addition, studies of the dispersal of farmers have focused upon identifying the home-land in the southern part of China of the small groups of agricultural settlers who crossed the Taiwan Strait some six thousand years ago ( Chang 1986 ; Tsang 1992 ; Bellwood 1997 ; Blust 1999 ). Cord-marked pottery, polished stone adzes, reaping knives, slate projectile points, and baked-clay spindle whorls characterized these groups. Beyond these studies, scant attention has been paid to the dispersal of pre-historic inhabitants within Taiwan and the southeast coast of China in the past six thousand years.

Additionally, most archaeological studies have focused on classifying newly discov-ered cultural components. Few archaeologists have addressed issues beyond the material context and their similarities. Artifact evidence can be used as an index of association between prehistoric cultures in Taiwan and southeast coast of China


because it can provide evidence for material transport. We know that stone adzes made of basalt were commonly distributed in archaeological sites throughout south-western Taiwan and the Penghu archipelago between 5000 and 3500 BP ( c. 3050–1550 BC ) ( Hung 2000 ; Rolett et al. 2000 ). Following the same communication routes, it follows that the distribution of Nan-kuan-li East millet would be similar for the same time period.

Finally, we drew attention to two issues surrounding the beginning of agriculture and coastal adaptation in Taiwan. The fi rst is the concept of multi-factor explanations. When one event has occurred at certain location, it may be caused by totally different factors when seen from different viewpoints. For instance, all settlers at Nan-kuan-li and Nan-kuan-li East might have arrived there from different hometowns and at dif-ferent time periods for many reasons. One could defi ne this issue as “migration,” “expansion,” and “diffusion.” Nevertheless, there are countless factors that could prove infl uential. In addition, to study the relationship between humans and their environment requires interdisciplinary investigation. This brings out our second issue, that of a multidisciplinary research program for studying the origins of agricultural societies. Attention should be given to similar aspects among those various disciplines, and to the method and theory of investigating agricultural systems. As a matter of fact, the nature of archaeological study causes it to lie at the meeting point of several fi elds. Similarly, recent publications have integrated archaeological, linguistic, and genetic perspectives ( Bellwood and Renfrew 2003 ; Bellwood 2005 ; Sagart et al. 2005 ). It is our hope that the information presented here offers a broader context for investigating the beginning of agricultural cultivation in prehistoric Taiwan.

REFERENCES

Bellwood , Peter . 1985 . Prehistory of the Indo-Malaysian Archipelago . New York : Academic . –– 1997 . Prehistory of the Indo-Malaysian Archipelago . Honolulu : University of Hawai ’ i Press . –– 2001 . Early Agriculturalist Population Diasporas? Farming, Languages and Genes . Annual

Review of Anthropology 30 : 181 – 207 . –– 2005a . Examining the Farming/Language Dispersal Hypothesis in the East Asian Context .

In Sagart et al. (2005): 49 – 62 . –– 2005b . First Farmers: The Origins of Agricultural Societies . Cambridge, MA : Blackwell . –– 2007 . Review Feature: First Farmers: The Origins of Agricultural Societies . Cambridge

Archaeological Journal 17 ( 1 ): 87 – 109 (with commentary by Clive Gamble, Steven A. Le Blanc, Mark Pluciennik, Martin Richards, and John Edward Terrell).

Bellwood , Peter , and Colin Renfrew , eds. 2003 . Examining the Farming/Language Dispersal Hypothesis . Cambridge : McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research .

Blust , Robert . 1999 . Subgrouping, Circularity and Extinction . In Selected Papers from the Eighth International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics , ed. Elizabeth Zeitoun and Paul J.K. Li : 31 – 94 . Taipei : Academia Sinica, Institute of Linguistics .

Chang , Kwang-chih 張光直 . 1970 Prehistoric Archaeology of Taiwan . Asian Perspectives, Vol. XIII: 59 – 77 .

–– 1974 . Ancient Farmers in the Asian Tropics: Major Problems for Archaeological and Palaeoenvironmental Investigations of Southeast Asia at the Earliest Neolithic level . In Perspectives in Palaeoanthropology , ed. Asok K.Ghosh : 273 – 86 . Calcutta : Firma K.L. Mukhopadhyay .

–– 1977a . The Archaeology of Ancient China , 3rd edn . New Haven : Yale University Press . –– 1977b . Chinese Palaeoanthroplogy . Annual Review of Anthropology 6 : 137 – 159 .

630 LI KUANG-TI

–– 1981 . The Affl uent Foragers in the Coastal Areas of China: Extrapolation from Evidence on the Transition to Agriculture in Affl uent Foragers . In Affl uent Foragers, Senri Ethnological Studies , No. 9, ed. Shuzo Koyama and David Hurst Thomas : 177 – 186 . National Museum of Ethnology , Osaka .

–– 1986 . The Archaeology of Ancient China , 4th edn . New Haven : Yale University Press . –– 1989a . Taiwan archaeology in Pacifi c Perspective . In Anthropological Studies of the Taiwan

area: Accomplishments and Perspectives , ed. K.C. Chang , C.C. Yin , and K.C. Li . Taipei : Department of Anthropology, National Taiwan University .

–– 1989b . 新石器時代的台灣海峽 (The Taiwan Strait in the Neolithic Period) . Kaogu 1989 ( 6 ): 541 – 550 , 569.

Chang , Kwang-chih , Chao-chi Lin , Minze Stuiver , Hsin-yuan Tu , Matsuo Tsukada , Richard Pearson , and Tse-min Hsu . 1969 . Fengpitou, Tapenkeng, and the Prehistory of Taiwan . New Haven : Yale University Press .

Chen , Johnson 陳兼善 , and Yu Ming-chen 于名振 . 1986 . 台湾脊椎动物志（下册） ( A Syn-opsis of the Vertebrates of Taiwan , Vol. 2, Rev. edn.). Taipei: Shang-wu. Chen. Ti 陳第 . 1959. 東番記 (Notes on Eastern Savages [1602]) . In 閩海贈言 (Giving Words to the Min Sea) , ed. Shen Yourong 沈有容 . Taipei : Bank of Taiwan .

Chen , You-pei 陳有貝 . 2000 . 核能四廠臨時工房新建工程工地考古試掘報告 (Report on the Test Excavation at the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant of Taiwan Power Company) . Taipei : Taiwan Power Company .

Chou , Ming-hung 周鳴鴻 . 1963 . 鹿在臺灣 (Deer in Taiwan) . Bank of Taiwan Quarterly 12 ( 1 ): 196 – 207 .

Christensen , Carl. C. , and Patrick V. Kirch . 1981 . Nonmarine Mollusks from Archaeological Sites on Tikopia, Southeastern Solomon Islands . Pacifi c Science 35 : 75 – 88 .

–– 1986 . Nonmarine Mollusks and Ecological Change at Barbers Point, O ’ ahu, Hawaii . Bishop Museum Occasional Papers 26 : 52 – 80 .

Chu , Tsu You 朱祖佑 . 1971 . Environmental Study of the Surrounding Waters of Taiwan, Sino-American Science Cooperation Colloquium on Ocean Resources. Preprints , Vol. II . Marine Biology and Fisheries, April 28–May 7, 1971. Taipei : Sino-American Science Cooperation Group, National Taiwan University .

Deith , Margaret R. 1983a . Molluscan Calendars: The Use of Growth-line Analysis to Establish Seasonality of Shellfi sh Collection at the Mesolithic Site of Morton, Fife . Journal of Archaeo-logical Science 1983 ( 10 ): 423 – 440 .

–– 1983b . Seasonality of Shell Collecting, Determined by Oxygen Isotope Analysis of Marine Shells from Asturian Sites in Cantabria . In Animals and Archaeology, Vol. 2: Shell Middens, Fishes and Birds . International Series 183, ed. Juliet Clutton-Brock and Caroline Grigson : 67 – 76 . Oxford : BAR .

Fogg , Wayne H. 1983 . Swidden Cultivation of Foxtail Millet by Taiwan Aborigines: A Cultural Analogue of the Domestication of Setaria italica in China . In The Origin of Chinese Civi-lization , ed. David Keightley : 95 – 116 . Berkeley : University of California Press .

Huang , Shih-chiang 黃士強 . 1974 . 台南縣歸仁鄉八甲村遺址調查 (Report on Archaeological Investigation at Pa-chia Village, Kui-jun Township, Tainan) . Bulletin of the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology 1974 ( 35/36 ): 62 – 68 .

–– 1984 . 臺北芝山巖遺址發掘報告 (A Report of the Excavation at the Chih-Shan-yen Site,Taipei) . Taipei : Taipei Shi Wenxian Weiyuanhui .

–– 1989 . 台北市圓山遺址第二地點試掘報告 (Excavation Report of Yuan-shan Site, Locality II) . Bulletin of the Department of Anthropology 1989 ( 45 ): 20 – 53 .

Huang , Shih-chiang 黃士強 , and Liu Yi-chang 劉益昌 . 1993 . 台東縣東河橋南北引道考古遺址搶救發掘報告 (Salvage Excavation Report at the South-North Tunnel of Donghe Bridge in Taidong County) . Taipei : Ministry of Interior Affairs .

Hung , Hsiao-chun 洪曉純 . 2000 . 臺灣、華南和菲律賓之石錛硏究 (Comparative Studies of Stone Adzes in Taiwan, South China and the Philippines) . MA thesis, Department of Anthropology, National Taiwan University.


Kirch , Patrick V. 1993 . Non-marine Mollusks from the To ’ aga site Sediments and Their Impli-cations for Environmental Change . In The To ’ aga Site: Three Millennia of Polynesian Occupa-tion in the Mauna Islands American Samoa , ed. P. V. Kirch and T. L. Hunt , Archaeological Research Facility Contribution, No. 51: 115 – 122 . Berkeley : University of California .

Lee , Ling-ling 李玲玲 , and Lin Liang-kong 林良恭 . 1992 . Status Research of Mammals in Taiwan . In The Biological Resources of Taiwan: A Status Report. Proceedings of the Workshop on the Biological Resources and Information Management of Taiwan . Institute of Botany, Academia Sinica, Monograph Series No. 11, ed. Peng Ching-I 彭鏡毅 : 245 – 267 . Taipei : Academia Sinica .

–– 1976 . 中國史前小米農業的開始及中國史前史的回顧 (The Beginning of Millet Farming in Prehistoric China, and a Short Review of Chinese Prehistory) . Bulletin of the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology 1976 ( 39/40 ): 116 – 139 .

–– 1981 . K ’ en-ting: An Archaeological Natural Laboratory near Southern Tip of Taiwan . PhD diss., Department of Anthropology, State University of New York.

–– 1984 . 墾丁國家公園所見的先陶文化及其相關問題 (On the New Discovered Preceramic Culture in the National K ’ en-ting Park) . Bulletin of the Department of Anthropology 1984 ( 44 ): 79 – 147 .

––, ed. 1985 . 墾丁國家公園考古調查報告 (Report of Archaeological Investigations in the Kenting National Park on the Southern Tip of Taiwan) . Taipei : Department of Anthropol-ogy, National Taiwan University .

–– 1989 . Taiwan as an Archaeological Laboratory . In Anthropological Studies of the Taiwan Area: Accomplishments and Prospects , ed. K.C. Chang , K.C. Li , Arthur P. Wolf , and A.C.C. Yin : 143 – 158 . Taipei : Department of Anthropology, National Taiwan University .

Li , Wuei-yuan 李維元 1991 . 黑潮水與鄰近水團之穩定碳同位素地球化學研究 (A Preliminary Study on Stable Carbon Isotopes of Kuroshio and Adjacent Water Masses) . Master ’ s thesis, Institute of Marine Geology and Chemistry, National Sun Yat-sen University.

Lien , Chao-mei 連照美 , and Sung Wen-hsun 宋文薰 . 1986 . 卑南遺址發掘資料整理報告 ( 第三卷 ) ：遺址堆積層次及文化層出土遺物之分析研究 (Report on Excavation of the Beinan Site, Vol. III : Analysis of Stratigraphic Relations and Cultural Remains) . Taipei : Ministry of Education .

Lin , Ch ’ ao-ch ’ i 林朝綮 . 1966 . 概說臺灣第四紀的地史並討論其與自然史和文化史的關係 (An Outline of Taiwan ’ s Geohistory with a Special Discussion of the Relation Between Natural History and Cultural History in Taiwan) . Bulletin of the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology 1966 ( 28 ): 7 – 44 .

Liu , Yi-chang 劉益昌 . 2002 . 淡水河口的史前文化與族群 (Prehistoric Cultures and Ethnic Groups at the Mouth of the Danshui River) . Taipei : Shisanhang Museum of Archaeology .

Liu , Yi-chang 劉益昌 , and Kuo Su-chiu 郭素秋 . 2000 . 台北市考古遺址調查與研究 (Investiga-tions and Research on the Archaeological Sites in Taipei) . Taipei : Department of Civil Affairs, Taipei Municipal Government .

Liu Yi-chang 劉益昌 , Chen Yi-shen 陳儀深 , Chan Su-chuan 詹素娟 , and Chen Liang-chun 陳亮全 . 1996 . 芝山岩文化史蹟公園史前文化、人文歷史、視覺景觀等資源調查及居民資源之培育 (Investigation on the Prehistoric Cultures, Cultural Histories and Visual Landscapes at Zhishanyan Cultural Park) . Taipei : Department of Civil Affairs, Taipei Municipal Government . Lu , Tracy Lie-Dan . 1999 . The Transition from Foraging to Farming and the Origin of Agriculture in China . International Series, No. 774. Oxford : BAR .

–– 2005 . The Origin and Dispersal of Agriculture and Human Diaspora in East Asia . In Sagart et al. (2005): 49 – 62 .

Lydekker , Richard . 1898 . The Deer of All Lands . London : Rowland Ward . Redman , Charles L. 1978 . The Rise of Civilization . San Francisco : W.H. Freeman . Nanke Archaeological Team 南科考古隊 2002 . 近年來南科園區的考古成果及其引起的一些

問題 (Some Archaeological Excavation Results and Problems Arising from Tainan Science Park) . Paper presented at 2002 Conference of Archaeological Study in Taiwan, Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica .

632 LI KUANG-TI

Rolett , Barry , Chen Wei-chun , and John M. Sinton . 2000 . Taiwan, Neolithic Seafaring and Austronesian Origins . Antiquity 2000 ( 74 ): 54 – 61 .

Sagart , Laurent , Roger Blench , and Alicia Sanchez-Mazas . 2005 . The Peopling of East Asia: Putting Together Archaeology, Linguistics and Genetics . London : Routledge Curzon .

Savolainen , Peter , Ya-ping Zhang , Jing Luo , Joakim Lundeberg , and Thomas Leitner . 2002 . Genetic Evidence for an East Asian Origin of Domestic Dogs . Science 298 ( 5598 ): 1610 – 1613 .

Shikama , Tokio , C.C. Ling , Nobuo Shimoda , and Hisao Baba . 1976 . Discovery of Fossil Homo Sapiens from Cho-chen in Taiwan . Journal of the Anthropological Society of Nippon 84 ( 2 ): 131 – 138 .

Sung , Wen-hsun 宋文薰 . 1954 . 圓山貝塚民族的生產方式 (The Production Mode of the Yuanshan Shell Mound People) . T ’ ai-Pei Wen-wu 3 ( 1 ): 2 – 7 .

–– 1969 . 長濱文化 – 臺灣首次發現的先陶文化 ( Changpin : A Newly Discovered Preceramic Culture from the Agglomerate Caves on the East Coast of Taiwan ). Reprinted from The Newsletter of Chinese Ethnology 1969(9): 1–9. Ethnological Society of China, Taipei.

–– 1980 . 由考古學看臺灣 (Taiwan from an Archaeological Viewpoint) . In 中國的臺灣 (China ’ s Taiwan) , ed. Chen Ch ’ i-lu 陳奇祿 : 93 – 220 . Taipei : Chung-yang Wen-wu Kung Yingshe .

Sung Wen-hsun 宋文薰 , Huang Shih-chiang 黃士強 , Lien Chao-mei 連照美 , and Li Kuang-chou 李光周 . 1967 . 鵝鑾鼻 – 臺灣南端的史前遺址 (O-luan-pi, a Prehistoric Site at the Southern Tip of Taiwan) . Annual Bulletin of the China Council for East Asian Studies 1967 ( 6 ): 1 – 46 .

Tsai , Pei-shan 蔡佩珊 . 1993 . 台南地區全新世貝類化石之碳氧同位素研究 (Carbon and Oxygen Isotopic Composition of Holocene Mollusks from Tainan Area) . MA thesis, Insti-tute of Geology, National Taiwan University.

Tsang , Cheng-hwa 臧振華 . 1989 . 臺灣史前史上的三個重要問題 (On Three Major Problems in the Prehistory of Taiwan) . Bulletin of the Department of Anthropology 1989 ( 45 ): 85 – 106 .

–– 1992 . Archaeology of the Peng-hu Islands , Special Publications no. 95. Taipei : Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica .

–– 1995 . Marine Exploitation in Prehistoric Taiwan . In Proceedings of the Museum , ed. Tsong Yuan-lin : 185 – 206 . Taipei : Taiwan Museum .

–– 2005 . Recent Discoveries at a Tapenkeng Culture Site in Taiwan: Implications for the Problem of Austronesian Origins . In Sagart et al. (2005): 63 – 73 . London : Routledge Curzon .

Tsang , Cheng-hwa 臧振華 , ed. 2006 . 南部科學工業園區考古遺址搶救監測計畫期末報告 (Final Report on the Tainan Science Park Archaeological Rescue and Monitoring Project) . Taitung : National Museum of Prehistory .

Tsang , Cheng-hwa 臧振華 , Chen Chung-yu 陳仲玉 , and Liu Yi-chang 劉益昌 . 1994 . 台閩地區考古遺址普查研究計畫報告：高雄縣和高雄市 (Excavation Report on the Archaeo-logical Survey in Tai-Min Area) . Taipei : Ministry of Interior Affairs .

Tsang , Cheng-hwa 臧振華 , Li Kuang-ti 李匡悌 , and Chu Cheng-yi 朱正宜 . 2006 . 先民履跡 (Footprints of Ancient People: Archaeological Discoveries in the Tainan Science Park) . Hsin Yin : Tainan County Cultural Bureau .

Tsang , Cheng-hwa 臧振華 , Chen Wen-shan 陳文山 , and Li Kuang-ti 李匡悌 . 2009 . 臺東縣長濱鄉八仙洞遺址調查研究計畫（第一年）期末報告 (Final Report on the Baxian-dong Archaeological Research and Survey Project, Year One) . Taipei : Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica .

Wang , Chung-ho 汪中和 , and Peng Tsung-ren 彭宗仁 . 1990a . Oxygen and Carbon Isotopic Records of Mollusks in the Kuokang Shell Bed, Taiwan: Implication and Applications . Paleogeography, Paleoclimatology, Paleoecology 1990 ( 80 ): 237 – 244 .

–– 1990b . Oxygen and Carbon Isotopic Records in the Shells of Cyclotellina zemics , Meretrix Lusoria and Pecten byoritsuensis . Bulletin of Malacology, ROC 1990 ( 15 ): 49 – 58 .


Wang , Ying-hao 王映皓 , Chu Cheng-yi 朱正宜 , Li Kuang-ti 李匡悌 , Tsang Cheng-hwa 臧振華 , Chu Huei-lei 屈慧麗 , Ho Chuan-kun 何傳坤 , Hsing Yu-yeh 邢禹依 , and Hsieh Chao-shu 謝兆樞 . 2006 . 臺灣出土古稻的初步研究 (Preliminary Studies on Unearthed Ancient Rice Grains) . Paper presented in the 2005 Annual Workshop of Taiwan Archaeol-ogy. Taitung: National Museum of Prehistory, Mar. 3–4, 2006 .

Yeh , Mei-chen 葉美珍 . 2000 . 史前館考古十年工作簡介 (Brief Introduction About Ten Years of Archaeological Work, Museum of Prehistoric cultures) . Wenhua Yizhan 2000 ( 10 ): 1 – 7 .

Documents

A Companion to Chinese Archaeology (Underhill/A Companion to Chinese Archaeology) || First Farmers and their Coastal Adaptation in Prehistoric Taiwan