First Islanders

Incorporating research findings over the last twenty years, First Islanders examines the human prehistory of Island Southeast Asia. This fascinating story is explored from a broad swathe of multidisciplinary perspectives and pays close attention to migration in the period dating from 1.5 million years ago to the development of Indic kingdoms late in the first millennium CE.

Auteur

Peter Bellwood is an Emeritus Professor at the Australian National University, which he joined in 1973, retiring in 2013. He has undertaken archaeological research in Polynesia and Island Southeast Asia and is currently involved in projects in Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines. His most recent books include The Global Prehistory of Human Migration (edited, Wiley Blackwell, 2015), First Migrants (Wiley Blackwell, 2013), Prehistory of the Indo-Malaysian Archipelago (3rd edition, 2007), First Farmers (Wiley Blackwell, 2005), and Southeast Asia: From Prehistory to History (co-edited, 2005). Peter Bellwood is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy.

Texte du rabat
"In First Islanders, Peter Bellwood without doubt the leading authority on the archaeology and prehistory of Island Southeast Asia offers up an engaging synthesis of the grand sweep of human history in this island world, from the arrival of early hominins one million years ago, through the development of agriculture and the Austronesian expansion, up to the early Metal Age. Bellwood brings the fascinating prehistory of this vast region to life as no other archaeologist can. First Islanders belongs on the bookshelf of every scholar of world prehistory." Patrick V. Kirch
University of California Berkeley In First Islanders, renowned scholar Peter Bellwood incorporates key research findings from the past 20 years to examine the human prehistory of Island Southeast Asia (Taiwan, Philippines, Indonesia, East Malaysia). This fascinating story is explored from a broad swathe of multidisciplinary perspectives, with special reference to the human migrations that have occurred within the archipelago since the arrival of Homo erectus in Java more than 1 million years ago. The text pays particular attention to several major episodes of migration, including those of ancient hominins (Homo erectus and Homo floresiensis), the subsequent arrival of Homo sapiens over 50,000 years ago, and the eventual spread of Austronesian-speaking agricultural populations from southern China through Taiwan between 5000 and 3000 years ago. Drawing on research from archaeology, genetics, biological anthropology, and linguistics, Bellwood's study and exploration of Island Southeast Asia provides illuminating insights into how humans in the deep past dealt with both terrestrial and maritime migration throughout the period dating from 1.5 million years ago to the development of the Indic kingdoms during the first millennium CE. Alongside Bellwood's experienced and respected voice, 12 concise and enlightening contributions by leading scholars are introduced throughout to complement and further enrich this important work for scholars, students, and the interested reader. First Islanders builds on Bellwood's previous publication Prehistory of the Indo-Malaysian Archipelago (3rd edition, 2007).

Résumé
Incorporating research findings over the last twenty years, First Islanders examines the human prehistory of Island Southeast Asia. This fascinating story is explored from a broad swathe of multidisciplinary perspectives and pays close attention to migration in the period dating from 1.5 million years ago to the development of Indic kingdoms late in the first millennium CE.

Contenu
Contents vii

List of Figures and Plates xii

Invited Contributors xv

Acknowledgments xvi

1 Introducing First Islanders 1

This Book 3

A Note on Dating Terminology 7

A Note on Archaeological Terminology 7

Pronunciation and Place?]names 9

Notes 9

References 10

2 Island Southeast Asia as a Canvas for Human Migration 11

The Shelves and Basins 12

Sundaland 15

Wallacea 15

Sahul 16

The Island Southeast Asian Environment 16

Climate 16

Landforms and Soils 18

The Floras of Island Southeast Asia 20

Faunal and Biogeographical Boundaries 21

The Cyclical Changes of the Pleistocene 22

The Pleistocene Epoch: Definition and Chronology 22

The Cycles of Glacials and Interglacials 23

World Sea Level Changes During the Pleistocene 23

The Consequences of Mid?]latitude Glaciation 27

Notes 30

References 30

3 Homo erectus and Homo floresiensis: Archaic Hominins in Island Southeast Asia 34

Hominin Antecedents in Africa and Asia 35

Homo erectus in Java 38

Java Pleistocene Mammals and Stratigraphy 39

Sangiran 41

Ngandong 43

When Did Hominins Arrive in Java? 44

The Evolution of Javan Homo erectus 46

An Invited Perspective by Colin Groves 46

The Dating of the Javan Hominins 47

The Homo erectus Cranium 49

The Homo erectus Mandible 50

Homo erectus Teeth 50

Homo erectus Postcranial Material 51

Evolution within Javan Homo erectus 52

The Philippines, Sulawesi, and Nusa Tenggara: Pleistocene Mammals

and Stratigraphy 53

The Philippines 54

Sulawesi 54

Flores and Nusa Tenggara 55

Homo floresiensis (and Homo erectus?) in Flores 58

The Enigma of Homo floresiensis 60

An Invited Perspective by Debbie Argue 60

The Homo floresiensis Controversy 62

Was Homo floresiensis a Dwarfed Homo erectus? 64

Was Homo floresiensis Descended from a Separate

Early Hominin Lineage? 64

Cultural Evidence Related to Homo erectus and Homo floresiensis 65

Java and the Tools of Homo erectus 67

Flores and the Tools of Homo floresiensis 71

Retrospect 74

Notes 75

References 76

4 The Biological History of Homo sapiens in Island Southeast Asia 86

The First Homo sapiens in Southeast Asia 89

Early to Middle Holocene Skeletal Data from Island Southeast Asia 93

The Biological Arrival of an Asian Neolithic Population in Island

Southeast Asia 94

The Significance of Skin Pigmentation in Equatorial Latitudes 97

The Biological History of Southeast Asian Populations from

Late Pleistocene and Holocene Cemetery Data 98

An Invited Perspective by Hirofumi Matsumura, Marc Oxenham,

Truman Simanjuntak, and Mariko Yamagata 98

Craniometric Analysis 99

Early Indigenous Hunter?]gatherers 99

Neolithic Dispersal in Mainland Southeast Asia 103

Neolithic Dispersal in Island Southeast Asia 104

Conclusions 106

The Genetic History of Human Populations in Island Southeast

Asia During the Late Pleistocene and Holocene 107

An Invited Perspective by Murray Cox 107

The Population History of Island Southeast Asia 117

Notes 119

References 120

5 Late Paleolithic Archaeology in Island Southeast Asia 131

Mainland Southeast Asia, Peninsular Malaysia, and Sumatra: The Hoabinhian and Its Successors 134

Hoabinhian into Para?]Neolithic in Mainland Southeast Asia 134

The Hoabinhian of Sumatra 138

Beyond Sumatra the Late Palaeolithic in the Islands of Southeast Asia 139 The Niah Caves, Sarawak 1...