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Since you seem to be the closest individual I know to an expert on Southeast Asian history, I have a question to ask on the region's ancient history.
During the heyday of the ancient Egyptian civilization (for my purposes, the period between 3000 and 1000 BC), what kind of people would have lived in most of Southeast Asia? In other words, if Egyptian merchants were to hypothetically sail through the Malaysian/Indonesia sea en route to China, who were the people they were likely to encounter?
I recently saw a map of Southeast Asia in 1500 BC that portrayed most of the region as having an "Aboriginal" population of farmers and hunter-gatherers during that time period. I was surprised because while I knew the ancestors of Malays and other Sundadont Asians were later migrants into the region, I hadn't expected the earlier aboriginal population to have predominated as soon as 1500 BC.
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^ To put it simply, 3,000 BCE would have been the time period when sundadont Asians colonized the islands though whether these would have been actual Austronesians speakers or speakers of other related languages is still debated but in traditional Western academic parlance these people are called 'Proto-Malays'. These proto-Malays as well as seafarers and fishermen would also be hunter-gatherers and cultivators of certain fruits and root crops who lived in semi-permanent boat-homes and pile-dwellings in around the coasts and in the jungles. 1,000 BCE is the time period when iron-age 'Deutero-Malays' or historically known Austronesian speakers expanded into the islands introducing rice agriculture and construction of permanent dwellings and the barangay (town or village) settlements. In particular the period between 1000 BCE-200 CE, was when the civilization known as the Sa Huynh Culture flourished which spanned from the Philippines to coastal Vietnam. During this time there was active trade between the Sa Huyh and the Nan Yue culture (of Hainan Island, northern coastal vietnam, and south-central China) the Tapanga culture of Taiwan, the Min-Yue culture of coastal southeast China, and the Han Chinese.
As far as the black aborigines or Aeta, I would assume they were more common in 3,000 BC than they were in 1,000 BC with the greater population expanses of the Deutero-Malays. I will say the situation in the mainland may have been somewhat different. I have read some studies to suggest the presence of neolithic culture among aboriginal groups of southern Vietnam and Thailand. In fact I recall reading years ago Chinese descriptions of one of the queens of the kingdom of Funan that covered most of southern Southeast Asia, which described her as a black woman with curly hair.
Posts: 26286 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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posted
btw, I deleted some of my old messages so I have some space in my message box.
Posts: 26286 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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posted
^ Another thing I wanted to point out about that map is that it claims all the aboriginal populaces were farmers as well as hunter-gatherers, though to my knowledge, the only aboriginal peoples who practiced farming were the peoples of Papua New Guinea who domesticated yams and again certain groups in southern Thailand and Vietnam. All other aboriginal groups including those in the Philippines were still hunter-gatherers.
And again, by 1500 BC Austronesians had already colonized most of the Phillippines with perhaps exception of the remote areas. I suggest you also look up the Lapita Culture which is said to be the alleged ancestor of Polynesian and Melanesian cultures.
Posts: 26286 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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posted
^^ Actually Austronesians originally were horticulturalists. The first major wave of Austronesian expansion was due to horticulture. The more advanced horticulture of Austronesians was never adopted from the aborigines. It was this first wave of expansion that colonized the Pacific, especially those islands not inhabited by Australo-melanesians. The second wave of Austronesians expansion was due to rice agriculture but didn't travel as far as the first expansion which is why rice agriculture remained in the Malay Archipelago (Philippines and Indonesia). So far, the earliest evidence of rice agriculture comes from the Yangzte River valley of southern mainland China. From there it spread to Taiwan and into the Philippines while at the same timpe spreading south in Indo-China and north into the rest of China. By the time rice agriculture reached the islands, it also became associated with iron technology and other metallurgy.
The Australo-Melanesian aborigines had domesticated dogs but not pigs, at least to my knowledge which was domesticated by Austronesians first.
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