Hunter-Gatherers in Southeast Asia: From Prehistory to the Present

Abstract

Anatomically modern hunter-gatherers expanded from Africa into Southeast Asia at least 50,000 years ago, where they probably encountered and interacted with populations of Homo erectus and Homo floresiensis and the recently discovered Denisovans. Simulation studies suggest that these hunter-gatherers may well have followed a coastal route that ultimately led to the settlement of Sahul, while archaeology confirms that they also crossed significant seas and explored well into the interior. They also adapted to marked environmental changes that alternated between relatively cool and dry conditions and warmer, wetter interludes. During the former, the sea fell by up to 120 m below its present level, which opened up a vast low-lying area known as Sundaland. Three principal alignments can be identified: the first involved the occupation of rock shelters in upland regions, the second has identified settlement on broad riverine floodplains, and the last concentrated on the raised beaches formed from about five millennia ago when the sea level was elevated above its present position. This cultural sequence was dislocated about 4 kya when rice and millet farmers infiltrated the lowlands of Southeast Asia ultimately from the Yangtze River valley. It is suggested that this led to two forms of interaction. In the first, the indigenous hunter-gatherers integrated with intrusive Neolithic communities and, while losing their cultural identity, contributed their genes to the present population of Southeast Asia. In the second, hunter-gatherers withdrew to rainforest refugia and, through selective pressures inherent in such an environment, survived as the small-bodied, dark-skinned humans found to this day in the Philippines, Peninsular Malaysia and Thailand, and the Andaman Islands. Beyond the impact of expansive rice farmers in Melanesia and Australia, hunter-gatherers continued to dominate until they encountered European settlement. Hunter-Gatherers in Southeast Asia: From Prehistory to the Present CHARLES HIGHAM 1Abstract Anatomically modern hunter-gatherers expanded from Africa into Southeast Asia at least 50,000 years ago, where they probably encountered and interacted with populations of Homo erectus and Homo floresiensis and the recently discovered Denisovans. Simulation studies suggest that these hunter-gatherers may well have followed a coastal route that ultimately led to the settlement of Sahul, while archaeology confirms that they also crossed significant seas and explored well into the interior. They also adapted to marked environmental changes that alternated between relatively cool and dry conditions and warmer, wetter interludes. During the former, the sea fell by up to 120 m below its present level, which opened up a vast low-lying area known as Sundaland. Three principal alignments can be identified: the first involved the occupation of rock shelters in upland regions, the second has identified settlement on broad riverine floodplains, and the last concentrated on the raised beaches formed from about f...

First Farmers in Mainland Southeast Asia

“…Beyond 2200 BC, mainland Southeast Asia sustained hunter-gatherers who occupied upland rock shelters, coastal habitats and inland plains. The ancestry of these Anatomically Modern Humans goes back at least 50,000 years, and their descendants survive to this day in the deep forests of the Thai/Malaysian border (Higham 2013).…”

Le techno-complexe hoabinhien en Asie du Sud-est continentale : L’histoire d’un galet qui cache la forêt

“…En ne ciblant que l'Asie du Sud-est, sa présence est attestée en Malaisie (Khairuddin 2010;Matthews 1960;Sieveking 1954) en passant par la Birmanie (U Aung Thaw 1971), la Thaïlande (Gorman 1969;Higham 2013;Pookajorn 1988), le Laos (Bacon 2012;Fromaget 1940;Saurin 1966), le Vietnam (Colani 1927;1929a;1929b;Moser 2001;Yi et al 2008) et le Cambodge Mourer & Mourer 1970; jusqu'à l'extrémité occidentale de l'Archipel indonésien sur l'île de Sumatra et ses petites îles (Brandt 1976;Bronson & Glover 1984;Forestier et al 2005a;McKinnon 1990; Van Heekeren 1972) soit de près de 2 millions de km 2 ( Figure 6). Concernant d'éventuelles traces sur l'île de Luzon au Philippines (Moser 2001) ou au Japon (Maringer 1957;Pearson 1976;Solheim et al 2006: 31-32), certaines ne sont, pour le moment, pas encore confirmées ; et d'autres nécessiteraient des ré-études technologiques plus approfondies ainsi que des comparaisons avec les données des sites de nos régions d'étude.…”

“…Le Hoabinhien se définit comme la culture technique traditionnelle des chasseurscueilleurs de l'Asie du Sud-est continentale que l'on retrouve aujourd'hui sur plus d'une centaine de sites (White 2011;Higham 2013). Il se présente comme la marque indélébile d'une anthropisation réussie, celle de la zone éco-géographique tropicale asiatique.…”

Holocene range collapse of giant muntjacs and pseudo‐endemism in the Annamite large mammal fauna

“…Muntjacs are widely represented in the zooarchaeological record of Eastern and Southeast Asia, as they constitute an important target species for hunters (Higham, ; Turvey et al ., ). The Neolithic site of Hemudu ( c .…”

“…Muntjacs are widely represented in the zooarchaeological record of Eastern and Southeast Asia, as they constitute an important target species for hunters (Higham, 2013;Turvey et al, 2015b). The Neolithic site of Hemudu (c. 7000-6000 bp) in the Yangtze delta region of eastern China contains a large muntjac sample, including a series of distinctive large antlers and associated pedicles, together with incomplete mandible and maxilla fragments, which were described by Wei et al (1990) as a new extinct species, Muntiacus gigas ( Fig.…”