Patterns of health in Early Neolithic and Iron Age Taiwan

Abstract

This study examines the health and lifestyle of some of Taiwan's earliest Neolithic inhabitants using skeletons from the Nankuanli East site (c. 5000-4200 BP) from the Tainan Science Park in southwestern Taiwan. Two indicators of health, cribra orbitalia and adult stature, and evidence of dental staining are reported for the first time. Comparisons between males and females, and between the early Neolithic Taiwan, Iron Age Taiwan (Shihsanhang site), and with skeletal series from surrounding regions of East and Southeast Asia are made. The estimated average stature, using non-ethnic formulae, is 160.1 cm for males and 154.7 cm for females from the Nankuanli East site, statures that are similar to those of indigenous Taiwanese and other prehistoric inhabitants from surrounding regions. Twenty-five percent of the adult individuals from Nankuanli East exhibit cribra orbitalia, a childhood indicator of health that is not significantly different between males and females. Approximately 75% of male and 52% of female teeth exhibit some type of staining, a difference that is statistically significant. Although taphonomic processes, such as the mineral content of the soil, may account for the observed dental staining, the dental profile suggests that the staining may be due to chewing betel (areca) nut. Comparisons with Iron Age skeletons from the Shihsanhang site, once again, do not support the prediction of a decline in health during the transition from early Neolithic to Iron Age Taiwan. Overall, the similarities in health between the early Neolithic and later Iron Age inhabitants of Taiwan indicate similar subsistence economies based on marine and terrestrial resources. Further studies of the skeletons from the Nankuanli East site and other sites in the Tainan Science Park will improve our understanding of the health and lifestyle of Taiwan prehistoric inhabitants.

A northern Chinese origin of Austronesian agriculture: new evidence on traditional Formosan cereals

“…The earliest and most compelling evidence for co-cultivation of the three cereals is from Nan Kuan Li East (NKLE), a neolithic site on the southwest coast of Taiwan dated to 3000–2300 BCE: there, grains of all three cereals occur together in large quantities (Tsang et al 2017 ). The low frequencies of dental infection reported in NKLE skeletons indicates a diet low in starches and sugars (Pietrusewsky et al 2013 ). That is, farming only represented one aspect of early Formosan subsistence strategy, as hunting, fishing and coastal foraging are also well evident (Li 2013 ).…”

Population and Oral Health

“…Archaeological evidence showed the decrease of caries prevalence during the Neolithic period to the Bronze Age in Britain, Greece, France, and Taiwan. This suggests a low carbohydrate or less sugary diet pattern or less cariogenic food sources within this period (Brothwell, 1959;Pietrusewsky et al, 2013).…”

Language Families of Southeast Asia

“…The constant factor throughout the Austronesian expansion, at least since the Formosan stage, was fishing with gathering of marine resources. A study of dental health among the earliest Austronesians (Pietrusewsky et al 2014) finds that marine products, rather than grain, formed the basis of the diet at Nan Kuan Li. Shell gathering clearly had economic importance among genetic pre-Austronesians just north of Taiwan c. 6000 BCE (Ko et al 2014) .…”