This essay describes the Negroids movement into Taiwan. Borneo is mentioned a few times and one wonders what lessons can be learned and applied to the Niah Cave complex. Tom Harrisson destroyed most of the graveyards sending some bones to faraway Las Vegas. With Dr Curnoe maybe we can determine what happened with what’s left. Most of this essay is based on a chapter in the book “Seeking the koko’ta’ay”. The book costs US169.00 or around MR800.00.I will send you a copy of the essay on request at Sa********@gm***.com
Legends
At first, there were legends in Taiwan. The Chinese recorded tales of “Little Black People” in the 1600’s. Formosan oral traditions refer to these dark-skinned people in the remote mountains. The Japanese conducted field studies of these people. They recorded people with dark skin, short stature, frizzy hair, and the use of different language. They lived in remote forested areas and caves. They referred to these people as negroids.
The Saisiyat, a tribe in Taiwan, maintain ceremonial events and songs about the paSta’ay, a negroid group on the island. The tribe were neighbours to the paSta’ayuntil they killed them off, or so the legends say. Their spirits live on in theSaisyat culture. Oral legends and the rituals of the paSta’ay were passed down through generations of the Saisiyat.
Xiaoma Caves
The Xiaoma Complex contains over 10 caves and rock shelters. The burial from cave # 5 contains a skeleton of an individual who was buried in a squatting position, different from the other burials. The authors obtained permission to study this skeleton in 2016.
When they (the authors) first encountered the remains they were in very poor condition. They had to reconstruct the skeleton. After reconstruction, they discovered the skeleton to be a female, was 139 cm and the mandible size was quite small compared to other individuals. The cranium size plus the height was the same as the Vedda,(a minority group in Sri Lanka) negrito and the San of South Africa.
The height was compared to other burials and most were in the 160-165 cm range much too tall for our specimen. The negroids in the Philippines, the Semang group in Peninsular Malaysia and the Andamanease all match the required height. According to “multiple lines of evidence” they were the living modern-day descendants of the first Sundaland peoples.
Migrations
Measuring head size and shape from grave sites throughout the region, an initial migration arrived from Africa about 65000 years ago. A second migration came from Siberia about nine thousand years ago and were the first Austronesians.
The first migration or “layer” occurred during the last ice age of the Pleistocene (2.58 million years ago to 11,000 years ago) about 65,000 years ago. The first wave of negroids left Africa about 65-50 thousand years and migrated through north India, S. Thailand, North Borneo(Niah Caves) and onwards to Australia and New Guinea.
This migration is supported by archaeological digs in Dalongtan, Zengpiyan, Huiyaotian, and Liyupo in Guangxi Province, Gaomiao in Hunan Province, Qihedong in Fujian Province, and Liangdao in the Taiwan Strait.
“The migration of the negroid coincided with Pleistocene glacial conditions when significantly lower global sea levels had created vast land masses and shorter water crossings from East Asia through Mainland and Island SEA and as far as Australia and New Guinea.”
The second wave was the Ausronesians from Siberia (where they were before then I am not quite sure) can be identified in graves of individuals with flat and long faces among many other characteristics. They migrated east across Siberia about 40,000 years ago. Then, they crossed the Bering Strait and into the Americas.
From the same group in Siberia, they travelled to Korea and Taiwan. Then another group migrated south to Burma, Southeast Asia the Philippines and Borneo around 9000 to 4000 years ago. From the Philippines and Borneo, they migrated to Taiwan.
Questions
There are several questions posed in Dr Hsiao-chung Hung’s paper.
Why were they so short?
She posits three explanations: First is genetics. When they came out of Africa they had a short stature. Secondly, they adapted to island climates which caused a decrease in size. Third, perhaps they came from Borneo or the Philippines and settled in Taiwan.
Where did they come from outside of Taiwan?
So far, the short statute has only been identified in islands of Southeast Asia, the Philipines and Niah Caves in Borneo.
How did the negritos sail to Taiwan?
Considering all the evidence, it is not impossible that the ancient negritos in Luzon, with simple boats such as canoes, and preliminary skills in sailing, came to Taiwan during the early-middle Holocene carried by the strong current, the south-to-north Kuroshio Current from Luzon. This occurred about 7,000 to 6,000 years ago.
What happened to the proto-Austonesians who arrived 5,000 years ago?
The people who were the first agricultural settlers in Taiwan must have arrived and mingled with the remnants of the first negroid migration of 65,000 years ago.
How did the Negroid disappear in Taiwan?
According to oral history, the negritos were killed by the Saisiyat.
Were the Negritos living in mainland Asia before the southern migration?
Some historical documents and research articles published in different languages have mentioned the prior existence of “black people” or even “little black people” in ancient China. The documents referred to small numbers of these people who lived in the remote mountain areas of southern China, such as in Yunnan and Guangxi provinces, continuing even until the Tang Dynasty (618–907 AD).
The sources for the above were taken from the following three essays:
Hsiao-chun Hung Tracing Negritos and Their Paths in Ancient Taiwan in Openshaw, Tobie and Kareleakas “Seeking the koko’ ta’ay” Leiden: Brill 2024. I have a copy of the paper. Please ask. Sa********@gm***.com
Hsiao-chun Hung et al Negritos in Taiwan and the wider prehistory of Southeast Asia: new discovery from the Xiaoma in World Archaeology 2022 https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2022.2121315
Matsumara, Hirofumi et al Craniometrics Reveal “Two Layers” of Prehistoric Human Dispersal in Eastern Eurasia in Science Report 9 #1451, 2019 DOI:10.1038/s41598-018-35426-z
BorneoHistory.net
