Paper short abstract:

This paper presents and interrogates emerging anthropological and archaeological./environmental science data on rice cultivation in the Kelabit Highlands, Sarawak, derived from the AHRC-funded Cultured Rainforest project. Because of the cultural centrality of rice here, the range of cultivation methods and the possible antiquity of cultivation, this area provides exciting potential for interdisciplinary collaboration and insights. We draw the data gathered so far together and draw some conclusions about the ways in which people here have used and thought about the landscape and environment.

Paper long abstract:

Rice is a key element of the relationship between people and the natural environment and landscape in the interior tableland of Borneo of which the Kelabit Highlands forms a part. Until recently, nothing was known about the history of rice cultivation in interior Borneo. One of the goals of the AHRC-funded Cultured Rainforest project, in which all three authors are involved, has been to use anthropological and archaeological/environmental science methods to begin to develop an understanding of the history of rice-growing in the highland area.

Because of the cultural centrality of rice in this area (Janowski 2003, 2007), the range of cultivation methods used and the presence of peaty areas and old river beds used for rice cultivation suitable for coring, the Kelabit Highlands has exciting potential in both anthropological and archaeological terms in relation to understanding the rice cultivation.

The project is ongoing until April 2010. We will present our current understanding of the history of rice cultivation in the highland area and some hypotheses drawn from this about broader patterns of interaction between humans and the landscape/environment in interior Borneo, and the way humans think about this landscape.

Janowski, M. (2003) The Forest, Source of Life: The Kelabit of Sarawak. London and Kuching: British Museum and Sarawak Museum

Janowski, M. (2007) Being 'Big', Being 'Good': feeding, kinship, potency and status among the Kelabit of Sarawak. In M. Janowski and F. Kerlogue (eds) Kinship and Food in Southeast Asia. Copenhagen: NIAS Press.