Click the star to add/remove an item to/from your individual schedule.
You need to be logged in to avail of this functionality.
Log in
- Convenors:
-
Hermine Xhauflair
(Muséum national d'histoire naturelle)
Julien Corny (Aix-Marseille Université)
- Location:
- Salle 211 G MAE
- Start time:
- 10 July, 2015 at
Time zone: Europe/Paris
- Session slots:
- 3
Short Abstract:
This session aims to explore how studying modern populations who now inhabit Southeast Asia can shed a new light on the remains of the Past and help us to understand what took place in the region during the past millennia.
Long Abstract:
Present-day Southeast Asia has been partly shaped by the actions, deliberate or not, of humans during the past millennia. It includes the way that different populations occupy the territory (biologically and culturally), the configuration of the environment in which they live and its composition in plant and animal taxa available. These are the results of human migrations and adaptations, interactions between groups, landscape modifications and prolonged utilisation, protection, exchanges and translocations of resources.
If continuities can be highlighted, the History and Prehistory of Southeast Asia have also been marked by ruptures and discontinuities. Nevertheless, the expertise of modern local communities in specific fields such as plant use or hunting strategies is great and can help us shed a new light on the archaeological data. Transfers from one period to another can be made when grounded on universals, for instance the physical properties of materials, which are not dependant of a specific context. In the field of biological anthropology, patterns of diversity and affinities of present-day inhabitants is useful for investigating the population history in the region.
This session aims at bringing together researchers who are interested in discussing how the present situation of Southeast Asia can help to understand its Past and welcomes contributions in a variety of fields including archaeology, ethnoarchaeology, ethnohistory, ethnology, linguistics, history of art, archaeobotany, zooarchaeology, physical anthropology and population genetics.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Paper short abstract:
Cooking pots are being made by craft specialists in a pottery community in Gatbuca, Calumpit, Bulacan, Central Luzon Island, Philippines. This paper will look at the economic and psychosocial factors that are leading to the demise of this craft specialization.
Paper long abstract:
The analysis of craft production is often undertaken through ethnoarchaeology, which is defined as the ethnographic study of living culture for archaeological perspectives. It is a research strategy where archeologists conduct ethnographic fieldwork among extant societies for the purpose of addressing archaeological questions and interpretations. Cooking pots are being made by craft specialists in a pottery community in Gatbuca, Calumpit, Bulacan, Central Luzon Island, Philippines using a potter's wheel and paddle and anvil technique and then slipped with a yellow slip and polished and burnished with fishnet and river stone. They are fired in an open fire using rice hay and thinly chopped wood as fuel. However, cooking pot making in this village is in great peril. There are now only five active cooking pot makers in the area and all of them are very old. This paper will look at the economic and psychosocial factors that are leading to the demise of this craft specialization. The result of the study can be used in explaining why certain craft production ceased in a particular place and time.
Paper short abstract:
My ethnoarchaeological research among Philippine foragers illustrates that recent adaptations by foragers can be used to reinterpret/reappropriate ways that foragers were resilient to the "modernity" of the past, These perspectives that may be the key to understanding a complex deep forager past.
Paper long abstract:
Hunter-gatherer studies, specifically my own amongst modern populations of the Ata of Negros Island of the Philippines, continues to provide fruitful and revitalizing information on hunter-gather studies, complexities associated with dealing with modernity, and most significantly, deeper insights into ways that scholarss can understand multi-varied levels of resiliency amongst hunter gatherers diachronically and spatially. Based on my current research, the combination of archaeology, ethnographic fieldwork, geographic information systems, and historical accounts provide a case for an almost uniformitarianistic perspective in studying forgers groups. I propose that adaptations to modernity undertaken by forager societies described by researches for the past half-century, not only apply today, but can also be used to elaborate on multi-varied ways that foragers have adapted to "modernity" in the past. Due to our auspicious ability to tap into these still existing marginalized societies, lessons are still to be learned about foragers and these perspectives may be the keys to understanding, reinterpreting and reappropriating our perceptions about foragers globally.
Paper short abstract:
We have recently shown that very different disciplines such as oral tradition, genetics, archeology, and linguistics allow characterizing specific human communities in time and space. Interestingly, also clinical genetics of current populations can throw light on populations in the past.
Paper long abstract:
The island of Nias is unique in terms of culture, architecture, language, and genetics. Findings by very different approaches are remarkably uniform regarding time and place of settling, replacement of the ancestral population, and extreme expansion. Such an extreme population bottleneck has almost always consequences on clinical genetics. Inborn disease(s) transmitted by the founder(s) should be very common in the descendents. As monogenic disorders are easy to study we performed a systematic clinical population screening. So far we could show that the prevalence of albinism, gout and type V hyperlipoproteinemia is an order of magnitude higher than in populations outside the island of Nias. By detailed family history all our probands e.g. with albinism are not directly related for at least more than 25 generations. Yet, all of them show the identical homozygous mutations pointing to a common ancestor and because of the high prevalence in all subpopulations of Nias to a small founder population. This is fully compatible with all our other findings. This mutation - not listed in genetic databases - is obviously (very) rare and therefore extremely helpful to delineate putative forefathers and their route to the island of Nias. Our previous population genetic data fit best with a migration route out of Taiwan via the Philippines. But many alternative origins on Island Southeast Asia are also possible. As some linguistic similarities point to Sangir speaking populations on islands between Philippines and Sulawesi these people are good candidates for selective mutation screening.
Paper short abstract:
The interpretation of archaeological artifacts, features, and faunal remains recovered during excavations in Palawan, Philippines in the 1960's was greatly enhanced by the assistance of four local tribal crew members - Palawan and Tagbanwa.
Paper long abstract:
In the late sixties the author conducted excavations in Quezon Municipality, Palawan, Philippines. Among the permanent crew were 2 Palawan and 2 Tagbanwa, 3 of whom were born in the late 20's or early 30's, and all of whom possessed great familiarity with the local environment and the knowledge and technological skill necessary to extract from it the resources necessary to sustainable survival. WWII had also forced them live fro 3 years without access to the coast and their swidden fields. This knowledge enabled them to interpret artifacts, features, and faunal remains ranging in age from 500 to more than 20,000 years old. Their subsistence activities also illuminated those of their distant ancestors near the beginnings of agriculture. Their association was invaluable and enriching for the author.
Paper short abstract:
We report a comprehensive analysis of genomic variation in Island Southeast Asia, from which we infer a primarily common pre-Neolithic ancestry for Taiwan and ISEA populations, but also two minor Neolithic dispersals, from China/Taiwan and Mainland Southeast Asia respectively.
Paper long abstract:
There are two very different interpretations of the prehistory of Island Southeast Asia (ISEA), with genetic evidence invoked in support of both to this day. The default “out-of-Taiwan” model was inspired by linguistic reconstructions and proposes a major expansion of Neolithic Austronesian speakers from Taiwan within the last 5000 years (5 ka). A more recent model has its roots in palaeo-climatic reconstructions, and proposes that Late Glacial and postglacial sea-level rises triggered largely autochthonous dispersals. However, it can be argued that this second model fails to account adequately for the Austronesian language dispersal. Combining novel mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y-chromosome data with published genome-wide data, we carried out the most comprehensive analysis of the region to date, obtaining consistent results across all three systems. We infer a primarily common ancestry for Taiwan and ISEA populations that was already established before the Neolithic, supporting the second model. Nevertheless, we also detected clear signals of two minor migrations that took place within the last 5 ka, one probably representing a Neolithic input from Mainland Southeast Asia that mostly impacted on southern ISEA, and one from South China, via Taiwan, primarily affecting the Philippines in the north. In particular, the phylogeographic signal from mtDNA haplogroup M7c3c shows strong correspondence with the putative “out-of-Taiwan” dispersal, in sharp contrast with postglacial haplogroups B4a1a1a and E. This may therefore have mediated the spread of Austronesian languages, thus implicating small-scale migration and language shift for their spread, rather than the large demographic event of the first model.
Paper short abstract:
Cave site is an important feature of Southeast Asia archaeology. Modern cave dwelling ethnographies observed in Southern China are results of cave dwelling evolution of Southeast Asia for thousands years. These ethnographies are interesting in reconstruction of indigenous settlement history.
Paper long abstract:
Abundant widespread cave dwelling sites of different periods present one of important features of Southern China and Southeast Asia archaeology. These cave dwelling settlement cultural heritages are basic materials to the cultural, economic and social reconstruction of ancient indigenous history. Modern cave dwelling observed in Southern China are special cultural landscapes , such as Zhongdong settlement of Miao ethnic group(Guizhou), Xiaganzhuang settlement of Zhuang ethnic group(Guangxi), Fengyandong settlement of multiple ethnic groups(Yunnan), which last for more than one hundred years and are results of cave dwelling evolution in Southern China. These ethnographic cases of cave dwellings preserved different types of in-cave-architectures, sustentive economic patterns and social structures which are excellent ethnographic analogical materials for cave settlement archaeological research of Southern China and Southeast Asia.
Paper short abstract:
Human migrations into island Southeast Asia can be traced back to at least 40 millennia ago. Using genetic markers in current day populations, we attempt to infer relationships and past migration events.
Paper long abstract:
The Southeast Asian region has seen many episodes of human migration events, dating back to at least 40,000 years ago (YBP). Current human populations in island Southeast Asia (iSEA) are predominantly Austronesian language speakers and were thought to have originated from the Out-of-Taiwan expansion. There are also phenotypically distinct indigenous groups called Negritos who are believed to have been descentants of the first migrants to the region. Using genome-wide autosomal SNP and mitochondrial DNA markers (mtDNA) from these present-day Austronesian and Negrito groups, we traced past migration events and inferred relationships between these iSEA groups. We found a dichotomy between Austronesian groups, and mtDNA haplotypes originating from South China that ranged from 30,000 to 10,000 YBP, suggesting an alternative to the Out-of-Taiwan expansion. The Negrito groups showed evidence of recent admixture with their neighboring Austronesian populations, and also contrasting patterns of admixture with archaic humans (Denisovans). Phylogenetic network analysis also suggests that the Negritos from Malaysia, Philippines and Andaman islands may share a common genetic link. Results from these genetic analyses highlights the human genetic diversity in the iSEA region and sheds light to past migration events.
Paper short abstract:
We compare the results of zooarchaeological analyses that we have conducted on several archaeological sites in Luzon with ethnozoological and anthropological accounts of indigenous groups in the region made during the 19th and early 20th century, focusing on the role played by domestic animals.
Paper long abstract:
Early agricultural communities are proposed to have entered the Philippines from China via Taiwan between 2500 to 2000 cal. BC bringing with them for the first time pottery and ground stone technology and a suite of domestic animals, which included pigs, dogs and chicken. These domestic animals, which all originated from the mainland, are traditionally believed to represent part of a new subsistence strategy introduced to Island Southeast Asia by these early farming/sailing as they moved south and east through Indonesia and to the Pacific. However, results of recent zooarchaeological analyses in the Philippines show that there was no dramatic shift from hunting to animal husbandry for subsistence upon the introduction of these domestic animals. Instead, adoption of domestic animals by early communities could have been driven by other socioeconomic reasons such as status and ceremony as suggested by ethnographic observations. In this paper we will compare the results of zooarchaeological analyses that we have conducted on bone assemblages from several archaeological sites in Luzon Island with ethnozoological and anthropological accounts of indigenous groups in the region. We would focus and summarize the ethnographic accounts made in the island during the 19th and early 20th century, specifically on the role that domestic animals played in these communities. Our goal is to link the growing evidence from zooarchaeology with observations made from past communities to gain a more holistic view of human-animal interactions in early agricultural communities in the island.
Paper short abstract:
Last 10 years of research has provided substantial information about the Negrito populations living in South and Southeast Asia. Here with the current state-of-art we provide solid evidence for spatial and temporal admixture of Andaman Islanders.
Paper long abstract:
The spatial and temporal settlement of the Andaman Island by the Negrito populations is a matter of intensive debate. In absence of any substantial archaeological evidence so far, most of the hopes were seeking the insight from genetics. However, the genetics studied till date have arrived at conflicting conclusions. It is not clear that when this island was populated and how the present Negrito populations living here share their ancestry with the other modern as well as archaic humans? We have analysed the genomewide data of more than 300K SNP with the available current state-of-art. We found an initial early split of these populations with the Oceanians and Australians, followed by various degree of admixture at different timescale with other Negrito groups.
Paper short abstract:
Specific use-wear patterns were identified on experimental stone tools by an interdisciplinary methodology involving ethnoarchaeology and anthropology of technology, showing the potential of these approaches for the understanding of past technical behaviours.
Paper long abstract:
In this paper I will present some unexpected results I obtained, having recourse to ethnoarchaeology and anthropology of technology, which emphasise the powerful potential of these approaches to recover information regarding past technical behaviours. The aim of my research was to know if it is possible to differentiate the working of bamboo from the one of other plant taxa based on use-wear it produces on stone tools, and therefore to recognise it in the archaeological record. The first part of the work consisted in studying extant practices of plant exploitation in the forests of Palawan Highlands, Philippines. I carefully documented activities with a camera video and later on analysed them in detail with the concept of "chaîne opératoire", which can be defined as the series of operations that transform a raw material into a product. The aim of this first stage was to gather data in order to design realistic archaeological experiments. I then reproduced selected activities with stone tools and analysed the subsequent use traces that developed. Although the goal of this project was to distinguish the traces produced by the processing of different plant taxa, I was able, because of the careful attention I paid to current practices and know-how, to identify specific patterns related to two different techniques, including basketry. There is now a mean to identify these techniques in the archaeological record, thanks to the actualistic approach developed and the mobilisation of anthropology of technology.
Paper short abstract:
Patterns of shape variations of upper molar teeth from submodern populations are explored and suggest that they might usefully be employed as a proxy to infer population history of Homo sapiens in Southeast Asia.
Paper long abstract:
Peopling of Southeast Asia by Homo sapiens is often regarded as resulting of two major migration waves (i.e. "Two-Layer Hypothesis"). However, most of the published large scale comparative morphological analyses (including osteological or dental series) did not detect evidence for hypothetic Late Pleistocene or Holocene migration wave(s). Rather, the correlation between morphological and geographical distances suggests a predominant role of local evolutionary processes in shaping present-day human biological diversity. Does this mean that Southeast Asia was settled in one major initial wave of migration (followed by local evolutionary processes) or that morphological variations from submodern populations are not a reliable proxy to infer population history? The present study includes a large sample of submodern permanent upper molar teeth from mainland and island Southeast Asia, Australia and Melanesia as well as 661 upper molars from various chrono-cultural periods spanning from the Upper Pleistocene to the Late Holocene. Shape variability and affinities are described by multivariate statistical analyses. The presence of a major Late Holocene wave of migration is tested by a modelling approach. Analyses are first undertaken on our sample of submodern teeth. Then archaeological specimens, considered as a direct evidence of past population events, are included in order to compare the results. While showing geographic structure to some extent, patterns of variations contained in our submodern sample are congruent with a scenario based primarily on population movements. However, the integration of specimens from archaeological contexts brings invaluable information and makes possible to propose more detailed hypotheses.