Paper short abstract:

Sea nomadism is a characteristic subsistence strategy in island SE Asia today but we have little idea of the antiquity of these societies. The paper discusses the evidence for very early maritime movement in SE Asia, but concludes that modern sea-nomads co-evolved with the rise of trading states.

Paper long abstract:

The ethnographic evidence for sea nomads in island SE Asia is reasonably well-documented, although the focus has been on the Samal, with other groups less well-known, especially those on the sea-coast of China. The paper begins with and overview of sea nomadism today and then moves to a consideration of the time-depth we can attribute to this subsistence strategy. There is now evidence for extensive movement up and down the Ryukyus as much as 35kya, and we know that the Talaud islands were the focus of intensive maritime activity up to 20kya. Obviously it is extremely difficult to reconstruct the motivations of such movements at these early dates. However, the paper argues that they are best understood as early seagoing populations seeking out resources in a period of extremely low population densities, where trade and interaction with settled residents was probably non-existent. The type of sea-nomads present in SE Asia today are almost certainly linked with the rise of trading states, which probably do not go further back than two millennia. Sea-nomads depend on such states as buyers for fish and other aquatic resources as well as carrying their trade goods from one region to another. In this way the nomads are able to acquire key technologies, including iron tools and improved boatbuilding techniques to extend the range and diversity of their commercial activities. We can refine techniques for seeking direct archaeological traces of sea-nomads but it is also crucial to build their input into models of the rise of complex polities.