Maritime Adaptations in Prehistoric Southeast Chine: Implications for the Problem of Austronesian Expansion

Abstract

The movement of the Austronesian peoples from their homelands in the coastal areas of the East Asian mainland is an extremely complicated problem, and it is still in need of further discussion. In order to address this issue, we must endeavor to understand more clearly the prehistoric cultures of the southeastern coast of the Chinese mainland, and especially changes in settlement and subsistence patterns. In recent years, the great increase of available archaeological materials concerning the prehistoric cultures in the southeastern coastal regions of China, including Taiwan, has begun to present a favorable opportunity to re-examine the problem here raised. This article therefore aims to present a new synthesis of the archaeological materials in that area, in the hope to better comprehend the motivation and reason for the spread of the Austronesian ancestors.