Tracing Negritos and Their Paths in Ancient Taiwan: New Findings Raise More Questions

Abstract

New research findings may have confirmed the existence of ancient negritos on Taiwan at least as early as 6,000 years ago, based on our recent craniometric study of pre-Neolithic human remains excavated from the Xiaoma Cave on the eastern coast of the island. In terms of phenotype or physical appearance, the Xiaoma individual was very much like the Agta people of northern Luzon in the Philippines. This chapter reviews evidence from multiple disciplines of archaeology, anthropology, traditional folklore, and historical documents to understand the existence, characteristics, and disappearance of the negritos who once lived in Taiwan, probably surviving until recent centuries. Nowadays, no negrito groups live in Taiwan, though there are such groups in the Philippines, the Malaysian Peninsula, and the Andaman Islands. We propose that before the farming expansion of East Asian populations during the early Neolithic period, many groups of the Australo-Papuan affinity with darker skin and frizzy hair, including negritos, had already had been living in southern East Asia. This chapter will discuss the possible origins and relations between the ancient negritos and their counterpart populations who came to live in Taiwan and in other regions of Asia. Show more