Domesticated Animals in the Island Southeast Asian Neolithic

Abstract

Between 2500 and 1500 BCE, human populations migrated into Southeast Asia from southern China and Taiwan, bringing new modes of sedentary settlement and a broad range of material culture. It is traditionally believed that these early Austroasiatic‐ and Austronesian‐speaking communities introduced three domestic animals – the pig, dog, and chicken – as a “package” to Southeast Asia. However, there is currently no evidence to support such an exclusive correlation. There is also no strong evidence to indicate that any of these animals, apart perhaps from the dog, arrived in Island Southeast Asia (beyond Taiwan) prior to 2500 bce. Recent genetic and zooarchaeological studies suggest several routes of translocation into the region.