Chapter 2 : Prehistoric Times
Outline
Taiwan
entered the Upper Paleolithic phase of cultural development about 50,000 years
ago. Paleolithic culture was followed by early, middle and late Neolithic cultures,
and then by Iron age cultures. At every stage, different types of culture
coexisted on Taiwan.
There was both local cultural development and interaction with cultures in
Southeast Asia and China.
Taiwan’s
indigenous peoples preserved significant cultural differences. In sum, in
prehistoric times Taiwan
was home to many indigenous groups with different cultures and social
structures.
2-1 Cultural Evolution
The Paleolithic Age
About 18,000
years ago, the sea level began to rise. At around 10,000 BC—12,000 years ago—Taiwan
finally became an island, in pretty much the same shape as we observe today.
There had been people living in Taiwan
even before it was isolated from the mainland. Archeologists have found an
Upper Paleolithic culture in Changbin
Township,
Taitung
County. This is called
“Changbin Culture.”
Changbin
people had the following cultural characteristics: they used fire; they used chipped
stone and bone tools to fish, hunt and gather food; and they usually lived in
caves or in the shade of rocks. They appeared approximately 50,000 years ago and
disappeared about 5,000 years ago. In addition to Changbin culture, many archeological
sites in western Taiwan
date back to the end of the Upper Paleolithic. These sites are closely related
to similar sites in southern China.
The Neolithic Age
Starting
7,000 years ago, Taiwan
was inhabited by different types of Neolithic peoples. The Neolithic Age in Taiwan
can be divided into several periods, represented by Dabenkeng culture, Yuanshan
culture, and Puyuma culture. These cultures are related to Neolithic cultures coastal
southeast China.
Some of them are connected to Neolithic cultures in Southeast
Asia.
We
can list more cultural characteristics for the Neolithic peoples in Taiwan:
they made stone and bone implements by striking and grinding; they used these
tools to hunt and gather as well as to practice agriculture; they used earthenware
vessels in daily life; and they had jade decorations. We can also discuss their
social-economic development. In the early Neolithic period, primitive slash and
burn agriculture focused on root vegetables. Yields were poor. As a result,
villages were tiny, and sustenance was mainly acquired through hunting and
fishing. In the middle and late Neolithic periods, their way of life evolved:
there was a gradual shift to agriculture. Grains including rice were planted. The
increased yields of settled agriculture made larger villages possible. People
started to raise livestock and settle down. Also in this period, people in Taiwan
adopted more sophisticated burial practices, including accompanied burial,
where the dead person is buried with possessions or companions. Such practices
suggest the emergence of religious belief..
The Iron Age
About
2,000 years ago, certain indigenous cultures on Taiwan entered the Iron Age. Representative
are Shihsanhang culture in the north, Niaosong culture in the south, and Jingpu
culture in the east. Stone implements, bone implements, and pottery were still made.
But now bronze and iron implements were used as well. These implements could
have been imported, but Shihsanhang culture sites have yielded evidence
suggesting iron making.
Taiwan’s Iron Age cultures interacted with their
counterparts in mainland China
and Southeast Asia. Perhaps they learned new
ways of building kilns and firing pottery. Certainly, their pottery increased
in hardness. Perhaps they learned new shapes and techniques of decoration.
Certainly, there is a variety of types, surface designs and colors. Perhaps
some of these developments were due to their own creativity. In terms of socio-economic
life, the mainstay of the diet of these Iron Age cultures was grain, which was supplemented
by root crops. In Taiwan’s
Iron Age, there were diverse burial practices, suggesting a variety of
religious beliefs.
About
two thousand years ago, while western Taiwan—including
the coastal, plains and hilly areas—had for the most part entered the Iron Age,
mountainous central and eastern Taiwan
remained in the Neolithic Age. In other words, there was already considerable
cultural diversity on Taiwan
at this time.
2-2 Indigenous Societies
Plains Indigenes
About
four hundred years ago, many Han Chinese immigrated to Taiwan. They observed that broadly
there were two types of indigenous culture, plains and mountain indigenous
culture. The indigenous people living on the plains were called “plains
savages” or “cultured savages.” We now use the term “plains indigenes.” There
were once many tribes of plains indigenes living on the plains and in the
foothills of western and northeastern Taiwan..
There were different social structures. Generally speaking, most tribes were
matriarchal, with females inheriting the family possessions and males going to
live with the families of their wives. Males were divided into different age-groups;
only the elders were allowed to participate in tribal affairs.
Mountain Indigenes
The
Han Chinese called indigenes living in the mountains “mountain savages” or “uncultured
savages.” Today, we call them “mountain indigenes.”
Usually,
“mountain indigene tribes” refers to the Atayal, Saisiyat, Bunun, Tsou, Rukai,
Paiwan, Puyuma, Amis and Yami/Tao. Most of these peoples have lived in the
mountains in central and eastern Taiwan. However, the Yami, also
called the Tao, live on Orchid
Island. The Yami belong
to Taiwan’s
only “ocean tribe,” though the Yami are classified as mountain indigenes. These
mountain tribes have different social structures. Some are matriarchal, some
patriarchal; some have class stratification, where land is possessed by the
ruling noble class.
The
indigenous tribes of Taiwan
speak Austronesian languages. Certain of these tribes entered the Iron Age as
early as two thousand years ago, but neither writing nor complex political
structures had developed when the Han Chinese immigrated to Taiwan four centuries ago.
