AUSTRONESIAN PREHISTORY FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF SKELETAL ANTHROPOLOGY

AUSTRONESIAN PREHISTORY

A very relevant question before we discuss the human skeletal remains concerning the Austronesian prehistory is : who is really the Austronesian people? Most scholars agree that the term Austronesian has nothing to do with genetic-biological matters but related to linguistics one (see for example Jacob, 2003). That is why the Austronesian people should be considered as a group of the Austronesian speaking populations that are now widely dispersed from Taiwan (in the northern part), Madagascar (in the west), up to the Pacific islands (in the east). Archaeological studies on their cultural materials show some particular characteristics of this people : had an economy based on agriculture and animal domestication, and developed red-slipped pottery (Bellwood, 1997; Simanjuntak and Tanudirjo, 2003). As agricultural communities, they are no longer a hunter or gatherer, but highly related to the mechanism of the neolithic communities. Consequently, in terms of biological perspective, the Austronesian people are closely related to the people who lived since the Neolithic period, and therefore they could be assumed as Mongolid race. This principle must be agreed first upon this discussion to avoid confusion that potentially arises between the terms of Austronesian people as the Austronesian speaking populations and the Austronesian people as explained in biological context.