Cultural Change and Regional Relationship of Prehistoric Taiwan: A Case Study of Oluanpi II Site
Date Issued
2009
Date
2009
Author(s)
Cheng, Chien-Wen
Abstract
This research is to investigate the relations between the prehistorical site O-Luan-Pi II (OLPII), which located in the south tip of Taiwan, and the other prehistoric cultures in the southern Taiwan. I adopted the method of cultural history to support my analysis of the holistic cultural remains in OLPII to complement the information about cultural changes and regional interactions in the south of Taiwan. According to the data I collected, I try to build up the hypothesis that there were active interaction among prehistoric areas, and some cultural elements were shared by this interaction. In the mean time, the cultural ideology and was transferred, such as meaning of death or social political regime. The data collected from the excavation of OLPII site in 2006 and 2007 reveals various information. The bottom stratum that known as late Paleolithic persisted culture provides new material for carbon dating in 5750 yr B.P. This result suggests again that this persisted culture might located between 4800~6000 B.P., and possibly the transition period started from the late Paleolithic with the adaptation about seashore resources. The lower second layer, Tapenkeng(TPK), is absent in the whole peninsula area, I assume that the TPK expended to the east coast areas directly from the south-west area, and skipped the Hengchun peninsula where the pre-pottery culture still locates.he Find Red Ware(FRW) culture of Fengpitou site(FPT)(Chang 1969), is possibly close related to OLPII site. Through comprising the cultural factors, and following the migration theory suggested by Professor Huang Shih-chiang, I proposed that the FRW might had a massive migration from FPT to OLPII. The migration brought new cultural factors into the Hengchun peninsula. After these cultural factors were absorbed and transformed, they shaped the specialty of Kengting Cultural Phase, which was known as a divided stream of FRW. Later on, the FRW migrated from OLPII again to the east coast area of Taiwan. From the remains of these areas, I found the cultural factors were transferred in mutual way, and formed an interacting framework. I propose the conecpts of “Taiwan southwestern interaction sphere”, and “Taiwan southeastern interaction sphere”, to discuss the mutual intense interaction. Since the FRW is found broadly in west coast area of Taiwan and Penghu islands, and the similar cultural factors are found in east coast Taiwan, I proposed that OLP area is located in the overlapping margin of the two spheres by the founding of same artifacts as the west coast cultures, and the mixed burial cults and jade industry with the east coast cultures. he late middle Neolithic stage of South Taiwan is proposed to be the Sandy Plain Pottery (SPP) culture, which was modified from K.C. Chang’s Sandy Red-Grey Horizon theory. Through the comparison, the similarity between FPT upper layer and OLPII upper layer was observed, and the interaction from the south east to the south of Taiwan could had still intensely worked in the era. The FPT and the OLPII sites could be seen as two peer polities by the evidence that the most vast deposit over this region in the same period . A noticeable characteristic of this period is the long distance expanding or migration. The red-slipped pottery of OLPII, could be also found in the east coast of Taiwan, and the northern Luzon and Batanes of Philippines. The carbon dating years of red-slipped of Batanes in the Sunget period, are comparatively later than OLPII’s dating results. I assume that the latest period of OLPII residents, might had another massive expansion from Hengchun peninsula to the east coast of Taiwan and the northern Philipines. The expanding movement might had formed the earliest Peinan Culture, and it possibly motivated the migration of proto Austronesians.owever, this hypothesis still need more correlated research to support, especially the research about ancient ecological and environmental analysis. There are still limitaions of this research, because the archaeological data before Middle Neolithic is very rarely found in Oluanpi. But this research could possibly help researchers to deduct how did environment affect people’s migration and cultural changes.
Subjects
Archaeology
cultural change
regional interaction
OLPII
Fengpitou Culture
painted pottery
red-slipped pottery
File(s)![Thumbnail Image]()
Loading...
Name
ntu-98-D89125002-1.pdf
Size
23.53 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum
(MD5):b78bbb34e8c475093e0fb5651d05cdea