A 4000 year-old introduction of domestic pigs into the Philippine Archipelago: implications for understanding routes of human migration through Island Southeast Asia and Wallacea

Abstract

New research into the Neolithic of Island Southeast Asia is broadening the old models and making them more diverse, more human – more like history: people and animals can move through the islands in a multitude of ways. The domestic pig is an important tracker of Neolithic people and practice into the Pacific, and the authors address the controversial matter of whether domestic pigs first reached the islands of Southeast Asia from China via Taiwan or from the neighbouring Vietnamese peninsula. The DNA trajectory read from modern pigs favours Vietnam, but the authors have found well stratified domestic pig in the Philippines dated to c. 4000 BP and associated with cultural material of Taiwan. Thus the perils of relying only on DNA – but are these alternative or additional stories?

The Original Banana Split: Multi-disciplinary implications of the generation of African and Pacific Plantains in Island Southeast Asia

“…Bulbeck 2008). However, the maritime introduction of M. balbisiana to the Philippines should not be so surprising; the Philippines were already enmeshed in maritime interactions with Taiwan (Piper et al 2009) and the Mariana Islands (Hung et al 2011), as well as plausibly other regions within ISEA (Donohue & Denham 2010), by c. 3500 years ago.…”

“…Taiwan seems an attractive possibility for the origin of the Philippine M. balbisiana because of its proximity and longterm historical connections (Piper et al 2009). However, the presence of M. balbisiana on Taiwan is disappointingly meager.…”

“…The great distance from mainland Southeast Asia to the Philippines poses the question of who undertook this voyage over such a long distance? There were certainly contacts across the Batanes Strait between southern Taiwan and northern Luzon at least 4000 years ago (Hung et al 2007, Piper et al 2009, with subsequent colonization of the Mariana Islands from the Philippines by c. 3500 years ago (e.g., Hung et al 2011). From c. 2500-1500 years ago, nephrite artifacts shed light on social connectivities around the South China Sea, embracing regions as distant as Taiwan, Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand (Hung et al 2007), with evidence for the spread of Dongson bronze artifacts from Vietnam as far as western New Guinea also likely to date to this time period (Wright et al 2013).…”

“…Archaeological remains of domestic-type pigs from northern Luzon date to at least 4000 years ago (Piper et al 2009). These pigs are thought to derive from interaction across the Batanes Strait from that time, which is also associated with the introduction of red-slipped pottery, rice, and other material cultural traits.…”

Rethinking the Neolithic in Island Southeast Asia, with Particular Reference to the Archaeology of Timor‑Leste and Sulawesi

“…BP (3940 ± 40 Wk 23397), a large faunal assemblage has been analysed and found to contain a domestic pig species morphologically consistent with Sus scrofa (Amano et al 2013: 320;Piper et al 2009). However while domestic pig is present, the bulk of the Nagsabaran assemblage consists of endemic wild pigs (Sus philippensis) and an endemic deer (Amano et al 2013: 321, 329).…”