Pre‐Austronesian dispersal of banana cultivars West from New Guinea: linguistic relics from Eastern Indonesia

Abstract

Against the backdrop of a comprehensive archaeobotanical review, we present linguistic evidence that allows us to develop a model of the dispersal of bananas westwards from New Guinea. This westward dispersal is a window on pre‐Austronesian contact between New Guinea and regions to the west. The linguistically‐derived model is compatible with archaeobotanical and botanical data. Our interpretation accords with evidence for maritime interactions from the early Holocene in western New Guinea and eastern Indonesia.

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

“…In the last few years a number of researchers have raised the inluence of Melanesia and eastern Maluku on the crop base of ISEA and suggested it may have considerable antiquity (eg. Denham 2011;Denham and Donohue 2009;Oliveira 2008: 343). Glover (1986: 169, 194) reported one seed of the cereal Job's Tears (Coix sp.)…”

Why Bananas Matter: An introduction to the history of banana domestication

“…DNA-marking has further indicated that the subspecies must have played a major role in the generation of many common edible diploids and triploids (Perrier et al 2009). It is thus plausible that human contacts in the New Guinea region and across the Sunda area caused natural hybridization of the semi-edible AA with other acuminata subspecies, thus eventually generating the current complex edible AA/AAA-pattern typical for Island Southeast Asia (Denham & Donohue 2009 The African Plantains apparently underwent a sustained tertiary diversification in Africa over a long time, judging from the large number of cultivars that have never been recorded elsewhere (Blench 2009, De Langhe 2007. The movement of these plantains from Southeast Asia to Africa, which is necessarily due to human intervention, remains a matter of much speculation.…”

“…For example, archaeobotanical evidence of Musa bananas in areas beyond the natural range of the genus, especially Africa, is indicative of introduction, adoption and dispersal by people in the distant or recent past (Neumann & Hildebrand 2009. Additionally, when archaeobotanical evidence is taken in conjunction with plant genetics and historical linguistics, robust chronologies of edible banana generation and dispersal can be established, such as the inferred movement of bananas from New Guinea to eastern Indonesia in the mid-Holocene (Denham & Donohue 2009, Donohue & Denham 2009a, Kennedy 2008). …”

Banana (Musa spp.) Domestication in the Asia-Pacific Region: Linguistic and archaeobotanical perspectives

“…Even though the archaeobotanical record for bananas in this region is geographically dispersed and partial, we present the evidence that is relevant to the present argument (Figures 3 and 4; Table 3; from Denham & Donohue 2009, also see Vrydaghs & De Langhe 2003, Kennedy 2008). …”

“…We can date the dispersal of bananas as preceding the arrival of Austronesian languages in eastern Indonesia and New Guinea, namely prior to c 4000 years ago (see Denham & Donohue 2009). This dispersal is in accordance with evidence for an early maritime culture in the area and also accords with archaeobotanical evidence for the prior domestication of bananas in the New Guinea region and dispersal to Island Southeast Asia and onwards eventually to Africa.…”