The prehistory of a Friction Zone

First farmers and hunters-gatherers in Southeast Asia

Bibliographic Data

ID3671024
AuthorsC Higham (0000-0002-1082-6215, University of Otago), C F W Higham, Xie Guangmao, Xie Guang-mao (Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology), Lin Qiang, Qiang Lin (0000-0002-3362-6152, Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology)
Year2011
Volume85
Issue328
Pages529-543
Publication date2011-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAntiquity (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0003-598X • E-ISSN: 1745-1744
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0003598x00067922
OpenAlexW2209613529
LanguageEN
Citations received29
References cited18

The prime-mover for the arrival of the Neolithic in Island Southeast Asia is thought to be the expansion of rice farmers speaking an Austronesian language and coming from the north (see Spriggs, above). Much less is known of the indigenous hunter-gatherers and their interaction with the new farming communities. The mutually occupied area, in the definition of Peter Bellwood, was a 'Friction Zone', where two radically different cultures met. This paper emphasises how much land, and information, was lost when the rising sea drowned Sundaland, an area the size of India, and brings to bear archaeological and DNA evidence to emphasise the continuing role of hunter-gatherers in the later prehistory of Southeast Asia

Agriculture · Archaeology · Austronesian languages · Ethnology · Geography · Hunter-gatherer · Indigenous · Prehistory · Southeast asia · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Ecology · History · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology