An historical reassessment of the maritime Southeast Asian forest and marine commodities trade and its implications for archaeological investigations of Asian contact in northern Australia

Datos Bibliográficos

ID9368366
AutoresKellie Clayton (0000-0003-4290-5468, Monash Indigenous Studies Centre, Monash University, Clayton Campus, Clayton, Australia, autor de correspondencia)
Año2023
Volumen89
Número2
Páginas115-133
Fecha de publicación2023-05-04
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaAustralian Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0312-2417 • E-ISSN: 2470-0363
EditorialTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/03122417.2023.2208795
OpenAlexW4379052090
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas3
Referencias citadas40

This paper reassesses the maritime Southeast Asian forest and marine commodities trade from the sixteenth century to World War I. The ‘Macassan’ traders who visited northern Australia were primarily from Makassar and southern Sulawesi (including Bugis, or Bajau and Sumbawan immigrants) and the Lesser Sunda Islands (to where these ethnic groups had migrated) but also included the Indigenous Australians who accompanied them on their voyages. Research into other ethnic groups (Chinese, Makassar-Malay, Seram Laut Islanders, Solorese and Timorese mariners) also associated with both northern Australia and the maritime Southeast Asian forest and marine trade suggests that they be included in the ‘Macassan’ group. Analysis of historical sources for the late nineteenth–early twentieth century Macassan trepang (sea cucumber) industry in north Australia demonstrates that perahu spare cargo capacity was filled with additional commodities when the trepang harvest was low, ensuring voyage profitability. Comparison of the maritime Southeast Asian trade with ethnographic, archaeological, historical, and linguistic evidence in northern Australia, suggests that 20 commodities were likely to have been exported from the latter, seven of which have never before been mentioned in the literature. Mapping of the Macassan routes transporting the 20 commodities shows that northern Australia was connected to a vast network of maritime Southeast and East Asian trade with global reach. The importance of these findings for Asian contact archaeology in northern Australia is threefold: (1) archaeologists should look beyond ceramic provenance, metal, and glass to seek material and chronological evidence for the extraction and processing of a wider range of forest and marine commodities; (2) evidence for the extraction of particular commodities might be a proxy for age estimation of a site; and (3) the origins of introduced material culture will reflect its East, South, and Southeast Asian and, ultimately, global connectivity

Archaeology · Ethnology · Geography · Political science · Project commissioning · Publishing · Southeast asia · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies · History · Law · Maritime and Coastal Archaeology · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies