Asian Perspectives, 2016 - Volume 55, Number 1 (Spring)
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ItemPochan Chen 陳伯楨(29 October 1973–28 June 2015)( 2016)Professor Pochan Chen, of the Department of Anthropology, National Taiwan University (NTU), passed away of heart failure at the age of 41 in Shin Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital in Taipei on the morning of 28 June 2015. He was interred in a flower burial in Taipei following a funeral service attended by over 300 mourners on Monday, 20 July 2015. He is survived by his parents, brother, and fiancée Lin Kuei-chen.
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ItemPaths to Power in the Early Stage of Colonialism: An Archaeological Study of the Sultanate of Banten, Java, Indonesia, the Seventeenth to Early Nineteenth Century( 2016)This article discusses the results of our archaeological research at an important global pepper-trading center located in west Java, Indonesia, to examine the sultan’s power and the transition processes from the year 1682 when the Dutch East India Company effectively took political and economic control over the sultanate, until the official end of the Sultanate of Banten in 1813. Through the study of prestige goods and food used at the court, we critically explore power relationships in this early stage of colonialism. The results of our study suggest that European cultural influence was limited to the public domain and most aspects of the sultan’s daily life largely remained unchanged. However, the changing political structure was one factor in the eventual decline of the sultan’s power. The archaeological focus on foodways in the study presented here reveals a more nuanced understanding of these gradual political changes than has been suggested by previous archaeological research primarily based on monumental architecture and major historical events.
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ItemDo Hiccups Echo? Late Holocene Interaction and Ceramic Production in Southern Papua New Guinea( 2016)The last five decades of research into Papua New Guinean archaeology have revealed a variety of rapid late Holocene cultural changes. The Ceramic Hiccup (c. 1200 – 800 years b.p.) is a little understood period of change along the south Papuan coast. It presents itself at the terminus of the Early Papuan Pottery (EPP) tradition as a rapid change in ceramic styles, lithic exchange, and settlement patterns. Previous interpretations have invoked causal factors such as migration, environment, and conflict. This article investigates this period of change by examining exchange and mobility patterns during EPP, through the Ceramic Hiccup, and into the ensuing traditions. Physico-chemical analysis (scanning electron microscopy, SEM) of 39 potsherds was conducted to understand changes in ceramic production during this period at two key sites, Taurama (AGN and AJA) and Eriama 1 (ACV), in the Port Moresby region of the south coast of Papua New Guinea. Although our interpretations are provisional due to a small sample size, it is argued here that, following the highly interactive period of EPP, a migration of ceramic manufacturing groups from the west supplants the local tradition (EPP) during the Ceramic Hiccup. There is a decline in interaction between ceramic communities toward the latter stages of EPP, with increased isolation and standardization of ceramics. This decline of interaction in the region is associated with a decline in chemical variability in ceramic components. The Ceramic Hiccup is representative of introduced ceramics, increased interaction and mobility.
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ItemSex and Geographic Differences in Health of the Early Inhabitants of the Mariana Islands( 2016)The early inhabitants of the Mariana Islands encountered numerous challenges that likely affected their health, including island size, vulnerability to natural disasters, availability of resources, and shifts in climate. Other factors that could have led to differences in health include biological sex, social status, diet, and genetic factors (e.g., host resistance). This article examines the effects of environment and biological sex on the health of the earliest inhabitants of the Mariana Islands through an analysis of indicators of health recorded in skeletons from Guam, Rota, Tinian, and Saipan. The indicators of health investigated include cribra orbitalia (CO), linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH), stature, trauma, infection, and dental disease (antemortem tooth loss [AMTL], dental caries, alveolar defect, dental calculus, and attrition). Betel staining of teeth is also examined. To determine if there are differences attributable to sex, male and female data are compared for each island separately and then for all the islands combined. To examine differences between islands, separate comparisons of these indicators are made for males and females. Examining islands separately, no significant sex differences were observed for CO, spondylolysis, fractures, treponemal infection, AMTL, or dental calculus. Significant sex differences were observed for LEH, betel-stained teeth, and the other dental pathologies. With few exceptions, sex differences in the observed indicators were consistent across islands. Observing male and female health across the islands revealed no significant differences for stature, trauma or infections. For the remaining indicators, significant differences were observed. Similarities in health between Guam and Rota in the south and Tinian and Saipan located farther north suggest that geography, environmental constraints, and social and cultural networking were important variables affecting the health and lives of the early inhabitants of the Mariana Islands.
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ItemPalaeoecology and Forager Subsistence Strategies during the Pleistocene – Holocene Transition: A Reinvestigation of the Zooarchaeological Assemblage from Spirit Cave, Mae Hong Son Province, Thailand( 2016)This reanalysis uses the zooarchaeological assemblage recovered from Spirit Cave to understand hunter-gatherer use and occupation at the site during the Pleistocene – Holocene transition. We analyze bone fragmentation, sample size, and relative abundance to establish the preservation and overall composition of the remaining fauna. Identification of several new taxa, including roundleaf bats (Hipposideros larvatus and bicolor), elongated tortoise (Indotestudo elongata), black marsh turtle (Siebenrockiella crassicollis), Burmese hare (Lepus cf. peguensis) and a potential red junglefowl (Phasianidae — ?Gallus gallus) provide insights into hunter-gatherer occupation, palaeoecology, and subsistence strategies between 12,000 and 7000 years b.p. Our results indicate that Spirit Cave was occupied more sporadically than originally suggested; additionally, we identify new evidence for landscape disturbance during the early Holocene. Although this Spirit Cave zooarchaeological assemblage is incomplete, it remains an important component of Southeast Asian prehistory, providing evidence for human adaptations during a period of climatic change and instability.
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ItemEditors’ Note( 2016)
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ItemTable of Contents( 2016)
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ItemTitle Page( 2016)
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ItemCover( 2016)