Proto Who Utilized Turmeric, and How?

Abstract

Crowley points out, in his 1994 paper entitled “Proto who drank kava?” that, although linguistic reconstruction is conducted with the implicit understanding that the results would have some importance for understanding prehistory, the fact is that linguists are usually more concerned about past forms than meanings, making it difficult for our proposals to be easily accepted by non-linguists, such as archaeologists. Acknowledging this, he attempts to relate the linguistic and the non-linguistic reconstructions of the history of kava (Piper methysticum), a plant that is widely consumed in the Pacific to mix a traditional beverage. Despite the fact that kava-related terms had previously been proposed for Proto-Oceanic, Crowley successfully shows that kava-drinking did not start until after Oceanic people had already settled Vanuatu and that only subsequently did it spread to areas where other Oceanic languages are spoken. Kikusawa (2003: 261) uses a similar approach focusing on another plant, Cyrtosperma taro (often referred to as “giant swamp taro”), arguing that the cultivation of this plant must have developed in atolls in Micronesia, and was subsequently introduced to Polynesia and part of Melanesia.