New Archaeological Find Redefines Austronesian People’s Origins

via South China Morning Post, 23 December 2023: The news articles present the re-location of the Austronesian homeland from Taiwan to China as something new, but it is not. Taiwan is where the earliest evidence (at least until recently) can be found, but even from a decade ago the general thought was that the Austronesian populations in Taiwan likely came from South China.

Chinese archaeologists uncovered a 7,300-year-old civilisation on Pingtan island, off the coast of Fujian province in southeastern China, that indicates the island could have been an originating source of what some scientists consider the greatest maritime migration in human history.

The island was clearly inhabited by Austronesian people ranging from 3,000 to 7,500 years ago, archaeologists announced in late November, according to state media outlet China Daily.

Austronesians were a large ethnic group that lived across a huge geographical area, originating in Taiwan and reaching as far away as Easter Island in Chile. The population covered most of Southeast Asia, Micronesia, Polynesia, New Zealand, and the US state of Hawaii.

Source: New discovery suggests first Austronesian people, famous for maritime migration from 7,500 years ago, inhabited area beyond Taiwan | South China Morning Post