The natural and cultural history of Southeast Asian agriculture : ecological and evolutionary considerations

Abstract

Recent archaeological discoveries in Southeast Asia and the Pacific have led to provocative claims regarding the prehistoric origins and development of agriculture in those regions. The present paper reviews the available evidence in the light of general ecological and evolutionary principles and presents a tentative framework for the prehistory of Southeast Asian agriculture* It is found that traditional culture-historical reconstructions of the Southeast Asian Neolithic are unable to account for the ethnographic and archaeological evidence. The archaeological data are, on the other hand, presently insufficient to support any specific new reconstruction. The proposed framework for the origin and development of Southeast Asian agriculture is dynamic, taking into account continuous interactions between humans and their environments. However, it is acknowledged that this framework is speculative and needs to-be tested through further archaeological research. The major purpose of the proposal is to lend methodological focus to future field investigations. [Southeast Asia, Archaeology, Agriculture, Ecology]

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