Prehistoric Cultures of Taiwan
　　When the first waves of Chinese settlers arrived in Taiwan some four centuries ago, there were aboriginal tribes people already widely distributed throughout the territory. These aboriginal people exhibit quite wide differences in terms of their languages, cultures, social organization and physique. Although linguistically they all belong to the Austronesian family, how is it that so many differences appear among these peoples within the relatively small geographical area of Taiwan? Was it perhaps that they originally came from different places, arrived in Taiwan at different periods and each occupied a territory of their own where their own culture was preserved or developed?

The Formosan aborigines have no written language, and so there are no historical records of their own to refer to. For any appreciation of their past, one must turn to the various stages of Taiwan’s prehistory.

(1) Pleistocene Palaeolithic Culture
　　Taiwan lies on southeastern China’s continental shelf, and during the pleistocene and glacial epochs of three million to ten thousand years ago it was actually joined several times to the land mass of South China. At that time there were constant migrations of mammals from South China on to Taiwan. Thus it is possible that palaeolithic hunters and gatherers followed the animal migration to Taiwan at the same period. In 1968 at Pa-hsien-tung in Ch`ang-pin district, Taitung, archaeologists discovered human remains dating from the late pleistocene epoch, that is to say the late palaeolithic age. This "Ch’amg-pin culture" is the most ancient yet known in Taiwan.

The Ch’ang-pin culture was introduced from South China between 50000 and 5000 years ago, first spreading to western Taiwan and then to eastern Taiwan. On Taiwan`s eastern seaboard it continued uninterrupted until 5,000 years ago, when it suddenly vanished. Moreover, no links of any kind have been found between it and the later prehistoric cultural strata discovered widely all over Taiwan. In other words, the island`s neolithic, bronze and iron age cultures did not gradually evolve from the Ch`ang-pin Culture. Rather, they were new stages of culture that were introduced across the sea after the close of the ice age when Taiwan had become an island. These cultures of the neolithic and subsequent periods were introduced from many directions and at different times.

(2) Ta-pen-k`eng Culture
At the close of the pleistocene glacial epoch there was an over all rise in the sea level. The earliest culture to appear in Taiwan after it became an island was a rough cord-pattern pottery culture, also called " Ta-pen-K`eng culture". This culture was first discovered on Taiwan`s northwestern coast, since when it has also been distinguished in the south and central areas of the island`s west coast. Recently, considerable Ta-pen-k`eng cultural remains have been excavated from sites on Taiwan`s eastern seaboard as well, prompting speculation that on the east coast in later times the Ch`ang-pin culture may have coexisted with the Ta-pen-k`eng culture. It is a cultural layer which always appears in the lowest neolithic stratum. Clearly unconnected with the pre-pottery Ch`ang-pin culture, it is a culture in which the arts of pottery making and fashioning stone tools were well advanced. Archeologists estimate the time span of Ta-pen-k`eng culture as possibly between 10,000 and 5000 B.C., and they think the people of this period belonged to an early agrarian culture in which, in addition to hunting, fishing and gathering, cultivation had already begun of taro and other tropical and sub-tropical vegetables, fruits and spices. Around 2500 B.C. several different neolithic cultures appeared in various regions of Taiwan’s east and west coasts, which scholars suspect may be connected with large-scale migrations of peoples belonging to the Austronesian language family.

(3) Neolithic Culture of Northwestern Taiwan
Somewhat later in time than the Ta-pen-k`eng culture was the Yuanshan culture, rich in local colour, which spread over northwestern Taiwan. This had a rich inventory of stone implement types, of which the most common and most representative of this culture`s uniqueness are large polished shovels, large hoes with convex blades, flat stone chisels, stepped stone adzes, shouldered axes, spearheads and arrowheads. The absence of stone knives is also remarkable. The shouldered axe blade has been described by a French orientalist as the characteristic stone implement of Southeast Asia. In 1923 Dr. Robert Heine-Geldern proposed a theory that the shouldered axe blade was closely connected with peoples of the ancient South Asian language family. Although such axe blades have been excavated in Taiwan, all the aboriginal peoples inhabiting the island belong to the Austronesian language family. Dr. Heine-Geldern explains this by saying that Taiwan was originally inhabited by peoples speaking languages of the South Asian family, but that subsequently they were expelled by ancestors of the present Austronesian-family aboriginals who had come northwards from the Philippines.

In addition to stone implements, a large number of bone and horn artifacts are associated with the Yuanshan culture. While the majority of these are small chisel-shaped implements, another feature is a remarkably fine type of fish-hook made of bone or horn, incorporating a reversed barb.

　　 The early pottery of the Yuanshan culture consisted mostly of plain, light brown jar-shaped vessels, many of which are fitted with a pair of handles stretching vertically from the lip of the vessel to the shoulder. More of a rarity and quite unique in shape is a double-mouthed ewer with a ring foot. This plain Yuanshan pottery is often painted with swathes of reddish-brown pigment, or else with coloured dots or lines. Also occasionally one finds examples of impressed net patterns, another distinguishing feature of Yuanshan pottery.

Chieftains in the Yuanshan culture also had a custom of having their teeth extracted. This is noteworthy, for the same custom is found among the Atayal, Saisiat, Bunun and certain plains aboriginal peoples.

(4) Neolithic Cultures of the Central and Southern West Coast
The neolithic cultures distributed across the central and southern areas of Taiwan`s west coast show the influence of the coastal Black Pottery culture of mainland China. The stone implements from these areas, for instance, include no shouldered axe blades or stepped adzes such as are typical of the Yuanshan culture. Stone knives, however, in which the Yuanshan culture is lacking, occur commonly here and it is also believed by archaeologists that the stone knife was one of the main types of stone implement in neolithic North China.

　　 These neolithic cultures of Taiwan's west coast, with their close links with prehistoric cultures of the mainland Chinese seaboard, may have shared much in common with the ancestral cultures of Taiwan's aborigines, for most of these were originally farming people cultivating rice and millet. At different times during the neolithic period different cultures developed in the central and southern areas of the west coast, and this may well have been due to seaborne migrations from different places on the Chinese mainland. Furthermore, scholars argue that although there may have been a certain cultural interchange between these groups after arriving in Taiwan, they generally seem to have retained their individual cultural traditions.

　　 Like their counterpart in the northwest, the cultures of Taiwan`s central and southern west coast gradually entered the iron age around the beginning of our common era. In the central area there appeared the Fan-tzu-yuan culture and in the southern area the Niao-sung culture. Meanwhile the neolithic cultures steadily disappeared and the whole of Taiwan`s west coast entered the early phase of the iron age.

(5) Neolithic Cultures of the East Coast
The east coast is the home of the Ch`ang-pin culture, the first palaeolithic culture discovered in Taiwan, but the neolithic cultures of this region include two large systems which possibly developed side by side. One of these is the Megalithic culture or Ch`i-lin culture, mainly distributed on the fringes of the foothills along the eastern seaboard. It is distinguished by its slate sarcophagi, stone walls, megalithic pillars, monoliths, stone figurines and stone rings forming a whole set of megaliths possibly associated with ritual worship. This culture is wholly unknown in any other area of Taiwan, and nothing similar has been found in southeastern China.

　　 In addition to this Megalithic or Ch`i-lin culture, there was another neolithic culture on Taiwan`s east coast which belonged to a different system. It coexisted for a while at least with the Ch`i-lin culture, and archaeologists refere to it as Pei-nan culture. Typical of its remains are slate pillars, slate sarcophagi, slate troughs and slate pestles. Apart from a small area where it overlapped with the Ch`i-lin culture, this cultural system is mainly concentrated in the rift valley running north-south between Hualien and Taitung, while certain elements of it reached as far as the Hengchun peninsula.

　　 It is not certain where the Pei-nan culture originated from or when it first emerged, although it may have continued even later than the Ch`i-lin culture and right down to the period when bronze bracelets were worn.

(6) Taiwan`s Early Iron Age Cultures
Judging by archaeological evidence such as the presence of iron implements and glass ornaments, the cultures everywhere along Taiwan`s west coast emerged from the neolithic stage at around the turn of our common era, although in some areas this occurred rapidly while in others it may have proceeded only gradually.

　　 The cultures at this stage occupying the northern and central areas of the west coast often feature tombs with burial goods of shell, as well as finely-made implements of bone and horn, glass and agate beads, and translucent glass bracelets of triangular section. Their pottery is hard and evidently fired at high temperature. It can mostly be classified into two types, brown pottery with impressed geometrical patterns and grey-black pottery with comb patterns or patterns of whorls and dots. The former type occurs more frequently in the northern area, while the latter type predominates in the central region.

　　 Although archaeologists do not doubt that there were close links between the cultures of these areas at this stage, they nevertheless appear to have belonged to two distinct traditions. The northern culture has been christened the Shih-san-hsing culture, while that in the central region is known as the Fan-tzu-yuan culture. The pottery with impressed geometrical patterns associated with the Shin-san-hsing culture seems to have spread from the Ilan plain southwards as far as the valley of the Liwu River in Hualien county, and moreover it bears a marked resemblance to the geometrical patterned pottery of the South China littoral. Furthermore, this type of pottery continued to be used by the Ketangalan aboriginals of northern Taiwan and the Kavalan aboriginals of the Ilan plain until recent times, and thus these cultures share connections with the plains aboriginal peoples of their respective areas.

　　 As for the southern west coast area, the most important remains left by the culture of this stage consist of pottery. The great majority of this pottery is plain brown and extremely hard, although occasionally one finds patterns impressed with shells, as well as a minority of black pottery pieces. Also there occur a good many pottery rings, pottery stands and bird-shaped pottery ornaments. At present this culture is thought to have been distributed across the areas of Tainan and Kaohsiung counties and a small part of Chiayi county, and for the time being this culture is referred to as the Niao-sung culture.

(7) Ami Culture
The Ami culture exists only as a hypothesis of archaeologists, who postulate it as representing the ancient culture of the Ami aborigines. Its position is assumed to be more or less equal to the early iron age culture that appeared on Taiwan’s west coast. However, as yet it has not been possible to identify any actual site of this hypothetical culture, whose cultural content is not fully understood.

Distribution of the Taiwan Aboriginal Peoples
　　Some 300 years ago, before Chinese immigrants had arrived in large numbers in Taiwan, the aboriginal peoples of the island were distributed throughout its entire territory, including the island of Lanyu. The plains aborigines, now completely Sinicized, Origi-nally inhabited the western coastal plain and the Ilan plain in northeastern Taiwan. The mountain aborigines, who still retain their indigenous culture to some extent today, for the most part inhabited mountainous regions. Physically the Taiwan aborigines are of the classic Proto-Malay type, while culturally speaking they belong to the Malayo-Polynesian cultural system, although their languages are Indonesian languages of the Austronesian language family.

　　 Despite the fact that they are now wholly Sinicized, early scholars classified the plains aborigines into nine tribal groups: the Ketangalan, the Luilang, the Kavalan, the Taokas, the Pazeh, the Papora, the Babuza, the Hoanya, and the Siraya, These generally inhabited the island’s coastal plains, and they did not share the cultural features of the mountain aborigines. The Taiwan aborigines surviving today are generally known as mountain tribespeople, and they may also be classified into nine main groups: the Atayal, the Saisiat, the Bunun, the Tsou, the Rukai, the Paiwan, the Puyuma, the Ami and the Yami. Of these the first six tribes were originally mountain dwellers, while the Ami and the Puyuma live in the plains of eastern Taiwan and the Yami live on the offshore island of Lanyu (Orchid Island, or Botel Tobago). Thus “mountain aborigines” is perhaps not the most appropriate term, but through long usage it has stuck. There is also another tribal group, the Thau, who live in the region of Sun Moon Lake and the surrounding basin. Their level of cultural assimilation lies midway between the plains aborigines and the mountain aborigines, and their scholarly classification has yet to be determined.

The Taiwan aborigines were originally distributed as follows:—