NEW LIGHT ON TAIWAN HIGHLAND PREHISTORY

Abstract

Compared to the Western Plains and the East Coast, archaeological research in the central Taiwan Highlands has been very limited. In recent decades, not only most CRM archaeology but also the most active archaeological excavations in Taiwan have been conducted in the lowlands, giving results which have greatly enriched our understanding of Taiwanese prehistory. Nevertheless, archaeological study in the mountainous areas, nowadays mostly inhabited by Austronesian-speaking Formosan people, lapsed after the Japanese colonial period (18951945). Although some excavation and survey projects have been conducted in the highlands since the 1980s (e.g. Chiu and Gao 1988; Tsang and Chang 1995, 1996; Liu and Ho 1998), the limited literature is mostly based on the work of Japanese archaeologists and ethnologists undertaken over sixty years ago. To have a more comprehensive discussion about prehistoric island-wide population movements and cultural interactions, further archaeological work in the interior mountains of Taiwan is necessary. The National Museum of Natural Science in Taichung commissioned a digital museum project on Tsou culture in 2001 and 2002. During this time, the authors conducted archaeological fieldwork in the Ali Shan area of central Taiwan (Fig. 1). Abundant sites and remains were researched during this project and the results are presented here.