2009/09/01 by Philip J. Piper, Hsiao‐chun Hung, Fredeliza Z. Campos +2 · 2 citations
Social Sciences · Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies #Livestock and Poultry Management #Identification and Quantification in Food
paper · doi:10.1017/s0003598x00098914
openalex publication_date 2009/09/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/08
New research into the Neolithic of Island Southeast Asia is broadening the old models and making them more diverse, more human – more like history: people and animals can move through the islands in a multitude of ways. The domestic pig is an important tracker of Neolithic people and practice into the Pacific, and the authors address the controversial matter of whether domestic pigs first reached the islands of Southeast Asia from China via Taiwan or from the neighbouring Vietnamese peninsula. The DNA trajectory read from modern pigs favours Vietnam, but the authors have found well stratified domestic pig in the Philippines dated to c. 4000 BP and associated with cultural material of Taiwan. Thus the perils of relying only on DNA – but are these alternative or additional stories?