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New book: Rice and Language Across Asia: Crops, Movement, and Social Change

noelbynature — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:35:52 +0000

This special double-issue on the deep history of rice in Asia has just appeared in print, with a number of contributions deriving from the multi-disciplinary international symposium “Rice and Language Across Asia: Crops, Movement, and Social Change,” recently held at Cornell University, in Ithaca, on Sept. 22-25, 2011 (see http://conf.ling.cornell.edu/riceandlanguage/). The authors come from a variety of disciplines, including archaeology, anthropology, linguistics, genetics, and more:

Rice (ISSN 1939-8425), Volume 4, Numbers 3-4 / December 2011. Special Issue: “Rice and Language Across Asia: Crops, Movement, and Social Change.”
Guest Editors: Magnus Fiskesjö and Yue-ie Caroline HSING
Table of Contents: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1939-8425/4/3-4/

Preface: “Rice and Language Across Asia”, by Magnus Fiskesjö and Yue-ie Caroline Hsing, pp. 75-77

Pathways to Asian Civilizations: Tracing the Origins and Spread of Rice and Rice Cultures, by Dorian Q. Fuller, pp. 78-92

The Checkered Prehistory of Rice Movement Southwards as a Domesticated Cereal—from the Yangzi to the Equator, by Peter Bellwood, pp. 93-103

Millets, Rice, Social Complexity, and the Spread of Agriculture to the Chengdu Plain and Southwest China, by Jade d’Alpoim Guedes, pp. 104-113

Rice in Thailand: The Archaeobotanical Contribution, by Cristina Castillo, pp. 114-120

How Many Independent Rice Vocabularies in Asia?, by Laurent Sagart, pp. 121-133

Proto-Tibeto-Burman Grain Crops, by David Bradley, pp. 134-141

Rice in Dravidian, by Franklin Southworth, pp. 142-148

Northeast Asian Linguistic Ecology and the Advent of Rice Agriculture in Korea and Japan, by John Whitman, pp. 149-158

A Genetic Focus on the Peopling History of East Asia: Critical Views, by Alicia Sanchez-Mazas, Da Di and María Eugenia Riccio, pp. 159-169

Evaluation of Genetic Variation Among Wild Populations and Local Varieties of Rice, by Takashige Ishii, Takashi Hiraoka, Tomoyuki Kanzaki, Masahiro Akimoto and Rieko Shishido, et al., pp. 170-177

Studies on Ancient Rice—Where Botanists, Agronomists, Archeologists, Linguists, and Ethnologists Meet, by Jaw-shu Hsieh, Yue-ie Caroline Hsing, Tze-fu Hsu, Paul Jen-kuei Li and Kuang-ti Li, et al., pp. 178-183

The Origin and Spread of Early-Ripening Champa Rice: Its Impact on Song Dynasty China, by Randolph Barker, pp. 184-186

Discussant’s Remarks: Reviving Ethnology to Understand the Rice Neolithic, by Richard A. O’Connor, pp. 187-189

(via Magnus Fiskesjö by email)

Study of palaeoenvironment from West Baray shows drought at time of Angkor’s collapse

noelbynature — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:35:53 +0000

A recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shed light on environmental factors that contributed to the collapse of Angkor in the 14th century. Periods of drought were inferred from a palaeoenvironmental study of the West Baray spanning 1,000 years, revealing a large amount of sedimentation (and thus water input) to the man-made lake prior to the 14th century, and much less sedimentation in the 14th and 15th century.

Paleoenvironmental history of the West Baray, Angkor (Cambodia)
Mary Beth Daya, David A. Hodell, Mark Brenner, Hazel J. Chapman, Jason H. Curtis, William F. Kenney, Alan L. Kolata and Larry C. Peterson
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Published online 03 January 2012

Drought Led to Demise of Ancient City of Angkor
LiveScience, 02 January 2012

Ancient Capital Wilted When Water Ran Low
New York Times, 02 January 2012

Abstract from the paper:

Angkor (Cambodia) was the seat of the Khmer Empire from the 9th to 15th century AD. The site is noted for its monumental architecture and complex hydro-engineering systems, comprised of canals, moats, embankments, and large reservoirs, known as barays. We infer a 1,000-y, 14C-dated paleoenvironmental record from study of an approximately 2-m sediment core taken in the largest Khmer reservoir, the West Baray. The baray was utilized and managed from the time of construction in the early 11th century, through the 13th century. During that time, the West Baray received relatively high rates of detrital input. In the 14th century, linear sedimentation rates diminished by an order of magnitude, yielding a condensed section that correlates temporally with episodes of regional monsoon failure during the late 14th and early 15th century, recorded in tree ring records from Vietnam. Our results demonstrate that changes in the water management system were associated with the decline of the Angkorian kingdom during that period. By the 17th century, the West Baray again functioned as a limnetic system. Ecologic and sedimentologic changes over the last millennium, detected in the baray deposits, are attributed to shifts in regional-scale Khmer water management, evolving land use practices in the catchment, and regional climate change.

Proceedings from the Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage online

noelbynature — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 13:35:12 +0000

The Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage was held earlier this month in Manila, and the proceedings are now online hosted by the Museum of Underwater Archaeology. You’ll find a number of papers related to underwater and maritime archaeology including one bit of research I was involved in on the rock art of Tham Phrayanaga or Viking Cave in Southern Thailand.

Dingoes arrived in Australia earlier than previously thought; through mainland Southeast Asia

noelbynature — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 14:04:26 +0000

A study published earlier this month in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B suggests an earlier arrival of the dingo to Australia, through a mainland Southeast Asia route instead of island Southeast Asia.

photo credit: Tom Purves

Dingoes originated in China 18,000 years ago
Australian Geographic, 13 September 2011

Mitochondrial DNA data indicate an introduction through Mainland Southeast Asia for Australian dingoes and Polynesian domestic dogs
Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 07 September 2011

Paper abstract:

In the late stages of the global dispersal of dogs, dingoes appear in the Australian archaeological record 3500 years BP, and dogs were one of three domesticates brought with the colonization of Polynesia, but the introduction routes to this region remain unknown. This also relates to questions about human history, such as to what extent the Polynesian culture was introduced with the Austronesian expansion from Taiwan or adopted en route, and whether pre-Neolithic Australia was culturally influenced by the surrounding Neolithic world. We investigate these questions by mapping the distribution of the mtDNA founder haplotypes for dingoes (A29) and ancient Polynesian dogs (Arc1 and Arc2) in samples across Southern East Asia (n = 424) and Island Southeast Asia (n = 219). All three haplotypes were found in South China, Mainland Southeast Asia and Indonesia but absent in Taiwan and the Philippines, and the mtDNA diversity among dingoes indicates an introduction to Australia 4600â€“18 300 years BP. These results suggest that Australian dingoes and Polynesian dogs originate from dogs introduced to Indonesia via Mainland Southeast Asia before the Neolithic, and not from Taiwan together with the Austronesian expansion. This underscores the complex origins of Polynesian culture and the isolation from Neolithic influence of the pre-Neolithic Australian culture.

New edition of BIPPA out

noelbynature — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 14:02:50 +0000

The latest Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistoric Association (BIPPA) has just been released online, featuring a number of papers that were presenting in Hanoi in 2009.

Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association
Vol 30, 2010

Description from the website:
The Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association is an international, peer-reviewed, open access online journal. Its purpose is to disseminate rapid communications and field reports on the archaeology of East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

Back issues of Asian Perspectives available online

noelbynature — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 14:07:17 +0000

Thanks to funding by the University of Hawai’i Press, articles from Asian Perspectives, one of the leading journals in Asian and the Pacific archaeology will be available online and ready for download at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa Scholarspace. You will be able to search and download articles published from 1955 right up to 2008.

Asian Perspectives is the leading peer-reviewed archaeological journal devoted to the prehistory of Asia and the Pacific region. In addition to archaeology, it features articles and book reviews on ethnoarchaeology, palaeoanthropology, physical anthropology, and ethnography of interest and use to the prehistorian. International specialists contribute regional reports summarizing current research and fieldwork, and present topical reports of significant sites. Occasional special issues focus on single topics.

Read articles from Asian Perspectives here.

Papers on Malaysian archaeology online

noelbynature — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:17:28 +0000

Something I discovered while surfing the resources at my library. Universiti Sains Malaysia keeps an open access repository of research by its staff and students, including those of the archaeology department. A good number of the papers are in Malay, but nothing that a little Google Translate can’t handle.

More evidence to point that the Hobbit is a new species

noelbynature — Thu, 07 May 2009 14:07:41 +0000

The news is abuzz today as two papers published in this week’s Nature lend support to the theory that the Hobbit represents a new species. One study of the Hobbit’s foot reveals that while the hobbit was bipedal, it did not walk like humans and probably could not run very well. Another study compared the rate of dwarfism among an extinct species of hippos in Madagascar with those of the mainland, with special attention to brain size and found that it is possible for dwarf populations to evolve smaller brains, which means the same principle could be applied to the homo floresiensis. It should be noted though, the mainstream media’s hyping up the “Hobbit is a new species” tune. I certainly think the consensus is forming that way.

Insular dwarfism in hippos and a model for brain size reduction in Homo floresiensis
Nature, 07 May 2009

The foot of Homo floresiensis
Nature, 07 May 2009

Hobbits ‘are a separate species’
BBC, 06 May 2009

New analysis shows ‘hobbits’ couldn’t hustle
Physorg.com, 06 May 2009

Hobbit foot, hippo skulls deepen ancestral mystery
Science News, 06 May 2009

‘Hobbits’ Couldn’t Hustle: Feet Of Homo Floresiensis Were Primitive But Not Pathological
Science Daily, 06 May 2009

Ancient ‘hobbit’ humans new species after all
AFP, 06 May 2009

The foot of Homo floresiensis
W. L. Jungers, W. E. H. Harcourt-Smith, R. E. Wunderlich, M. W. Tocheri, S. G. Larson, T. Sutikna,
Rhokus Awe Due & M. J. Morwood

Homo floresiensis is an endemic hominin species that occupied
Liang Bua, a limestone cave on Flores in eastern Indonesia, during the Late Pleistocene epoch1,2. The skeleton of the type specimen (LB1) of H. floresiensis includes a relatively complete left foot and parts of the right foot3. These feet provide insights into the evolution of bipedalism and, together with the rest of the skeleton, have implications for hominin dispersal events into Asia. Here we show that LB1â€™s foot is exceptionally long relative to the femur and tibia, proportions never before documented in hominins but seen in some African apes. Although the metatarsal robusticity sequence is human-like and the hallux is fully adducted, other intrinsic proportions and pedal features are more ape-like. The postcranial anatomy of H. floresiensis is that of a biped1â€“3, but the unique lower-limb proportions and surprising combination of derived and primitive pedal morphologies suggest kinematic and biomechanical differences from modern human gait. Therefore, LB1 offers the most complete glimpse of a bipedal hominin foot that lacks the full suite of derived features characteristic of modern humans and whose mosaic design may be primitive for the genus Homo. These new findings raise the possibility that the ancestor of H. floresiensis was not Homo erectus but instead some other, more primitive, hominin whose dispersal into southeast Asia is still undocumented.

Insular dwarfism in hippos and a model for brain size reduction in Homo floresiensis
Eleanor M. Weston & Adrian M. Lister

Body size reduction in mammals is usually associated with only
moderate brain size reduction, because the brain and sensory
organs complete their growth before the rest of the bodyÂ during ontogeny. On this basis, â€˜phyletic dwarfsâ€™ are predicted to have a greater relative brain size than â€˜phyletic giantsâ€™. However, this trend has been questioned in the special case of dwarfism of mammals on islands. Here we showthat the endocranial capacities of extinct dwarf species of hippopotamus from Madagascar are up to 30%smaller than those of a mainland African ancestor scaled to equivalent body mass. These results show that brain size reduction is much greater than predicted from an intraspecific â€˜late ontogeneticâ€™ model of dwarfism in which brain size scales to body size with an exponent of 0.35. The nature of the proportional change or grade shift observed here indicates that selective pressures on brain size are potentially independent of those on body size. This study demonstrates empirically that it is mechanistically possible for dwarf mammals on islands to evolve significantly smaller brains than would be predicted from a model ofÂ dwarfing based on the intraspecific scaling of the mainland ancestor. Our findings challenge current understanding of brainâ€“body allometric relationships in mammals and suggest that the process of dwarfism could in principle explain small brain size, a factor relevant to the interpretation of the small-brained hominin found on the Island of Flores, Indonesia.

Call for Papers: Jurnal e-Utama

noelbynature — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 00:58:40 +0000

A call for papers related to history, anthropology, heritage studies and other social sciences relating to Malays. This journal published by the Malay Language and Culture department of the National Institute of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University is calling for papers for the second issue to be published at the end of the year. The deadline for submissions is 30 July 2009 and details can be found here.

Jurnal e-Utama
Deadline 30 July 2009

E-Utama is an annual online peer reviewed journal dedicated to the publication of interdisciplinary, theoretical and review articles of high scholastic quality in Malay education, culture, language and literature. The purpose of the journal is to bring together scholars and researchers from all areas of Malay Studies to stimulate the exchange of ideas, opinions and critical inquiry between these groups. The journal is published by the Malay Language and Culture department of the National Institute of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University.

The articles published in this journal seek to showcase innovative scholarship in the area of Malay Studies. E-Utama aims to foster Malay research, but is not exclusively Malay, having an international authorship, readership and a collective of international peer reviewers. The editorial practice is to promote and include multi and interdisciplinary work and the journal accepts papers from a wide range of disciplinary areas in the Humanities, Social Sciences and Educational Pedagogy pertaining to the Malays, including, but not limited to: Philosophy, History, Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology, Feminism, Media and Communication Studies, Cultural Studies, Gender Studies, Policy and Management, Geography, Economics, Political Science, Literary Studies, Legal Studies, Social Theory, Law, Education, Theology, Multicultural Studies, Globalisation, Labour Studies, Postcolonial Studies, Visual and Performing Arts, Archaeology, Heritage Studies, Race Studies, Science and Technology, Development Studies.

The basis for accepting papers for publication is the agreement among three reviewers (via a double-blind review process) that they show relevance, compelling justification for study, subject mastery and originality in any of the major sub-areas of Malay Studies.

Submission details can be found here.