| Abstract: |
This research investigates change and stability in the dietary system of a prehistoric coastal population at O-luan-pi on the southern tip of Taiwan. The study highlights the interrelationships between human subsistence and environmental opportunities within a local system. As part of the general dietary reconstruction of this population, the temporal variability in O-luan-pi prehistoric subsistence systems is considered and two patterns of subsistence change are evaluated. The first examines whether natural resource consumption decreased through time
while the second investigates whether marine resource exploitation increased through time. The excavation of the coastal site O-luan-pi II in 1993 has documented a continuous sequence of occupation beginning with an initial settlement around 4000 BP and continuing until 2500 BP. Quantitative analyses of the faunal remains and artefacts provide new comparative data for studying the relationship between long-term changes in subsistence, technology and environment. Faunal analyses indicate that subsistence strategies of the initial settlement utilized more available animal species, including shellfish, turtles, marine fish and terrestrial mammals, than later occupation periods. Faunal remains indicate that food from natural sources, primarily marine fish and shellfish, were the primary resources of the O-luan-pi inhabitants between 4000 and 2500 BP. Comparatively, all natural animal food resources decreased in the last occupation period. In addition, the diversity measurement indicates a fairly low degree of variation in their food resource exploitation. These changes are viewed as the result of a greater reliance on intensified agricultural production. Fisher gear analyses suggest that prehistoric O-luan-pi II settlers developed very effective fishing strategies. Through time, increased offshore fish remains suggest a refined fishing strategy and an intensification of fishing subsistence activity. Overall, the evidence suggests that the major subsistence pattern of O-luan-pi inhabitants was a dual exploitation of agricultural-marine resources that varied with the development of the community.
|
