In a hypothesis developed by

Wilhelm Solheim :''This article refers to Wilhelm G. Solheim II, the anthropologist. For his father, Wilhelm G. Solheim I the botanist, see Wilhelm Solheim (botanist).'' Wilhelm G. Solheim II (1924—2014) was an American anthropologist recognized as the most ...

, the Nusantao Maritime Trading and Communication Network (NMTCN) is a trade and communication network that first appeared in the

Asia-Pacific Asia-Pacific (APAC) is the part of the world near the western Pacific Ocean. The Asia-Pacific region varies in area depending on context, but it generally includes East Asia, Russian Far East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and Pacific Isla ...

region during its

Neolithic age The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

, or beginning roughly around 5000 BC. ''Nusantao'' is an artificial term coined by Solheim, derived from the Austronesian root words ''nusa'' "south" and ''tao'' "man, people". Solheim's theory is an alternative hypothesis to the spread of the Austronesian language family in Southeast Asia. It contrasts the more widely accepted ''

Out-of-Taiwan hypothesis The Austronesian peoples, sometimes referred to as Austronesian-speaking peoples, are a large group of peoples in Taiwan, Maritime Southeast Asia, Micronesia, coastal New Guinea, Island Melanesia, Polynesia, and Madagascar that speak Austrones ...

'' (OOT) by

Peter Bellwood Peter Stafford Bellwood (born Leicester, England, 1943) is Emeritus Professor of Archaeology in the School of Archaeology and Anthropology at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra. He is well known for his Out of Taiwan model rega ...

. Solheim emphasizes the cultural aspects of the Southeast Asian people, whereas Bellwood's theory places more emphasis on the linguistic origin of people. Solheim first suggested the concept in 1964. The NMTCN attempts to explain the diffusion of cultural traits throughout the Asia-Pacific region, a pattern that does not seem to match the projections of cultural spread by simple migration theories. Today, it is one of the dominant theories for the early peopling of the Southeast Asian region. Solheim suggests that " felements of culture were spread by migrations, then the spread would have been primarily in one direction." He suggests that since the pattern of

cultural diffusion In cultural anthropology and cultural geography, cultural diffusion, as conceptualized by Leo Frobenius in his 1897/98 publication ''Der westafrikanische Kulturkreis'', is the spread of cultural items—such as ideas, styles, religions, technologi ...

in the Asia-Pacific region is spread in all directions, it is likely that the spread of cultural traits happened via some kind of trading network, rather than a series of migrations. In Solheim's hypothesis, the people who constituted this trading network are referred to as "the Nusantao".

I now define Nusantao as natives of Southeast Asia, and their descendants, with a maritime-oriented culture from their beginnings, these beginnings probably in southeastern Island Southeast Asia around 5000 BC or possibly earlier. Most of the Nusantao probably spoke a related or pre-Austronesian language, but there were likely some who spoke a non-Austronesian language as well... I did not consider non-maritime Austronesian-speakers as Nusantao.

According to a review of Solheim's book ''Archaeology and Culture in Southeast Asia: Unraveling the Nusantao'', Solheim believed the categorization of 'Nusantao' is outdated and does not accurately represent the entirety of the culture; later calling them '"Austronesian" as their identified language. Solheim suggests that there is an indication of a maritime network, dating back to 30,000 BC, by describing the movement of artifacts as they are found in the Philippines, northern Vietnam, coastal South China, Taiwan, Korea and Japan. Some of the artifacts described to be associated with rice cultivation include table and capstone dolmens, stepped and pediform

adze An adze (; alternative spelling: adz) is an ancient and versatile cutting tool similar to an axe but with the cutting edge perpendicular to the handle rather than parallel. Adzes have been used since the Stone Age. They are used for smoothing ...

s, and plain pottery. Some linguists believe this to be why there are certain Japanese words that were created in Southeast Asia; for example, a species of rice, Javanica, is present in Japan but originated in Sarawak.

Sources

* {{cite journal, author-last=Solheim , author-first=Wilhelm G. , author-link=Wilhelm Solheim , title=The Nusantao Hypothesis: The Origin and Spread of Austronesian Speakers , journal=Asian Perspectives , volume=26 , number=1 , date=1984 , pages=77–88 , JSTOR=42928107 Peopling of Southeast Asia

See also

Sources