Page 53 - THE MELANESIA DIASPORA FILE CETAK ISI 10022017

population inhabiting the other Southeast Asian regions, also including Melanesia,
Australia, and Tasmania. On the grounds of this similarity and in order to differentiate
them from other populations, they have been grouped as the Australomelanesid Race,
the two parts of the name indicating both Australia and Melanesia . This race were the
ancestors of the indigenous population living in Indonesia, Melanesia, and Australia right
now. The Australomenasid Race can therefore be considered to be the close ancestors of
the present day Melanesian population. These ancestors of the Melanesians inhabited two
regions, the Indonesian region in the west and the Melanesian region in the east.
The ancestral Melanesia population in the Indonesian region dispersed widely to other
islands building and enriching the culture of the ancestral EMH. The same was true with
the population inhabiting Melanesia, as they spread out to various islands within the region
and even further to the east to the neighboring islands in the region of Polynesia. While the
movement of peoples eastward is uncontested, the question of whether there was any
westward movement into the Indonesian region remains. There is evidence suggesting
that this might be possible.
Based on the existence of agricultural center which developed in Kuk Swamp, PNG, at
around 10,000 years ago, such a migration seems very possible, at least from the cultural
center of Kuk Swamp entering Papua and this does not forego the possibility of migrations
continuing as far as Maluku and East Nusa Tenggara (Jacob, 2002). On that point, so far
there have been some early indications supporting the idea. There is also evidence from
linguistics. The non-Austronesian languages which belong to the Trans New Papuan
phylum are spoken by certain populations in Nusa Tenggara and Maluku (Denham et
al., 2003). In addition, a human skeleton with Melanesian characteristics was found in
the Tanjung Pinang site with a relatively young date of 2,000 years ago (Bellwood, 2000,
Wurm, 1977), although this does not rule out the possibility of migration from the west.
These findings call for further research to establish with greater certainty if there were
indeed movements westward. Although the dominant movement appears at present
to have been from west to east Melanesia, the possibility of movement in the opposite
direction deserves consideration.

Life Style and Behavior
The ancestors of the Melanesians found in Indonesia are known to have inhabited caves or
natural niches or recesses. Such cave inhabitance is noteworthy.

Chapter 1 53

MELANESIA BOOK FA LAYOUT 051216.indd 53 2/10/17 2:10 PM