Page 66 - THE MELANESIA DIASPORA FILE CETAK ISI 10022017

The second route, “the eastern-path” started in Taiwan, with these early people moving
southward first through the Philippines, and then entering Sulawesi and Kalimantan.
Material evidence to support this this route include red slipped ceramics, shoulder
pickaxes, ladder pickaxes, and oblong axes which have been found in North Sulawesi.
This group of newcomers are thought to have spoken a proto-version of the present day
Austronesian family of languages. They are thought to have migrated later than those
taking the mainland and peninsular western route, most likely 4,000 years ago. The oldest
evidence has been obtained from Neolithic sites in Sulawesi. One of them is Minanga
Sipakko site, in a remote area of Kalumpang. This archaeological site, near Karama River
was a dwelling-place connected by a river with the outside world, possessing ample natural
resources (stream fish, land animals, and grains) for food, and also with sources of schist
and slate stones to make pickaxes and hatchets (Simanjuntak and Fauzi, 2015). From
Sulawesi, the Austronesian speaking settlers spread widely across many islands in the
Indonesian Archipelago, and, eventually, with populations in Malaysia, and small pockets
in Vietnam, moved out eastward into the islands of the Pacific, eventually also moving
westward and arriving in Madagascar on the coast of Africa. The spread of Austronesians in
the west of Indonesia influenced the Austroasiatic-speaking people. Today, all populations
in Western Indonesia speak only Austronesian languages. This restricted the growth of
local Austroasiatic groups, so that the Austroasiatic speaking population is restricted to
western Indonesia.
The arrival of Neolithic Austronesians resulted in interaction between them and the
indigenous population so that mixing of cultures occurred. The evidence of this cultural
mixing can be seen in almost all of the archaeological Neolithic sites. Ceramics and also
hatchets, indicative of the Neolithic period, were always found in the upper layers in caves
mixed with pre-Neolithic artifacts such as flake tools, and the remains of animals and grains
or seeds. These discoveries have supported the view that the newly arrived Austronesians
tended to live in caves and that they assimilated with the existing cave inhabitants. The
material evidence found in the layers of Neolithic inhabitance showed that the new
inhabitants had adopted aspects of the indigenous cultures. The evidence of interaction
between the new settlers and the indigenous dwellers were further supported by the
discovery of graves in Harimau Cave, Ogan Komering Ulu (OKU), where the Mongoloid
burials in straight positions were found in association with Austramelanesian ones in a
flexed position.

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