Are 'Cultures' Inherited? Multidisciplinary Perspectives on the Origins and Migrations of Austronesian-Speaking Peoples Prior to 1000 BC

Abstract

This chapter examines the evidence for the movement of Austronesian-speaking peoples from Taiwan into the Philippines and beyond, drawing upon data from comparative linguistics, archaeology and genetics. The chronological focus is mainly on the period between 2500 and 1000 bc. These three disciplines in combination make a migration of Austronesian-speaking communities a more likely conclusion than independent movements of languages, genes and items of material culture. This implies that a non-exclusive cultural tradition that can be defined archaeologically was transmitted through space and time via inheritance, and render insufficient all explanations for Austronesian patterning that are based entirely on interaction models without migration.