Taiwan

Taiwan's earliest evidence of human presence dates to the late Pleistocene, when lowered sea levels connected the island to the Asian mainland. Archaeological finds from sites such as Baxiandong (Baxian Caves) in eastern Taiwan indicate occupation by hunter-gatherers as early as 30,000–20,000 years ago, with stone tools and faunal remains suggesting intermittent use of coastal and riverine environments. These pre-Neolithic populations left only sparse traces, and their genetic and cultural links to later groups remain uncertain; some researchers propose they represent an earlier coastal migration that was largely replaced or absorbed after the Holocene.

Around 5,500–4,500 years ago, the Dabenkeng (or Tapenkeng) Neolithic culture appears in the archaeological record, marked by distinctive cord-marked pottery, polished stone adzes, and evidence of millet and rice cultivation. Sites such as Nanguanli in Tainan and Zhishanyan in Taipei document the arrival of maritime-adapted communities whose material culture closely resembles contemporary assemblages on the Fujian coast. Linguistic reconstructions by Robert Blust and archaeological syntheses by Peter Bellwood have long positioned Taiwan as the primary homeland of the Austronesian language family, from which expansion into Island Southeast Asia and the Pacific began roughly 4,000–3,000 years ago.

Ancient DNA studies provide additional support for this sequence while highlighting complexities. Genomes recovered from Dabenkeng-period individuals show strong affinities with present-day Taiwanese Austronesian groups and with later Lapita populations in Remote Oceania, yet they also carry small amounts of deeply diverged East Asian ancestry not found in all modern groups. Ongoing work by teams including those led by researchers at Academia Sinica continues to test whether this pattern reflects multiple waves of Neolithic settlement or limited admixture with residual Paleolithic inhabitants. Uncertainties persist regarding the precise timing and number of founding migrations, as well as the degree to which climate shifts or resource pressures drove outward movement.

From the seventeenth century onward, large-scale Han Chinese settlement from Fujian and Guangdong introduced new agricultural systems and demographic dominance, followed by Japanese colonial administration between 1895 and 1945. These later movements overlay but did not erase the indigenous Austronesian substrate; the sixteen officially recognized Aboriginal peoples maintain languages that preserve some of the deepest branches of the Austronesian family. Genetic surveys of contemporary Taiwanese populations reveal varying proportions of Austronesian ancestry, illustrating both continuity and extensive admixture over recent centuries.

Taiwan therefore occupies a pivotal position in reconstructions of one of humanity’s most extensive maritime expansions. The combination of linguistic diversity, early Neolithic sites, and ancient genomes makes the island a key reference point for tracing how small seafaring communities transformed the cultural and genetic landscape of the Pacific and Indian Ocean worlds. Continued excavation and genomic sampling will be essential for refining the chronology and clarifying the interplay between earlier foragers and the Austronesian arrivals that shaped the island’s long-term significance.