Taiwan Today

A piece of earthenware with skull engravings recently found at the Kavayavayan site in Dawu Township, Taitung County, provides evidence of the presence in Taiwan of ethnic Negritos, said local cultural worker Xu Zhi-jian. This group of people is thought to have inhabited Taiwan before the arrival of the present day aboriginal groups, according to historians. Xu unearthed the pottery fragment recently and he believes it belongs to the Negritos, “because Taiwan’s aboriginal tribes would never carve such inauspicious symbols.” His research into collections of excavated artifacts from 13 of Taiwan’s aboriginal groups showed no examples of skull engravings. According to aboriginal legend, Kavayavayan, which means “place of work” in the Paiwan language, was the last habitat of the Negrito people before they vanished from the island centuries ago. The reason for their disappearance remains unknown, with some believing that Paiwan tribesmen who moved into the area killed them off. However, Li Kun-xiu, an archeological researcher at the National Museum of Prehistory, said the pottery fragment could belong to local Paiwan, who were known to revere the gods, claiming the carving is not of a human skull but of a god. He noted that pottery pieces with skull engravings had earlier been found at the Chiu-hsiang-lan site north of Dawu, and they are believed to be at least 1,200 years old. But Xu pointed out that Paiwan engravings mostly feature hundred-pace snakes and the sun. Li said there is too little archeological evidence to determine whether the pottery fragment is connected to a Negrito people. He said if such a group did in fact inhabit the island, sites containing their artifacts are likely located deep in the nearby mountains, adding that surveys of reported sites in the region have already been planned. (SB)