ABSTRACT
Taiwan is an island 390 km long and 140 km wide, situated off the coast of Fujian, China. Archaeological evidence dates the existence of settlers to Palaeolithic times of 50,000–5,000 BCE, when it was still joined to China (Ferrell 1969: 4–11). This period saw the migration of animals and hunter-gatherers from the Chinese mainland into Taiwan. The culture continued until about 5,000 years ago, when it suddenly vanished – possibly as a result of the physical partition of Taiwan from China. Agrarian culture was introduced across the sea, when the migration of peoples of Austronesian descent – ancestors of Taiwan’s current aborigines – took place over multiple trips. The post-migratory era developed into separate Neolithic cultures of north-western, central, south-western and eastern Taiwan. Records suggest that the custom of tooth-extraction, until recently still found among aborigines (Atayal, Saisiat and Bunun), had been practised in the north-western Neolithic age. However, it was not until the Common Era (Ferrell 1969: 9), that the Iron Age emerged.
