View source for Nusantao Maritime Trading and Communication Network

{{Short description|Hypothetical Neolithic Asia-Pacific trade and communication network}}
{{refimprove|date=July 2013}}
In a hypothesis developed by [[Wilhelm Solheim]], the '''Nusantao Maritime Trading and Communication Network''' ('''NMTCN''') is a trade and communication network that first appeared in the [[Asia-Pacific]] region during its [[Neolithic age]], or beginning roughly around 5000 BC. ''Nusantao'' is an artificial term coined by Solheim, derived from the Austronesian root words ''nusa'' "island" and ''tao'' "man, people".<ref name="Flessen">{{cite thesis|title=Bellwood and Solheim: Models of Neolithic movements of people in Southeast Asia and the Pacific |author-first=Catherine T. |author-last=Flessen |publisher=[[Norwegian University of Science and Technology]] |date=14 November 2006 |url=http://docplayer.net/21843692-Bellwood-and-solheim-models-of-neolithic-movements-of-people-in-southeast-asia-and-the-pacific-catherine-t-flessen-ntnu.html }}</ref> Solheim's theory is an alternative hypothesis to the spread of the Austronesian language family in Southeast Asia. It contrasts the more widely accepted ''[[Out-of-Taiwan hypothesis]]'' (OOT) by [[Peter Bellwood]].<ref name="Flessen"/><ref>{{cite book|author-last=Bellwood |author-first=Peter |author-link=Peter Bellwood |date=1997 |title=Prehistory of the Indo-Malaysian Archipelago |edition=Revised |location=Honolulu, Hawaii |publisher=University of Hawai’i Press |doi=10.22459/PIMA.03.2007 |isbn=9781921313110 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author-last=Bellwood |author-first=Peter |author-link=Peter Bellwood |date=2005 |title=First Farmers: The Origins of Agricultural Societies |location=U.K. |publisher=Blackwell Publishing}}</ref>

Solheim emphasizes the cultural aspects of the Southeast Asian people, whereas Bellwood's theory places more emphasis on the linguistic origin of people.<ref name="Reyes 2010">{{cite journal|title=The Austronesians, the Nusantao and the Lapita Cultural Complex A Review of Neolithic migration in SEA and Oceania |date=September 2010 |doi=10.13140/RG.2.2.16218.18883 |author-first=Raphael |author-last=Reyes |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329591940 |access-date=12 October 2021}}</ref><ref name="Spawn">{{Cite news|url=https://spawnofanthro.wordpress.com/2013/07/25/on-solheims-nusantao-filipino-origins/ |title=On Solheim's Nusantao — Filipino Origins |date=25 July 2013 |work=Spawn of Anthro |access-date=5 March 2018 |language=en-US}}</ref>

Solheim first suggested the concept in 1964. The NMTCN attempts to explain the diffusion of cultural traits throughout the Asia-Pacific region, a pattern that does not seem to match the projections of cultural spread by simple [[Human migration|migration theories]]. Today, it is one of the dominant theories for the early peopling of the Southeast Asian region.{{dubious|date=July 2013}}

Solheim suggests that "[if] elements of culture were spread by migrations, then the spread would have been primarily in one direction." He suggests that since the pattern of [[cultural diffusion]] in the Asia-Pacific region is spread in all directions, it is likely that the spread of cultural traits happened via some kind of [[trading network]], rather than a series of migrations.

In Solheim's hypothesis, the people who constituted this trading network are referred to as "the Nusantao".<blockquote>I now define Nusantao as natives of Southeast Asia, and their descendants, with a maritime-oriented culture from their beginnings, these beginnings probably in southeastern Island Southeast Asia around 5000 BC or possibly earlier.

Most of the Nusantao probably spoke a related or pre-Austronesian language, but there were likely some who spoke a non-Austronesian language as well... I did not consider non-maritime Austronesian-speakers as Nusantao.<ref name="WGS2006">{{cite book | title=Archaeology and Culture in Southeast Asia: Unraveling the Nusantao | publisher=University of the Philippines Press |author-last=Solheim |author-first=Wilhelm G. |author-link=Wilhelm Solheim | year=2006 | location=Diliman, Quezon City | pages=316 | isbn=971-542-508-9}}</ref></blockquote>

According to a review of Solheim's book ''Archaeology and Culture in Southeast Asia: Unraveling the Nusantao'', Solheim believed the categorization of 'Nusantao' is outdated and does not accurately represent the entirety of the culture; later calling them '"Austronesian" as their identified language. <ref>{{cite journal|author-last1=Ayres |author-first1=William |title=Archaeology and Culture in Southeast Asia: Unraveling the Nusantao |journal=Rapa Nui Journal |volume=23 |issue=1 |page=74 |url=http://islandheritage.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/RNJ_23_1_Ayres.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191011195711/http://islandheritage.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/RNJ_23_1_Ayres.pdf |archive-date=11 October 2019}}</ref> 

Solheim suggests that there is an indication of a maritime network, dating back to 30,000 BC,<ref name="Spawn"/> by describing the movement of artifacts as they are found in the Philippines, northern Vietnam, coastal South China, Taiwan, Korea and Japan. Some of the artifacts described to be associated with rice cultivation include table and capstone dolmens, stepped and pediform [[adze]]s, and plain pottery.<ref>{{cite journal|author-last=Solheim |author-first=Wilhelm G. |author-link=Wilhelm Solheim |title=The Nusantao and north-south dispersals |journal=Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association |date=1996 |volume=15 |page=101-109}}</ref> Some linguists believe this to be why there are certain Japanese words that were created in Southeast Asia; for example, a species of rice, Javanica, is present in Japan but originated in Sarawak.<ref name="Spawn"/>{{Better source|date=April 2019}}

==See also==
*[[Austronesian maritime trade network]]
*[[Lingling-o]]
*[[Lapita culture]]
*[[Hiri trade cycle]]
*[[Sepik Coast exchange]]
*[[Kula ring]]

== Sources ==
{{Reflist}}
* {{cite journal|author-last=Solheim |author-first=Wilhelm G. |author-link=Wilhelm Solheim |title=The Nusantao Hypothesis: The Origin and Spread of Austronesian Speakers |journal=Asian Perspectives |volume=26 |number=1 |date=1984 |pages=77–88 |jstor=42928107}}

{{Ancient seafaring}}

[[Category:Peopling of Southeast Asia]]