從考古資料看蘭嶼雅美人的祖源問題

On the Origin of the Yami People of Lanyu as Viewed from Archaeological Data

臧振華(Cheng-Hwa Tsang)

《南島研究學報》 1卷1期 (2005/06) Pp. 135-151

https://doi.org/10.29884/JAS.200506.0005

摘要

蘭嶼與菲律賓巴丹島距離相近，而且居住在蘭嶼島的雅美（達悟）人與居住在巴丹群島的人，無論是在語言、文化或社會特徵上都有相似之處，研究蘭嶼的語言學者、人類學者和考古學者大都認為兩者之間有密切的歷史關係，甚而蘭嶼的雅美人都是來自巴丹群島。這一說辭，雖然幾乎是異口同聲，然而以目前蘭嶼所發現的考古資料，包括甕棺葬和陶、石器的類緣關係來看，似乎還有商榷的餘地。從本文的討論可知，近代的雅美人，從語言和文化上來看，固然不能完全排除是晚近從巴丹島移民而來的可能性，但是我們也不能忽略一個考古資料所反映的事實：蘭嶼島這從4000年以前的繩紋紅陶時期開始，即已有人從台灣本島前來活動，以後從3000多年前開始，卑南文化的人除了到達蘭嶼和綠島，也可能繼續向前延伸到巴丹群島，而台灣東海岸新石時代的甕棺葬俗也可能影響到了台灣外海的綠島、蘭嶼和巴丹群島，並持續在當地發展成為鐵器時代的甕棺葬文化。因此，筆者推測，蘭嶼和巴丹島的史前居民至遲在三千年前可能共同來自於於台灣的東海岸。這些人群的全部或部分，有可能即是今日蘭嶼和巴丹島民的祖先。

關鍵字

藺嶼 ； 巴丹群島 ； 雅美人 ； 達悟人 ； 甕棺葬

並列摘要

Lanyu (Orchid Island) lies off the eastern coast of southern Taiwan, about 90 km south-east of Taitung. There are nowadays about two thousand Yami (now called Tao) people inhabiting on the 45.7 square-kilometer island. Like the other indigenous peoples of Taiwan, the Yami people speak the Austronesian language. Based on the linguistic similarities and their own legends it is believed that the Yami people reached Lanyu by way of the Batanes Island, which lies in the Bashi Channel midway between southern Taiwan and the northern Philippine island of Luzon.But current archaeological data have shown that this point of view presumably needs to be reconsidered. It has been suggested by many scholars that the jar burials, which have been found several on the coast of Lanyu and dated around 1200 B.P., may represent the Yami people's ancestral tradition of burial practice originating from the islands of Batanes. This suggestion is made mainly because of that jar burials were found both on Batanes and Lanyu and their forms are basically similar to each other. In recent years, however, more and more prehistoric jar burials were found in Taiwan, especially on its east coast. For example, the jar burials were unearthed from the Huagangshan site of the Hualien County and the Wanshan site of the Yilan County. The forms and practices of these jar burials are similar to those found on Lanyu and Batanes, but their dates are apparently earlier. Therefore, there is an alternative possibility that the jar burial tradition on both Lanyu and Batanes may have eventually originated from Taiwan.This possibility may be further supported by the accumulating archaeological information on Lanyu. So far, three prehistoric cultures have been identified from the artifacts collected by different archaeologists on Lanyu. They have been labeled as ”the Yami Culture”, the ”Peinan Culture” and the ”fine Corded Ware Culture”. Although no concrete stratigraphic relationship among these 'cultures' were found, the styles and forms of some of the potsherds and stone tools found on Lanyu are undoubtedly identical to those found at the sites of fine Corded Ware Culture, Peinan Culture and Huagangshan Culture of the east coast of Taiwan.It is postulated based on the current archaeological evidence that we can not completely rule out the possibility that the modern Yami People came from the Batanes Islands, but we can not neglect the possibility that the east coast of Taiwan was probably a common homeland for the ancient inhabit ants of both Batanes and Lanyu, who were totally or partially the ancestors of the modern Yami people.In addition to the archaeological evidence, two other lines of clues are worth to be mentioned:1. Although some of the Yami legends indicate the islands of Batanes were the places from where their ancestors came, still others, on the contrary, tend to point out a Lanyu local origin.2. The results of the recent analyses on the HLA system of the indigenous people of Batanes, Lanyu and Taiwan have shown that some hypotypes of the Yami people can be seen among the indigenous people of Taiwan, but not of Batanes.In conclusion, based on current available evidence and the related clues, we can be aware of that the island group of Batan is by no means the sole place from where the ancestors of the Yami people originated. The peopling of Lanyu would have involved a long time and a complex process. In order to clarify this question, we need to explore more evidence and to carry out further research.

並列關鍵字

Lanyu ； Yami ； Tao ； jar burial