Land of Gold

In addition to the spice trade, Southeast Asia became associated with precious metals especially gold at an early date.

Indeed, a major discovery in the area of metal technology was made at Ban Chiang in Thailand which has produced the earliest radiocarbon dates for bronze technology. These dates have been the focus of much dispute. Recently a socketed bronze adze from the Balobok Rockshelter shellfish gathering culture in the Philippines was dated to 5,140 years ago.

The early date would help confirm the Ban Chiang dates and also suggest long-range trade as tin, a component of the bronze alloy, is not readily available in this region.

There are two other important indicators of early metal technology in this area, the discovery of a brass needle at Musang Cave in the Philippines dated to 4,000 years ago, and the distribution of the tumbaga word for a gold-copper alloy.

The word tumbaga and related forms appear in Central and South America also for an alloy of gold and copper. It was once thought that these words had traveled over from the Philippines during the Spanish galleon trade. However, archaeological evidence now clearly shows that metal technology including the smelting of tumbaga predates European contact (see Prof. Dorothy Hosler's site). In fact, the earliest metal working may go back 3,000 years ago.

Words for gold and other metals have been reconstructed for the languages of this region:

*lujang "brass" PAN Dempwolff
*luyaN "brass" PAN Lopez
*timah "tin" PAN Dempwolff
*bulaw "gold" PAN Dyen
*bulaw-an "gold" PAN Streseman
*hemas "gold" PAN Lopez
*bari "metal" PAN Blust

PAN = Proto-Austronesian

The ancient Indians knew Southeast Asia as the Gold Land or the Gold Islands. The ancient Greeks had the same terminology. The texts are a bit ambigious but there is some suggestion that Dilmun was a source of gold and silver. The ships coming from Dilmun were also said to have carried tin although it is not specificed exactly where this metal came from.

In latter Biblical and Phoenician literature, we hear of long trade journeys that lasted three years and brought back gold, silver, tin and lead among other products of tropical nature. These trade missions started from the port of Ezion-geber on the Red Sea. According to the historian Josephus, the destinations of these voyages was Southeast Asia, the Land of Gold.

The Phoenician writer Sanchuniathon tends to confirm this when he states that the Phoenicians sailed across the Erythraen Sea during these trade voyages.

The mention of tin is important because this metal was very rare in the ancient world. The known sources in Central and West Asia and in Europe are not nearly sufficient to have supplied the tin used during the Bronze Age.

The greatest source of tin in the world is Southeast Asia specifically Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. Tin here is derived from alluvial deposits as was most ancient world tin. This metal also occurs naturally here with copper, thus offering a convenient situation for the discovery of the bronze alloy.

The Bronze Age in China also relied on Southeast Asian sources of tin from Yunnan and possibly from further south.

Thus, the Nusantao trade may well have supplied the tin necessary for the bronze age. It is also possible that bronze technology was an invention of Daic peoples from Thailand and was carried by Nusantao seafarers to other locations.

Then there is evidence suggesting the transfer of tumbaga and at a late date possibly brass technology.

Large amounts of gold and silver were brought from Southeast Asia helping provide the capital that created empires of wealth in different regions of the world.

The wealth and technology also had its negative consequences. The dragon from the sea had brought with it the ingredients for wars of conquest and greed.

May the mountain overpower you!
May the mountain hold you back!
May the mountain conquer you!
May the mountain frighten you!
May the mountain shake you to the core!
May the mountain hold you in check!
May the mountain subject you!
May the mountain cover you!
May the mighty mountain fall on you,
May you be held back from my body!

-- The Conjuration of Mt. Mashu

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

The Noble Savage

If modern humans have been around for about 150,000 years as anthropologists suspect, then for less that 4 percent of that time has there been evidence of significant social stratification.

While there almost certainly was some minor difference in standards of living, people were more or less "equal."

During the last 4 percent of modern human history there has been an explosion of social divergence which has led to extreme gaps in standards of living. The disparity contributes in no small way to the amount of instability and conflict seen in our world.

The ancient way of life was a simple one and probably much more democratic. Rosseau spoke of the "Noble Savage" and Marx admired the Iroquois and other indigenous nations for their equality.

The traditionalists among the Nusantao must have seen the increasing trade competition as a formula for world conflict. Greed after all is more infectious than any disease.

The Nusantao, like all Austronesians, were keen observers of nature. The Chinese texts relate this quality among the Dong Yi, and Fu Hsi was said to have studied natural phenomenon. The Austronesian mariner was a keen observer of the weather, ocean conditions, migratory birds, etc. as such observation was essential to survival.

They looked also for signs from the spirit world. They had binary divination systems which they used to inquire about personal matters and possibly also cosmic matters. These systems include the dice divination of the Ayta and the knot divination of the Caroline chain.

Fu Hsi's trigrams were based on the idea that weather patterns are similar to patterns of human events. For the Nusantao, the dualistic eruption in nature could have meant only one thing.

For the traditionalists among them, the cosmic balance had been disrupted. A cycle had been started that had only one possible conclusion.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

The Message

In Eden in the East, Oppenheimer uses techniques practiced by geneticists to arrive at a most likely origin location for a large body of ancient myths.

Myths are combinations of motifs. As they diverge from their area of origin, each group branching away tends to contain only a subset of the original motifs. Also, new motifs emerge in each branch. This phenomenon is known as drift. Consequently the original motifs become less diverse the farther one moves from the place of origin. While the original location retains the greatest diversity of motifs.

With so many myths of apparent Southeast Asian/Pacific origin found far from the home region we can see that the eastern sages were really effective "messengers."

And it seems as though the message they had to deliver was usually presented in the form of analogy or allegory. In this sense, it was characteristically Austronesian. In ancient Hawai`i the kaona or "hidden meaning" is more important than the obvious one. The same thing can be found in proverbs and wisdom throughout Austronesia.

The most common way to convey hidden meanings was to give examples in nature. The Austronesian generally brought three animals with them during their migrations -- the dog, the chicken* and the pig. Sometimes, at a later date, they also brought the water buffalo and zebu. These animals were often used in conveying messages.

We posted previously an image of water buffaloes in Sumer and also mentioned the copious use of water buffalo horns adorning the heads of Sumerian gods and kings. Worship of buffaloes and bovines in general is widespread in this region extending eastward to the Harappan civilization. At the ancient site of Ban Chiang in Thailand, we also see the use of miniature zebu and buffalo statues that have been interpreted as religious objects.

In Chinese tradition the Dong Yi king Chiyou is depicted with a bull's head. Such bull-headed humans also appear in Sumerian myth, usually associated with the water buffalo.

The water buffalo thus represents authority, either divine or royal. In my home province of Pampanga, accomplished warriors would wear gold-plated water buffalo horns in their turbans. The water buffalo head is a sign of power throughout Southeast Asia.

In South Asia, the "Lord of the Beasts" motif includes the great divinity sporting buffalo horns. In latter times, during the royal asvamedha horse sacrifice, the primary queen called the Mahisi (literally buffalo-cow) would take part in a fertility ritual with strong sexual overtones. Many see this ritual as rooted in Harappan iconography included those using buffalo imagery.

Buffalo sacrifice & mortuary ritual

Yama the first king in Indian tradition and the model of the Dharmaraja or "King of Righteousness" has a water buffalo as his vehicle.

Thus when we see Enki providing the Abzu waters to water buffalo via his ever-overflowing jar, the buffalo represents something else than simply the animal. It could represent the gods or the king, and thus heaven and/or earth.

Another interesting animal in both Sumerian and Hebrew myth is the sea dragon. It is known as Tiamat in Sumer and Leviathan among the Hebrews. Oppenheimer and others have wondered whether this creature has its origin in the saltwater crocodile of Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Certainly there is some resemblance.

Tiamat

Shang Dynasty dragon as crocodile

Both Tiamat and Leviathan are sometimes seen as representing malevolent forces possibly in reference to saltwater intruding on freshwater sources. Oppenheimer notes that the saltwater crocodile becomes a threat to human populations mainly when flooding allows saltwater to encroach into freshwater estuaries.

Another possible meaning here is that Tiamat and Leviathan point to another threat from the sea -- the mercantile trade.

Not that Austronesians saw trade as inherently evil at all. People living in small island networks need trade much like those living in the steppe or in the Arctic tundra. A tiny atoll, for example, has only very limited natural resources.

For thousands of years trade flourished in this region with little sign of any connected social problems. Then during the Nusantao period we see the rather sudden extreme stratification resulting eventually in signs of human slavery and deadly clan warfare. What brought about this change?

While external factors like the expansion of trade routes and the possible development of shell money certainly helped, the Nusantao sage would probably offer a more fundamental cause. That cause lies in the concept of balance.

Previously in this blog we mentioned the dual phratry system based on residence on opposite sides of a river. To some extent this survives today. Arranged marriages, for example, in my paternal grandfather's hometown usually involved finding a spouse from the other side of the river.

Crossing over to the other side to find a spouse was a way of maintaining balance. Even the practice of taking heads found among some indigenous peoples had a concept of equilibrium involved that prevented all-out war. As long as balance was maintained, bloodshed was limited. In the native healing arts, the words for native physician often translates literally as "balancer."

At some point the Nusantao became unbalanced according to this line of thinking. The reason we can surmise from the myths is simple desire and greed. While it is certainly mathematically possible for people in a society to become rich without impovershing others, we see rather the opposite by the end of the Nusantao Middle Neolithic.

In the story of the temptation of Adam and Eve and their expulsion from Eden, the serpent manipulates desire to tempt the couple into partaking of the forbidden fruit. Immortality can be seen as a metaphor for a stable society. The loss of immortality comes from giving into excess desire or greed. The couple was unable to be satisfied with the other fruits of Paradise. The lost immortality points to a society of imbalance and thus conflict that must eventually come to a head and cause the death of the society.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

*Chickens may be present in the Aegean as early as the Neolithic (A. Sampson, E neolithike periodos sta Dodekanesa (Athens 1987) 135-145). Chicken egg shells and bones suggesting domestication are verified by the Aegean Bronze Age. Wild chickens are present only in the rainforests of tropical Asia.

Spirit Warriors, continued

In the Philippines, amulets known as anting-anting and mutya (literally "pearls") are used to provide the warrior with special powers.

Obtaining particularly powerful mutya involve tales often coded in the fantastic. For example, to obtain an amulet capable of protecting one from all types of blades, one waits for the banana tree to bloom during a particular phase of the Moon. If one sees a fire pearl you must grab it and not let go as you are attacked by various malevolent spirits.

There are documented cases of persons who will allow themselves to be attacked with swords, spears and sometimes even guns to demonstrate the power of their anting-anting or mutya. Some of these cases have resulted in death but in others the subjects apparently were unharmed. Obviously I have no way of verifying this documentation, but the examples are important because they show how strongly the people believe in these amulets.

In Bali, during temple dances like ngurek and rebong, dancers in a frenzied trance attempt to stab themselves with the keris (kris) often bending the sharp weapons in the process. If they are not in a perfect trance, they are injured, but otherwise they emerge from the dance unharmed.

The anting-anting differs from the mutya in that it is usually linked with one's ancestors through a special empowering ritual. The pendant becomes a sort of partial home for the protective ancestral spirits. In many ways it is similar to the Indonesian heirlooms known as pusaka.

Pusaka are most often in the form of weapons like the kris or spear. Among royal families one of the most important rituals in the transfer of power to the royal heir is the ceremony involving the family pusaka(s). The heirlooms are also invested with magical power like the anting-anting.

The traditions of amulets and talismans like the anting-anting (also galing-galing) and pusaka are remarkably similar to those of the Holy Grail.

The finder of the grail becomes the Grail King, invested with special powers. Before Parzival can find the grail though he must first heal the Fisher King. Again, this resembles the tradition of the warrior healer found in eastern martial arts.

The mystical quest in finding a sacred pusaka or mutya is an established feature in the cultures of insular Southeast Asia. Here are a few examples from the Philippines taken from the Beyer Museum (http://www.beyermuseum.com):

To secure the magic stone that protects its owner from fire, one has to find the exact place where someone died from burning. It is believed that the spirit of the dead person returns as a crawling stone. To posses this stone, you have to pray day and night earnestly for nine days until the stone crawls faster and in a zig-zag motion making it difficult to catch. Upon catching the stone a hideous creature will appear and challenge your right to keep the stone, you must defeat this creature then can you keep the stone forever.

The ultimate anting-anting was stiff hair from a tikbalang a dangerous creature that looks like a human being but its face and legs are those of a horse. To posses one ensures a life of wealth, strenght and power plus the tikbalang becomes your personal slave. Capturing a tikbalang involves getting a cord blessed by a priest, jumping on the back of this elusive creature, forcing it into submission by strangling it with the blessed cord and demanding the creature to give you its hair; failure to do so means instant death.

When a banana tree bears flowers that points skyward, on a moonless night a little stone of fire called "Mutea" dances around the flower bunch. Catching this dancing ball will cause your hair to stand and open your eyes to the supernatural realm. One will see threatening gigantic devils and other malevolent creatures. If you stand steadfast showing courage and fortitude you will succeed in keeping the "Mutea" as a powerful anting-anting against any metallic objects such as bullets and knives.

Unusually large boas are said to posses a nail concealed under its tail. To get this amulet, one must tie a small animal under the tree where the boa is and wait until the snake is distracted while eating the bait. As soon as the boa lowers its tail you will notice a black and elongated nail, which you must fearlessly grab before the snake runs away. The boa’s nail gives one the super human strength of ten men.

The "tanlad" or "tanglad" plant bears flowers only once a year. Watch for a plant that blooms in the midnight of New Year’s Eve. As soon as the flowers open you will see a stone. However the plant is guarded by a powerful spirit which one must conquer. If you fail death will follow, but if you succeed this magical stone has the power to make you invisible.

Very large eels carry a white and square stone found within their head. This requires the patient capture of several eels. Halve the eel’s head with a large sharp knife, grope for the square stone inside the head. The eel’s stone gives you the power to become slimy and slippery and no ropes or chains can bind you.

By medieval times, the Nusantao had assimilated various foreign religious influences including those from Hinduism, Buddhism, Nestorian Christianity and Islam. This was all part of the exchange inherent in Nusantao society. Syncretism was the rule.

In the exchange though, the Nusantao hoped to sell some of their own beliefs as well. By this time, the spice trade was the dominant relationship with the "West." The spices of tropical Asia were in fact associated with the Garden of Eden.

In Muslim lore, for example, ginger and camphor are both aromatics of Paradise.

Although the lore of the ancient cosmic battle may have been preserved at that time mainly only by the most sacred experts, the importance of the trade had not vanished. The rise of Islam was threatening to cut off the old trade routes of the Nusantao and thus we surmise that the "King of the Indies" took initiative by contacting the kings of the West.

In Indonesia today, many people considered Muslim are in reality Kebatinan, or syncretic religionists. The corresponding term for Kebatinan in the Philippines is kalooban and in the same way many Filipinos practice a syncretic spirituality. Both kebatinan and kalooban refer to the practice of inward personal spirituality.

Here the emphasis is less on communal religion and worship as on personal inner transformation. The practitioner thus may "seek" with only a few other people, or a small group, or alone. The search involves finding one's amulets and other types of quests. And invariably it involves a holy mountain of some type. The searcher either makes pilgrimage to this mountain or becomes a "guardian" of the mountain.

These practices I believe are rooted in the history of the ancient clan confederacies.



Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

Spirit Warriors

Possibly next to their role as messengers, the angels were seen as soldiers in the camps of God (Hebrew mahanaim). The apocalyptic literaure in particular stresses the military role of the angels.

The fish-men sages who came from Dilmun were also locked in the battles of the Igigi and the Annunaki. Their leader Enki becomes the prototype of the "Fisher King" motif that propagates throughout the Middle East and into Europe.

In Austronesia, warfare is often a way of maintaining balance and equilibrium between clans. We see this especially in the cult of the head. Among head-hunting groups it is common to keep not only the heads of enemies but also those of one's revered ancestors.

A Neolithic plastered skull, Levant, with cowrie eyes as in New Guinea ancestor masks

Plastered skulls from 'Ain Ghazal

The martial art lineages today preserve aspects of spiritual warfare that have survived the influence of Islam and Chrisitianity. Just as the indigenous warrior prepares for battle in trance dances, the martial artist uses meditation.

In many cases those who preserve the indigenous martial arts are the same who keep ancient healing traditions. This indeed may echo the customs of the martial orders of the past. Both martial and healing traditions are passed on through lineages of noted founding guros (teachers).

The classic Filipino and Indonesian warrior utilizes special amulets sometimes worn as pendants and sometimes placed under skin through traditional "surgery." These amulets provide invincibility or some special power in the belief of the possessor. The warrior's weapons in traditional practice must go through repeated rituals to acquire magical power. The kris is one example of this kind of weapon.

One of the most misunderstood practices is that of amuq (amok). While in the West this is often thought of as a loss of control or a mental breakdown, in the indigenous view, amuq is a state of spirit possession or trance. In the state of amuq one becomes an instrument of divine justice.

You might be surprised that the Southeast Asian warrior who made drinking cups of their enemy's skull had something in common with the medieval Templars. Both practiced the cult of the head.

The Templars unusual worship of the preserved head known as Baphomet was one of the reasons used by the inquisitioners and the King of France to destroy the order. The practice of the cult of the head here though is no coincidence.

I suggest that the idea of religious knights came as a result of medieval contacts between the Nusantao and Christian Europe. Yes, the Nusantao were still active during this period. Solheim sees evidence to suggest Nusantao trade continued "strongly" until about 1,000 years ago and to a lesser extent until the recent past (500 BP?).

The composer Richard Wagner wrote in reference to his project on the life of Barbarossa: "Wondrous legends had he heard of a lordly country deep in Asia, in farthest India, of an ur-divine Priest-King who governed there a pure and happy people, immortal through the nurture of a wonder-working relic called the Holy Grail."

The term "farthest India" usually meant the East Indies but whatever the case Wagner is referring to Prester John as King of the Indies. Wagner who was fascinated with Buddhism probably thought of Prester John as a Buddhist king or a king of a nation of syncretic religionists.

That he would have thought this is completely logical. At the same time that news of a great King of the Indies permeated Europe, mostly around the period from the 10th-13th centuries, we hear in India and Tibet also of a great Buddhist king of mysterious Shambhala.

The Kingdom of Prester John

In the medieval romances that chronicle, however obliquely, the rise of the religious knightly orders, the name of Prester John is prominent. Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival is one such literary work.

The founding of the first order -- the Templars -- occurs not long after the conquest of Jerusalem something covertly alluded to in the Parzival cycle (Montsalvat).

The Templars had all sorts of strange "Oriental" practices not seen among earlier secular orders of knights. In addition to the cult of the head, we hear in the romances of the mysterious Holy Grail. Although often thought of as a chalice, von Eschenbach suggests instead that the grail is a stone that has fallen from Heaven -- a tektite.

This is an exact parallel to the Chintamani "the fire pearl" of Shambhala, also a tektite, that in Hindu-Buddhist lore fulfills all wishes.

Southeast Asia is home to what is by far the largest tektite source in the world known as the Australasian Strewn Field. These dark stones often called "star dung" in local languages have been prized as magical amulets by kings, sultans and commoners alike. Former Philippine First Lady Imelda Marcos and Queen Elizabeth II are among those who reportedly received exceptional tektites from this region.

The Nusantao warrior like those of insular Southeast Asia in present times was almost certainly a spirit warrior who relied highly on magic. To prove their belief in spirits, warriors today will allow themselves to be attacked with swords and other weapons while in a trance state as in the ngurek ritual of Bali.

The spiritual link would of course stem from the great cosmic war -- the battle of the good and bad angels rooted long ago in the dual volcanic eruptions.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

Sambali

Now to review the clan situation in the traditional camp, we first have the union of the dragon/serpent and bird clans resulting in a lineage whose emblem is the dog. The joining of other clans to this confederacy may be symbolized by the marriage of a dog with an ancestral goddess.

One such union of great import is that involving a group of peoples having a bull emblem.

The Chinese texts state that Chiyou's totemic clan was divided into nine tribes with each tribe divided into nine sub-tribes. The Juili appear to have had an atomic structure similar to that known in Austronesian societies. The autonomy of the smaller social divisions was apparent to the Chinese observers.

Among the Sumerians and Hebrews the eastern sages from Dilmun and Eden are governed by a king associated with the mountain of God. In Sumerian lore, the mountain is associated both with Heaven and the Underworld. The image is that of a volcano shrouded with clouds around an entrance leading to the underground sweet waters -- the Abzu or Apsu.

The Abzu was envisioned as the source of all rivers and a type of river itself. The leader of the sages is the Lord of the River, the Lord of the Mountain and the Lord of Dilmun.

In the same sense, the leader of the angels in Hebrew legend is the "Prince of the Presence." He is closely associated with the fiery mountain of God in Eden.

In traditional Austronesian society, organization of districts and regions is ritual based as we have discussed earlier. The Nusantao organization appears similar. So closely was Chiyou associated with ritual that he is said to have founded religion in Chinese texts.

The hereditary ritual officers of the holy mountain logically set up the rules and protocol used by the traditional trading clans. The trade in itself is a spiritual enterprise, part of the great dual conflict. In this sense we see among the people even today a type of "cargo cult" mentality.

We can imagine, using known examples in this region, that such rules were minimal -- only those needed to foster the healthy workings of the confederacy. These were largely "thou shall not's" -- prohibitions and taboos deemed necessary to allow the clans to work together. Otherwise, the numerous subdivisions had significant autonomy to run their own administrations and the trade in their regions.

The "King of the Mountain" motif thus derives from the dog lineage which is itself derived from the high priestly clans of the fiery mountain of Eden, the entrance to the underground waters of life. The law is a ritual law that pervades the mundane world as trade was also a spiritual enterprise. Exchange is a means of expansion of the message.

Symbols are important and the holy volcano is represented by the spiral, the symbol of the dragon/serpent daughter of the Sun. The spiral is stylized into a series of concentric rings known as the Mt. Meru or Mt. Mandara motif in anthropological literature. Meru and Mandara are the mountains of the Gods in Indian religion.

Image Gallery

In latter times, the lore of the great "King of the East" continued in Hindu-Buddhist tradition. The Hindus knew the place of this tradition as a village (grama) called Sambhala. In Tibetan Buddhist belief it is called Shambhala, a mountain kingdom.

The location of Shambhala has been the object of much controversy. The Tsar of Russia at one time claimed to be the King of Shambhala. Imperial Japan also took on the mantle of Shambhala during its drive for expansion in Asia. For more on the location of this mysterious place, see the article below:

Great Shambhala

The mountain of Dilmun/Eden is a strong central focus for the traditional clan confederacy. It is a place of pilgrimmage associated with immortality. Gilgamesh ventured there in search of the waters of life. The messengers of Eden are also the guardians of the holy volcano -- part of the camp of Heaven.

Their opponents expelled from the mountain apparently set up their own camp initially somewhere to the east, probably to the southeast.

The land of the holy mountain is known as Sambali, and the kingdoms associated with it include Zabag, Sanfotsi, Mishima, Lusung and Rusun.


The eruption of Mt. Pinatubu from http://www.whoa.org/pinatubo/

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

The Water Buffalo

The Chinese legendary histories tell of us warfare between totemic clans that preceded the formation of the dynastic Chinese state.

The information given on the Yi peoples is of primary importance to us particularly the history of the Dong-Yi who inhabited the coastal region between the mouths of the Yellow and Yangtze rivers.

Here we hear of the king Chiyou mentioned as the overlord of the Dong-Yi peoples. It appears that Chiyou's Juili tribe is linked with another clan union, this time between the serpent/bird clan and a people who had a bull totem, either an ox or a buffalo.

Chiyou himself is often described as a man with a bull's head. This image is an important one since the union of these totemic clans becomes a driving force among the Nusantao. The bull totem clans seem linked with various peoples living along coastal Southeast Asia of the time. These peoples may have spoken Austro-Asiatic, Hmong-Mien and Daic languages.

The image of a water buffalo or a man with buffalo horns appears also in the iconography of the Sumerians. Indeed, we see that the water buffalo in Sumer is none other than the Southeast Asian swamp buffalo. Remains of this species have also been found at Sumerian archaeological sites.

The swamp buffalo is different than the river buffalo of India. It originates in Southeast Asia but is historically absent from India. It was however found in ancient Sri Lanka apparently brought by sea from Southeast Asia.


Swamp buffalo on the Seal of Sharkalisharri, 3rd millennium BC, Sumer


To see some Powerpoint slides from Stephen Oppenheimer's presentation of swamp buffalo in Sumer, click here (large file).

A Mesopotamian seal with swamp buffalo, humans with buffalo horns, peacock, rhinos, sea-goats and the "Master of the Animals" motif

The combined emblem for the new clan union involved three elements -- serpent/dragon, bird and ox/buffalo.

The serpent could be found as a common spiral or a coiled "embryo" design. The bird totem could be represented by feathers or a bird's head. Also, by a tau symbol representing the tree of life, which in local mythology has a bird resting in its branches. The buffalo motif comes in the form of the bull's head or horns.

These motifs can be seen in the bicephalous jade ornaments of the Sa-Huynh-Kalanay culture of the mid to late 3rd millennium BC in which the dual heads would represent both horns and a hybrid bird-serpent creature. These motifs also appear in that culture's lingling-o ornaments. The Sa-Huynh-Kalanay culture represents the Nusantao in Southeast Asia during this period.

We will discuss these symbols more as we go along.

The warring clan confederacies believe in their symbols. These were a very spiritual people. While some among them undoubtedly used religious elements only as a means to an end, the evidence points more toward people who believed in the supernatural. We only have to look at some of behaviour and actions of some of history's more recent kings, sultans and emperors from this region to know that magic played an important part in the people's beliefs.

Any clan competition going on in this world was only an extension of something greater happening in the spirit world. Magic plays a large part in their culture.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

Sages and Messengers

The Sumerians knew of amphibious sages that came from the East. In Greek renditions of the early "Chaldean" works these sages are said to come swimming across the Indian Ocean. In the Bible, "messengers" come from Eden.

Both examples suggest that these migrants from Dilmun/Eden had something to teach -- a spiritual agenda. Indeed, Oppenheimer has given long lists of myths in Mesopotamia and the Middle East that he believes are ultimately of Southeast Asian origin. And he was not the first scholar to recognize these links.

Some of these messengers were viewed in a positive light while others were not. Indeed, a conflict between two groups of these messengers is apparent. In the Book of Enoch, the two groups are at war. In the Dawenkou and Lungshan cultural development we saw that the gradual increase in social stratification eventually leads to apparent clan warfare. The first cities, were nothing more than glorified forts, with high walls and watchtowers for defense.

The bad messengers in ancient Hebrew literature appear linked with some useful crafts but there also is a reference to the ills of commerce. In the Ezekiel passage, the writer states "Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence." The king of Tyre was linked in the Hebrew mind with the vast Phoenician trade.

Indeed, the evil potential of mercantile trade is found repeatedly in the philosophy of the Bible. Among the early Jewish Christians, the ultimate evil was envisioned as a harlot called "Babylon" that lures the nations to its markets of luxurious goods.

The Sumerians conducted a long-range trade with Dilmun. It is difficult to say exactly what the entire trade consisted of as ships that went to Dilmun had many other stops along the way. Timber though seems to be one product that came directly from Dilmun. Hebrew tradition mentions a trade network involving Phoenicians that brought almug wood from somewhere apparently far to the East. The trade journeys to bring back this hard wood lasted three years.

The almug wood has been variously identified as teak, red sandalwood or some other fragrant tropical hard wood. The timber trade may have been the start of what eventually led to the great spice trade. Indeed, Dilmun was known as the "land of aromatics."

For more on the ensuing spice trade see the following link:

The Spice Routes

Legends of far-off messengers coming with a spiritual agenda also are not limited to this region. Oppenheimer gives a number of examples. And in many of these cases we find these messengers are in conflict with others linked with an opposing often polarized doctrine.

In the dual world of the Nusantao, the eruption of two volcanoes could easily be interpreted as a war between two different polar forces in Heaven. As in Heaven, so on Earth. Diverging clans may have seen the cosmic chaos as the beginning of something on earth that had been brewing for a long time.

When people are forced to migrate they often bring about historical changes. The Phoenicians stated themselves that they migrated to Lebanon after a disaster in their homeland. The Huns ravaged much of the old world after they were forced to flee from their lands near the borders of China.

The Nusantao clans forced to flee from the great volcanic wars, in the same way, appear to have shaken up the trade network in an unprecedented way.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

Eden

And he knew that the Garden of Eden is the holy of holies, and the dwelling of the Lord...

Book of Jubilees 8:18

The mountain of God in Eden was the location of the war of the angels. The Bible has strong images of a mountain top covered with smoke, fire and clouds due to the presence of God as when the children of Israel camped near Mt. Horeb in the Sinai.

In Sumerian lore, Mt. Mashu in the eastern island of Dilmun is the location of the battle between Gilgamesh and Humbaba. The top of Mt. Mashu collapses during the fight with jumping flames, smoke, roaring sounds and flying rocks.

In Ezekial 28, the king of Tyre is likened to Satan, the leader of the rebellious angels on the mountain of God.

You were in Eden,
the garden of God...

You were anointed as a guardian cherub,
for so I ordained you.
You were on the holy mount of God:
you walked among the fiery stones...

Through your widespread trade
you were filled with violence,
and you sinned.
So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God
and I expelled you, O guardian cherub,
from among the fiery stones.

Ezekial 28

Mt. Mashu is depicted as a mountain with twin peaks between which was the entrance to the underworld and the underground waters of life. Through this entrance the Sun was said to rise. Dilmun itself was located in the farthest East, and to reach it required multiple long journeys by both land and sea.

Shamash the sun god between the peaks of Mashu

After his battle with Humbaba, Gilgamesh meets two scorpion guardians of the gate to the underworld between Mashu's peaks. He persuades them to allow him to venture into the mountain in search of immortality.

Eden also is linked with immortality, in this case, humanity's lost immortality and expulsion from the garden. After the expulsion, God was said to have established a flaming sword that guarded the way to Eden. However God's presence anywhere always seemed to be connected with the image of the fiery mountain:

"The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook; they trembled because he was angry. Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it. He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet. He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind. He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him-- the dark rain clouds of the sky. Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced with hailstones and bolts of lightning..."

Psalm 18

The churning of the Milky Ocean resulted in the pouring of the life-giving amrita from the flaming Mt. Mandara. In the same way, Mt. Mashu contains the entrance to the waters of life in the underworld region known as the Apsu in Sumerian religion.

Both the traditionalists and the materialists are forced to migrate because of the great volcanic eruptions, but the materialists are fully expelled from the region of the holy mountains in the ensuing competition. And both show up in various far-off locations where they take their battle for supremacy.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

The Fallen Angels

Around 5,000 BC, we see the rise of Proto-Sumerian Ubaid sites in southern Iraq and at other Persian Gulf coast sites particularly on the northern Arabian coast.

These sites feature shell mounds and the same type of related fishing culture as found much further east. Oppenheimer mentions the "concordance of the same classes of Neolithic artefacts found under the silt layer of southern coastal China to those Woolley found under his silt layer in Mesopotamian Ur." (Oppenheimer 1998)

Among these items included an array of fishing gear, shell beads and polished stone hoes and adzes of rectangular cross-section (Vierkantbeile). There was also evidence of tattoing and scarification, and the painting of bodies with red haematite at burial. To these I would add the appearance of the potter's wheel both among the Ubaid and the Lungshan culture, and the Ubaid practice of cranial deformation.

The sudden appearance of stoneware technology among the Ubaid and in related sites in Syria and then it's disappearance with these cultures is very telling. Stoneware was developed in the Dawenkou culture but persists in China were it is eventually developed into proto-porcelain. In the Middle East, post-Neolithic peoples revert to the use of earthenware.

In the Old Testament of the Hebrews, we hear of the fallen "angels" of the Garden of Eden, or Mt. Eden who come to interact with the people of the region. Oppenheimer mentions the sages from the East that come swimming across the Erythraen Sea (Indian Ocean) in Sumerian literature. In Hebrew, the word for "angel" means also "messenger."

The Sumerian sages from the East come from Dilmun, the land scholars often equate with Bibilical Eden. Dilmun has been variously located in Bahrain, Iran and with the Harappan civilization of India. There are however some indications that the Hebrews thought the land was very far to the East in tropical Asia.

In the Book of Enoch, an apocryphal work dating from around the 2nd century BC to the 1st century AD, there is mention of a region far beyond the Indian Ocean (Erythraen Sea) and the lands of cinnamon and aloeswood.

Chapter 30
1,2 And beyond these, I went afar to the east, and I saw another place, a valley (full) of water. And 3 therein there was a tree, the colour (?) of fragrant trees such as the mastic. And on the sides of those valleys I saw fragrant cinnamon. And beyond these I proceeded to the east.

Chapter 31
1 And I saw other mountains, and amongst them were groves of trees, and there flowed forth from 2 them nectar, which is named sarara and galbanum. And beyond these mountains I saw another mountain to the east of the ends of the earth, whereon were aloe-trees, and all the trees were full 3 of stacte, being like almond-trees. And when one burnt it, it smelt sweeter than any fragrant odour.

Chapter 32
1 And after these fragrant odours, as I looked towards the north over the mountains I saw seven mountains full of choice nard and fragrant trees and cinnamon and pepper. 2 And thence I went over the summits of all these mountains, far towards the east of the earth, and passed above the Erythraean sea and went far from it, and passed over the angel Zotiel. And I came to the Garden of Righteousness, 3 I and from afar off trees more numerous than I these trees and great-two trees there, very great, beautiful, and glorious, and magnificent, and the tree of knowledge, whose holy fruit they eat and know great wisdom. 4 That tree is in height like the fir, and its leaves are like (those of) the Carob tree: and its fruit 5 is like the clusters of the vine, very beautiful: and the fragrance of the tree penetrates afar. Then 6 I said: 'How beautiful is the tree, and how attractive is its look!' Then Raphael the holy angel, who was with me, answered me and said: 'This is the tree of wisdom, of which thy father old (in years) and thy aged mother, who were before thee, have eaten, and they learnt wisdom and their eyes were opened, and they knew that they were naked and they were driven out of the garden.

Book of Enoch

In the Bible also, we have some clues leading to a tropical Asian location from the mention of aloeswood or "lign-aloes" the Hebrew 'ahalim. Aloeswood occurs in tropical eastern India but is mostly associated in ancient and medieval times with Southeast Asia.

"And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed."

Genesis 2:8

"Like valleys that stretch out, Like gardens beside the river, Like
aloes planted by the Lord, Like cedars beside the waters."

Numbers 24:6

In medieval times, the aloeswood tree was considered the lone representative of vegetation from the Garden of Eden in Christian tradition.

The tree of knowledge mentioned in Enoch was thought of as the banana tree in Muslim literature. It indeed has the height of a fir, leaves like a carob and vine-like clusters of fruit. The banana may also be the "golden apples" found in ancient European lore.

The sages or messengers from Dilmun were conceived of in Sumerian literature as a type of "fish-man" often portrayed as half-fish and half-man. Oppenheimer thinks this may relate to an extreme maritime culture as would be found among the Nusantao shell mound folk.

In the following map you will see distributions of Alpha thalassaemia and Beta thalassamia hemoglobin mutations, and two JC Polyomavirus clades.


Click on map for larger image

The hemoglobin mutation distribution is from Oppenheimer and he suggests that several thalassamia variants are of apparent Southeast Asian origin.

JC Virus Clade A looks as if originates after the Proto-Austronesian dispersion from mainland Southeast Asia as it is absent from that region. This clade, specically the MY marker, supports other evidence that migration from insular Southeast Asia via the Japan Current reached the Pacific Coast of the Americas (see link).

The other JC virus clade may stem from the original migrations from mainland Southeast Asia to Austronesia.

The messengers and sages from the East were associated with Mt. Eden, which we will try to show was thought of as a volcano.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Oppenheimer, Stephen. Eden in the East: The drowned continent of Southeast Asia. London: Phoenix, 1998.

Yoshiaki Yogo et al. "JC virus genotyping offers a new paradigm in
the study of human populations," Rev. Med. Virol. 2004; 14: 179–191.

The Dog Lineage

The union of the dragon/serpent and bird clans appears to have been sealed by an actual marriage between two leading families in these clans. The event is symbolized in the partnership of Manalastas and Munag Sumalâ, and that of Fu Hsi and Nu Gua.

The new lineage formed by this marriage is represented by Tala, the planet Venus, the Morning Star. Tala marries the mountain maid Mingan and their progeny hold sway in the council of the traditional confederacy of clans.

The emblem of the new lineage is either a hybrid of dragon/serpent and bird, or a dog.

The marriage of Tala and Mingan is found in the form of the widespread regional myth of the marriage of a dog with an ancestral goddess. The myth was propagated in various cultures probably representing the union of those cultures with this clan confederacy. Researchers Chungshee Hsien Liu and Alexy Okladnikov believe these dog-goddess marriage myths are of Austronesian or of insular Southeast Asian origin.

These myths may also relate to the widespread association of the planet Venus, or the deity representing that planet with dogs and/or wolves. The Sumerian goddess Innana (Babylonian Ishtar) was associated with Venus and dogs. She was also linked with Sirius, a star associated in many cultures with dogs or wolves. In China, Sirius is known as Lang Hsing "the Wolf Star."

The two volcanoes of the legend become sacred to the traditional clan confederacy. Even the soil, or rather the rich mixed volcanic clay, is thought of as possessing special magical qualities. The mixture of the complimentary deposits from the Yin mountain and the Yang mountain contain the spark that prolongs life or even grants immortality in legend.

From this volcanic clay are formed pots to hold water, wine and other beverages which when properly aged become nothing less than an elixir of life. These jars eventually become a highly valued item of trade.

We will see how the dog lineage extends its range far and wide in the establishment of the traditional confederacy of clans. However, the materialist camp sees the challenge of the new leadership and reacts promptly. This grouping of clans consists of many of the same totems as the traditionalists. In fact, the leading groups from both clans come from the same location -- the land of the dueling volcanoes.

The materalists though are expelled. They are the fallen angels.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

The Churning of the Milky Ocean

In China, the legendary emperor Fu Hsi is said to have founded the phoenix clan of the Dong Yi people of Shandong.

Fu Hsi is credited with having introduced many new things including the I Ching divination system. The I Ching may have been derived from the early oracle bone divination that used shells from sacrificed turtles. Shen-Shung Ling believed that turtle sacrifice in ancient China was of Austronesian origin and it has continued in Austronesia until modern times.

Chinese legend also states that Fu Hsi introduced the art of chicken raising and chicken egg-laying. According to research by Akshino Fumihito, the chicken was domesticated in Southeast Asia from the red junglefowl. Fumihito, by the way, is the brother of crown prince Naruhito of Japan. In Shinto, the national religion of that country, the chicken is considered sacred to the sun goddess Amaterasu, the ancestress of the imperial family.

The churning of the Milky Ocean was an epic event that sent ash and lahar into the sea, in this case the South China Sea, turning it into a milky color.

Note in the earlier quote from the Mahabharata, that the volcanic debris was thought to have qualities of an "elixir." Indeed, among the products of the oceanic churning is said to be a jar filled with amrita the elixir of immortality. We will return to this motif later.

The Milky Ocean story involves two opposing forces -- the Devas and the Danavas. We will see that many scattered myths also involve a divine war in circumstances that are also surprisingly similar.

For example, Nu Gua, the wife of Fu Hsi is said to have mended the sky after a battle between the Fire God and the Water God. The war resulted in a great cataclysm of fire and water that caused the collapse of a massive mountain. Again, this sounds very similar to a volcanic eruption.

Volcanoes tend to draw clouds during an eruption and create their own storm systems.

In far-off Greece we again encounter what may be allusion to a volcanic eruption. According to Hesiod, the Golden Race lived during the Golden Age when the seven Titans headed by Cronus ruled over heaven and earth.

Hesiod says that when Zeus and the gods overthrew the Titans the forests were set ablaze and the oceans "boiled and seethed."

According to Homer, Zeus "had also thrust great Cronos down beneath earth and the restless sea," to Tartaros. In the Iliad, Hera sometimes travels "to visit Oceanus at the far end of the earth, from whom the gods are sprung." In Greek legend, when volcanoes erupt they reveal the Giants or Titans imprisoned by Zeus below.

As we go on, the various motifs in the Greek myths including those concerning the underworld will turn up again in different cultures. These are part of the great body of myths that Oppenheimer has suggested are linked directly with the great migrations from Southeast Asia.

The churning of the ocean occurs not only from the volcanic eruptions but from the resulting sea migrations of people. These people carry various cultural items that are said to be the products of the churning including the jar of amrita, the conch shell trumpet and the archery bow known as sarnga.

For more information on the geographc location of the Milky Ocean, see the following article:

A new look at Vedic India

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

Dueling volcanoes, continued

The battle between deities of the volcanoes Mt. Pinatubo and Mt. Arayat, I submit, tells of a real simultaneous or near-simultaneous eruption of two adjacent volcanoes.

The eruptive event triggers major migrations and causes changes in the existing Nusantao trade network. There are indications that two major clans come to unite in order to deal with newly-arising situations. In the legend these clans are represented by Munag Sumalâ, the red dawn serpent and Manalastas, the rooster. Their son is Tala, the Morning Star (Venus).

The eruptions may have taken place during a Venus transit alluded to in the descent of Tala to earth. As to whether people in ancient times knew of Venus transits, I know of only one example where King Montezuma appears to have seen the transit of 1518. There are, though, other examples of Austronesian peoples able to spot astronomical bodies that are very difficult to perceive with the naked eye. For example, there is documentation that Polynesians knew of the moons of Jupiter. In comparison, a Venus transit is much more visible although it does require some means to view the Sun without damaging the eyes. Could the smoke of a volcano have provided this eye protection?

The timing of the clan union would be well before 3,000 BC as there are a few historical and legendary sources that help arrive at this timing. One of these is the Chinese legendary history of Fu Hsi and Nu Gua. The marriage of these two members of the Dong Yi peoples also represented the union of Fu Hsi's bird clan and Nu Gua's dragon/serpent clan. The same totems represented by Manalastas and Munag Sumalâ respectively.

The best dating in my opinion -- the one that matches other evidence that will be discussed later -- is James Legge's 3,322 BC. The eruptions themselves, based on archaeological data that I feel is connected, may have taken place during a Venus transit sometime before 3,500 BC.

The union of the dragon/serpent and bird clans was an important event in the "escalation" that had been taking place for centuries in the Nusantao trade network. How do these clans relate to the two spiritual camps I mentioned earlier?

Well, in reality there may not be simply a Yin and Yang camp, but two Yin camps and two Yang camps. Each camp, composed of different clans and peoples, had its Yin and Yang components. They differed in that one was more "traditional," which in this case meant more inclusive and non-materialistic, and the other was more exclusive and materialistic.

What I mean by "inclusive" and "exclusive" here relates directly to the materialistic viewpoint. The more materialistic camp uses exclusion as a means of increasing wealth among the ruling group. The elite are an exclusive group entry into which requires a process of severe assimilation. The traditional camp is more inclusive but in this process a very powerful and wealthy elite is largely absent.

In a trade network it might seem like the materialistic side would have all the advantages. However, the exclusive nature might also foster divisiveness especially if no group is able to establish outright superiority among the allied clans.

I will suggest that the traditional camp was able to secure strong leadership earlier by the union of the dragon and bird clans. These two clans already powerful in their own right, were able after uniting to lead the coalition of traditional clans and groups.

The process of materialization among the Nusantao is most visible in the archaeological record. Among the Dawenkou, as we have noted earlier, the grave sites show increasing signs of social stratification with the passage of time. By the Lungshan period, large forts herald the problems inherent with clan warfare.

A good portion of Oppenheimer's Eden in the East is focused on comparing myths and folklore that the author believes were dispersed following Sundaland migrations. Many of these myths appear directly linked to historical events. I would suggest that this volcanic incident was also captured in the widely-diffused myths. One of these reached India.

You will find this on the subcontinent in the legend of the Churning of the Milky Ocean. I will post a part of this story as told in the Mahabhrata and then discuss it more in the next posting.

"...as Vasuki was forcefully pulled up and down by the Gods, puffs of fire and smoke belched forth from his mouth. The clouds of smoke became massive clouds with lightning flashes and rained down on the troops of Gods, who were weakening with the heat and fatigue...All kinds of creatures that inhabit the deep were crushed asunder by the big mountain ...and the mountain drove sea animals of all sorts, such as dwell in the submarine abysses, to their destruction...The friction of the trees started fire after fire, covering the mountain with flames like a black monsoon cloud with lightening streaks...many juices of herbs and manifold resins of the trees flowed into the water of the ocean. And with the milk of these juices that had the power of the Elixir, and with the exudation of the molten gold, the God attained immortality. The water of the ocean now turned into milk, and from this milk butter floated up, mingled with the finest of essences."

(Mahabharata, translated by J.A.B. Van Buitenen, vol. I, pp. 73-74)

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

The Dueling Dual Volcanoes

The following translation of a Kapampangan legend by Michael Panglinan will help us unravel the socio-political situation of the Nusantao that developed. I have added a few translations of notes.


"The history of the Kapampangan opened with the great war in heaven. They were siblings (I don't know if they are brothers or brothers and sisters...but they were siblings) Aldau (the Sun) and Bulan (the Moon) were fighting for control of the earth.

From the heavens they descended on the banks of the great river, from which they pulled out two bamboo poles each. In the ensuing battle, Aldau, the sun had struck the light out of one of Bulan's eyes and its brightness dimmed. Aldau was victorious and Bulan surrendered. Magnanimous, Aldau lifted his capatad up and divided his rule between himself and Bulan. He even let Bulan sit on the throne first. Thus Bulan ruled by bengi (night) and Aldau ruled by aldau (day).

They settled on the two sacred mountains of the great river bank plains. On earth, Aldau chose as his abode Alaya, the center, the navel of the world. Thus the words 'paralaya' meaning going towards Alaya, the home, the base, the navel, and 'padauba' which means to go away from the center, or to go down to the flatlands. Paralaya also came to mean east since it is the abode of the sun.

On earth, Aldau came to be called by man as Apung Sukû meaning antiquity or even summit or zenith. Bulan, on the one hand settled on the source of eight rivers, Pinatubu, from which man derived its food and livelihood as the rivers became not only a source of fish, but was also the watering hole of game and fowl.

Man favoured Bulan with the name Apung Mallari, to whom all things were possible. He was said to be more approachable than the distant Apung Sukû.

Apung Sukû, the Sun, had for his children: Munag Sumalâ (Dawn) who was betrothed to Manalastas (the rooster), Abac, Ugtu (known also as Lakandanup who devoured shadows at noon), and Gatpanapun (the prince who knows only pleasure).

Apung Mallari had two daughters. The most beautiful was Sisilim (sunset) who was devoted to her uncle Apung Sukû by welcoming him in the western skies with songs of the cicadas at sunset. The other daughter was Kapitangan.

All things went well with their reign over man on earth till the rains came. The rains did not stop. The eight Rivers of Pinatubu overflowed. Man's possesssion were washed away and the fowls, game and fish went to seek calmer waters or went deep into the mountains. Man hungered. Man despaired. Finally man called upon Apung Sukû for help.

Apung Sukû then sent his grandson Tala (the planet Venus), son of the red serpent Munag Sumalâ and the bird Manalastas, to be born as a man.

Deep in the forest of Mount Alaya, an old manalaksan (wood cutter) went to the pool of Sapang Tacûi to quench his thirst. There in the middle of the pool, a tucal flower blossomed. in the midst of it was a healthy baby crying. The old manalaksan took pity and took the child to his old wife mangkukuran (potter). There the child began to speak and walk. The couple bowed low to the ground and paid homage to the god child.

Soon the child grew up to become a strong bayani. Riding on his friend Damulag, the guardian against the storm, Tala descended the mountain chewing on a sugarcane. On the slopes of the mountain he fell in love with a woman called Mingan. Together they made love. As they did so, Tala took some of his seeds and placed them in Mingan's hand. "Plant them on the flooded ground," he said. Mingan was doubtful at first since nothing grew on the flooded soil save for lumut or algae.

Immediately after Mingan planted the sacred seeds, a curious green looking plant sprouted from the ground. These were the first palai, rice plants. Tala showed her how to cook nasi, from the unhusked seeds of the palai plant. Soon Mingan's tribe was able to conquer all the flooded plains and convert them to fertile rice fields. Tala went back to the sky.

Soon, man forgot about the goodness of Apung Mallari before the floods. They endlessly praised Apung Sukû for sending them his grandson Tala. In anger and jealousy, Apung Mallari threw a huge boulder to the perfect summit of Apung Sukû's abode, Bunduc Alaya. The earth trembled. But worse was Apung Sukû's anger at the insult. From that day on, Apung Mallari was cursed. He was to be called as Punsalang (the source of enmity, the enemy).

Apung Sukû took all the huge boulders of the great river bank plains and threw them all at Bunduk Pinatubu. Apung Mallari, now Punsalang, saw his abode crumble. Seeing her father lose miserably, Sisilim decided to stop her uncle the sun but she too was struck and she fell dead. Seeing this, Punsalang shouted in anguish and surrendered to his brother Apung Sukû. From then on, Apung Sukû was Apung Sinukuan (to whom everyone surrendered)."

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

Money as the root of all evil

I have noted that rising sea levels and natural disasters played a big role in the Nusantao and previous Sundaland migrations. Also covered briefly was the possibility of a spiritual component to exploration and colonization.

Of course, when dealing with trade networks we also have to follow the buck, so to speak.

How did Nusantao trade occur? Solheim thinks it was barter trade, however, there is also a possible that money was involved.

Otto Dempwolff reconstructed a word for money: *'uwan. Cecilio Lopez later updated this to *huwaN "money." These reconstructions though occur before the Formosan languages were brought into the Austronesian family and thus might only apply really to Proto-Malayo-Polynesian.

That however is significant as Solheim postulates that the Nusantao were mostly Malayo-Polynesian speakers, albeit always with a minority of people among them who spoke other languages. If we accept Solheim's dates that means the Nusantao could have been using money before 5000 BC.

The type of money used by Austronesians upon contact with Europeans was mostly shells particularly cowries and often in stringed form. Here are some examples:

Solomon Island stringed shell money
http://www.janeresture.com/solomon_postcards2/Fine%20Ancient%20Solomon%20Islands%20Shell%20Money%201.jpg


Sumerian stringed shell money
http://images.channeladvisor.com/

Giant stone money (rai) of Yap (resembles Chinese stringed copper coins)
http://www.reefseekers.com/PIXPAGES/Stone_money.jpg

The early trade in shell tools may have evetually led to the use of shells as money. Clan competition could easily heat up with the large scale use of money even on a regional scale. It is much easier to accumulate wealth with money than attempting to stockpile bulky trade goods.

The abstract quality of money indeed helps the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

A Neolithic snapshot

During the migrations mentioned by Oppenheimer that took place between about 8000 and 6000 years ago, shell mound cultures appear in three major distant locations. The Ubaid sites have already been mentioned previously and we will investigate them in detail later.

Shell mounds also appear to the north in the Bering Sea and Arctic regions. Decades ago, Soviet prehistorians had suggested that Proto-Eskimo and Proto-Inuit people had been influenced by people from the southern Pacific and Southeast Asia, or that they had even originated from those regions.

They found many common items in the cultural inventory of these people that had southern correspondences including toggling harpoon heads with sockets and barbs at their base and slate points unique to the region.

S. I Rudenko noted that the distribution of these toggling harpoons matched the distribution of shell mounds both in the north and the south.

Rudenko states: "Eskimo sea-mammal hunters appeared in the Bering Sea region comparatively late and were really the wedge dividing related peoples, alien to them, of northeastern Asia and northern America, they apparently came to the Bering Sea region not from the north but the south, not from Asiatic Asia but from Asia's insular southeast."

The sea vessels of these Arctic peoples also shared morphologies with the south. Indeed, experts on maritime history like James Hornell have suggested that the bifid double construction ship found in the circum-Arctic regions was of southern Pacific origin.

M.G. Levin, another researcher specializing in Northeast Asian ethnology writes: "It was not difficult for these coastal peoples of the Pacific to adjust to the conditions of the Far North, since they had long practised fishing and sea-mammal hunting, they knew how to build the warm semisubterranean houses necessary in arctic surroundings, and finally they were excellent seafarers for whom it was easy to move along the coast and settle the Far North. (Okladnikov, 1941c, pp. 30-31)"

In addition to the Persian Gulf and Eskimo/Inuit region, shell mounds also appear on the Atlantic coast of Europe. Here also, in mesolithic Denmark, we find the bifid boats that Hornell and others had given a South Seas origin. In addition at a latter date we find the uniquely SE Asian/Pacific technique of lashed-lug construction in Scandinavia.

We will examine each of these region in more detail later in this blog.


Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References


Levin, M. G. _Ethnic origins of the peoples of northeastern Asia._ Edited by Henry N. Michael. [Toronto] Published for the Arctic Institute of North America by University of Toronto Press [1963]

Hornell, James, _Water transport: origins and early evolution_. Newton Abbot, David & Charles, 1970.

The Yi Peoples

Shun-Sheng Ling wrote: "During ancient times the majority of the inhabitants of the Pacific coast of China belonged to the East Yi. The East Yi people in accordance with the results of our research consisted chiefly of peoples from Polynesia and Micronesia".

Pointing more toward Taiwan and the Philippines, the late Harvard historian Kwang-chih Chang agreed that Austronesian presence in early coastal China was likely.

The "East Yi" (Dong Yi) are the Yi peoples who lived in Shandong and Henan as described in Chinese literature. The Yi to the south were known as Nan Yi and those to the north as Bei Yi.

Chinese literature describes the Yi as "maritime" people who built large ships. Eventually the name Yi became synonomous with the sea itself.

The Yi peoples are normally associated with Dawenkou, Lungshan, Liangzhu and Hongshan cultures. These people practiced tooth removal and head deformation, and built their homes on piles (stilts), all common features of Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

The Dawenkou showed the first signs of significant social stratification in China. Elite burials became increasingly common and elaborate toward the latter Dawenkou period. By the time that Dawenkou transitioned to its daughter Lungshan culture in Shandong, signs of extreme hierarchy were present to include, at times, funerary human sacrifice.

In the Lungshan period we see the rise of forts with rammed earth walls. This has been interpreted as possibly signaling an increase in clan warfare and the consequent need for protection.

Chinese texts make it clear that the Yi people were considered foreign in comparison to the Hua folk of the Upper Yellow River region. In latter times, the term "Dong Yi" came to exclusively mean foreigners and no longer applied to Shandong province.

However, during the earliest times, the Yi people were very important in the formation of Chinese culture and civilization.

The Dawenkou Pottery Inscriptions may have faciliated communication and trade between people who spoke different languages. These characters were pictographic in nature and thus would have facilitated cross-cultural communication.

As noted earlier there is extensive evidence of long-distance trade particularly that involving jade and nephrite originating in the Yangtze region (Liangzhu culture).

During the Lungshan period, we see the increasing use of clan emblems. By studying these symbols we can see that some clans were able to extend their range considerably. Sometime around 5500 years ago things started heating up in this region. If the war had not started yet, it was about to begin.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

A revealing map

Since I will be discussing some long-range contacts more frequently I'm linking a map showing wide distribution of cultural items:

http://www.geocities.com/pinatubo.geo/mapping.jpg

The map is by no means exhaustive as listing too many items would make it difficult to read. However, it does show an emphasis that is both equatorial and coastal. The map does not show however, how most of the more inland examples are linked with river settlements.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Birket-Smith, Kaj (1966/67) The Circumpacific Distribution of Knot Records. Folk, 8/9: 15–24.

Ewins, Rod. Barkcloth and the Origin of Paper. http://www.justpacific.com/pacific/papers/barkcloth~paper.pdf.

Roberts, Helen Heffron, "Ancient Hawaiian music" IN Bernice P. Bishop Museum Bulletin 29 . Honolulu, The Museum, 1926.

Social system and stratification

As alluded to earlier, Solheim equated the Dawenkou culture of Shandong with Nusantao who had come into contact with people already inhabiting the area. They intermarried with these people who were larger in number by far.

However, they were able to maintain features of their language which they passed on eventually to Japan via the diffusion of Yayoi culture.

Solheim though wasn't the first to suggest that Dawenkou culture had an Austronesian link. Dr. Shun-Sheng Ling, the first director of the Institute of Ethnology in Taiwan, had aggressively asserted such connections long ago.

Although Shun-Sheng Ling had a different demographic scenario than Solheim he still saw the Dawenkou as Austronesian people. He further went on to link them with the people known in ancient Chinese texts as the Dong Yi.

As the texts describe the Dong Yi in some detail, they will prove valuable in studying the Nusantao.

Another important tool is language reconstruction as we have already seen. Following is a list of reconstructions important in understanding early Nusantao society. Of the Proto-Austronesian (PAN) reconstuctions, those of Robert Blust follow the strictest pattern requiring representation in each major branch of Austronesian.

*qa(n)dih "monarch, ruler" PAN Lopez
*datu "clan chief, ruler" PAN Blust
*dDatu "prince, ruler" PAN Dyen
*[t]umpu' "lord, master" PAN Dempwolff
*pu' "lord" PAN Dempwolff
*pu? "lord" PAN Dyen
*tUqan "master" PAN Dyen
*tuvan "lord, master" PAN Dempwolf
*zurugan "captain" Proto-Philippine Zorc and Charles
*aGalen "lord" Proto-Philippine Zorc and Charles
*latu "lord, master" Proto-Polynesian

*'a(ng)g'i "clan" PAN Dempwolff
*ha(ng)a'i "clan" PAN Dempwolff
*t'uku' "clan" PAN Dempwolff

*parau "fleet" PAN Blust
*dDaun "flotilla, fleet" PAN Dyen

*ba(nN)i(q)aga "trade, commerce" PAN Blust
*bali(GD)yaq "trade," Proto-Philippine Zorc
*tau "trade," Proto-Polynesian
*lan[t]av "coastal trade," PAN Dempwolff
*dagang "merchant," PAN Dempwolff
*t'alin "translate (exchange)," PAN Dempwolff
*salin "translate (exchange)," Proto-Philippine Zorc
*haku*at "transport (ferry, carry)," Proto-Philippine Zorc & Charles
*d'aNd'i "treaty," PAN Dyen
*muti*a* "treasure," Proto-Philippine Zorc
*lumba' "competition," PAN Dempwolff
*[dr]ebat "competition," PAN Blust
*[dDr]ebat PAN Dyen

*bi(n)ting "fortress, fortification," PAN Dempwolff
*kuta' "fortress," PAN Dempwolff
*pantaw "lookout tower," Proto-Philppine Zorc

*sau "government," Proto-Polynesian
*gemgem "govern (fist)," Proto-Philippine Zorc and Charles
*tungul "flag, standard," PAN Dempwolff, Lopez

*'uvan "money" PAN Dempwolff
*huwaN "money" PAN Lopez
*vaNituku "money" Proto-Tsou Li

*d'u'al "sell" PAN Dempwolff
*balanZa "sell" PAN Dyen

*belih "buy" PAN Lopez
*(bB)eli "buy" PAN Prentice

*'utang "debt" PAN Dempwolff
*hutaN "debt" PAN Lopez
*qutaN "debt" PAN Dyen
*singir "collect debt" Proto-Philippine Zorc

*t'uyuh "commission, charge" PAN Dempwolff
*suRua "commission, charge" PAN Lopez
*'u(n)t't' "commission, charge" PAN Dempwolff

*gantih "compensation" PAN Dempwolff
*u(n)tuN "compensation" PAN Dyen
*utu "compensation" Proto-Philippine Zorc

*'upah 'payment' PAN Dempwolff
*upaq 'payment' PAN Dyen
*bayaD 'to pay, payment,' PAN Lopez, Dyen

*buhin "tax, taxation" Proto-Philippine, Zorc and Charles


PAN = Proto-Austronesian

To understand the social system of the Nusantao, a good illustration is the barangay concept.

Barangay is the name both of a ship and of the smallest social unit in areas of western Austronesia. You can think of a barangay as a community that was capable of moving around in one or a few ships of barangay size.

The mobility inherent in this definition is important. Because of the need for mobility among early semi-nomadic people, the Nusantao preferred smaller communities. Indeed this penchant continued for some time. Insular Southeast Asia had few large cities comparable to those of Cambodia or China even into medieval times. The great Buddhist temple of Borobodur, for example, the largest Buddhist temple in the world, seems to have been constructed by a network of towns and villages.

The average size for a barangay type community was about 500 people. They could be smaller or larger but usually not much larger. The barangay was headed by one or more chiefs.

Larger towns or fortresses were also built. These generally had earthen and/or timber walls protecting them. Even here though one should think that the largest of these would still have populations that could be transported by a large fleet of ships.

So the Nusantao at heart were mainly non-urban. This did not mean they all lived in squalor. In the 1700s, many a European sailor was ready to jump ship to live in Neolithic Polynesian villages rather than the big cities of Europe. Polynesians did not even make their own pottery although at one time they possessed this skill.

The Nusantao were nature-loving folk who lived vigorous lives. Because the community was sea-mobile, the leaders required command authority. They were also ship or fleet captains. In an ordinary village, such command structures are not necessary. But they are vital at sea.

So the social stratification system is simply a practical necessity for communities that migrated regularly on ships.

We know from studying more recent Austronesian societies that they tended to form networks rather than highly-centralized "kingdoms." We will dicuss these networks more in the next post.

The Nusantao Trade Network

Solheim writes about the northern expansions: "I hypothesize that any time that maritime people in their explorations would come across the mouth of a large river, they would have moved up the river making contact with the local inhabitants and not have stayed totally along the coast." (Solheim 2000)

All indications point to the maritime Nusantao as expert seafarers. Often their sites had bones of sea mammals that could only be obtained after lengthy blue-water voyages. Their semi-permanent dwellings indicated that they moved seasonally over water as part of their lifestyle. Naturally they would settle on the coast, along river banks and lake shores.

In addition to the archaeological evidence, Solheim believes the Nusantao migrations help account for three sets of linguistics relationships that exist between Austronesian and other East Asian languages.

Others have suggested that these relationships are genetic links: Paul Benedict has postulated a family called Austro-Tai creating a link with Daic languages such as Thai and Laotian. He latter expanded Austro-Tai to include Japanese and Hmong-Mien. Schichiro Murayama had suggested Malayo-Polynesian influence but not genetic relationship with Japanese.

More recently, Laurent Sagart has proposed that Sino-Tibetan languages and Austronesian descend from a shared proto-language.

Solheim, however, believes that the first two links are the result of massive early borrowing with Nusantao traders. Firstly, contacts with Daic speakers near the Yangtze, and then with Korean and Japanese speakers during the transfer of Yayoi culture from Shandong and Korea to Japan.

We might add also this as a possible explanation for the Sino-Tibetan similarities. Certainly it does not seem that all these languages were related.

Proto-Sino-Tibetan, for example, was likely tonal and monosyllabic as this appears as a family trait of Sino-Tibetan languages. Most languages that have been in contact with Sino-Tibetan languages for some time tend to pick up some of these traits as in the example of Mon-Khmer languages.

Neither Austronesian, Korean or Japanese show anything roughly similar to this type of influence on their sound systems.

The Nusantao may have obtained their penchant for seafaring and trading from the earliest people in the region, many of whom doubtless were their ancestors. From very early dates in the Paleolithic, there are indications of settlement and trade that involved long sea voyages in the region of Australia and Melanesia (New Britain).

Some of the earliest evidence of long-range sea trade in the world is the regional exchange of the volcanic glass known as obsidian.

In mainland Southeast Asia, we first see evidence of trade in the presence of shell tools in highland areas far from the coast, and stone tools in coastal regions without stones. Solheim also believes at least two important agricultural products were traded -- rice and sugarcane -- and thus the common words for these products over much of this region.

The widest evidence for trade though comes from the presence of jade and nephrite in large quantities that seems quite likely to come in all cases from the Yangtze region. They occur in the Middle Neolithic culture of Shandong known as the Dawenkou and a bit north in the latter Hongshan culture.

Jade and nephrite have been found at neolithic sites in Batangas and Palawan in the Philippines. The presence of nephrite adzes indicates large quantities of this material in a location not known to have any natural sources.

Later, possibly by about 5500 years ago, particular types of jade/nephrite ornaments of the lingling-o and bicephalous (double-headed) type appear. Solheim sees these as strong evidence of the Nusantao trade.

The nature of these ornaments, as we will explore later, are clan-related.

Now at about this same time (pre-5000 BC), we see shell mounds popping up at Ubaid sites in the Persian Gulf. Oppenheimer has noted that the Ubaid sites contain pretty much the same inventory as those in the SE Asian Neolithic -- quadrangular stone adzes, stone hoes, clay sinkers and spindle whorls, beads, discs and painted pottery.

The Ubaid culture is thought to have given risen to the culture of the Sumerians some 5500 years ago.

The Nusantao, continued

The Nusantao lived around shell mounds and sand dunes. Often they lived right on top of them. Later as they moved into colder regions in the north they began to build their homes partly within the mounds. This was an excellent adaptation to cold weather and was one of a number of factors that allowed the Nusantao to easily explore colder regions.

Another thing that helped was their habit of hunting sea mammals. The shell mounds show abundant evidence of this type of hunting including sea mammal bones. They used harpoon heads including some probably of the toggling type, which have survived until modern times in the Philippines and New Zealand. A toggling harpoon has a detachable head attached to a line or cord.

The people also supplemented their diet by hunting and by raising domestic animals. They had chickens, pigs and dogs.

Many of them practiced horticulture -- evidence of which goes back to at least 15,000 BC in this region. And there is also evidence of sugarcane and rice agriculture.

The dates on the start of rice agriculture are rather controversial. Oppenheimer has a good discussion on this in Eden in the East. The earliest dates go back to 12,000 years ago at Spirit Cave and 9260 years ago at Sakai Cave on the Malay Peninsula. It is difficult though to tell wild rice from domestic rice just by looking at it.

The domestication argument is strengthened by the fact that other plants found at Spirit and Sakai caves were among those later domesticated in Southeast Asia.

Whatever the earliest dates for rice, the Nusantao that had reached South China definitely were planting this crop.

These shell mound people used ground-edge tools of both shell and stone. And a new discovery at Balobok Cave in the southern Philippines dated to 5340 BC suggests they also used fully-polished neolithic tools.

One thing we should remember in studying Southeast Asia is that a Neolithic or Metal Age "revolution" does not mean the same thing here as in other places. There are cases of "Stone Age" people surviving in this region to the present-day. The controversial Tasaday are one well-known example, but there are many other less controversial ones. "Mesolithic" Hoabinhian sites have been discovered surviving in regions that appear to had already moved into the Metal Age. Keep this fact in mind.

Here's a good summary of the Nusantao:

During the third and last rapid rise flood a Hoabinhian-like people that built shell mounds began migrating southward into insular Southeast Asia. These people certainly practiced horticulture and possibly agriculture.

These people eventually settle in eastern Indonesia and the Philippines where they begin using shell tools. They also learn (or relearn) the art of edge grinding. They manufacture edge-ground shell and stone tools, and also make fully polished neolithic blades.

One of the important tools made by these people was the celt, a groove-less axe. The blade industry is distinguished by the rectangular cross-section of the tools.

The shell mound people appear on the South China coast with their shell tools, edge-grinding and roughly polished tools sometime before 5000 BC. They form a culture along the Yangtze River. And they quickly move northward into present-day Shandong.

The cultural kit of these people came to include by 5000 BC: clay spindle whorls to make nets, clay net sinkers, disc-shaped earplug ornaments, stepped stone (socketed) adzes, stone hoes, stone knives and long-stemmed polished stone arrow/harpoon heads. They also made Hoabinhian-descended pottery.

The Yangtze and Shandong regions are important. They will become vital nodes in the Nusantao trade network.