Mysteries of migration

BEIJING, Dec. 11, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- A report from China Daily

In the 17th and 18th centuries, navigators exploring the Pacific and Indian oceans discovered that the languages spoken on many islands, spanning from Madagascar in the west to Polynesia in the east, were remarkably similar. This discovery launched studies of Austronesians, those who speak Austronesian languages and had sailed across the Pacific several thousand years ago.

Long before the Age of Exploration, these people had embarked on heroic voyages across the sea. The details of their encounters remain largely unknown. Over time, their descendants gradually forgot where they originated from. Migration began 6,000 years ago and lasted until around 1,000 years ago. Today, more than 400 million people speak Austronesian languages, spanning a wide area that covers more than one-third of the Pacific and Indian oceans.

For more than a century, the origins and migrations of Austronesian peoples have been a significant subject of international academic study. Linguists, anthropologists and archaeologists have gradually revealed their voyages across oceans over the past millennia.

Their journeys are featured in the ongoing exhibition Origin and Expansions: The Austronesians and Maritime Civilization at the Chongqing China Three Gorges Museum. This exhibition is a cooperation between the Chongqing museum and the Fujian Museum, which displays cultural relics related to the Austronesian peoples.

Ding Qinghua, one of the exhibition's curators at the Fujian Museum, says the exhibition draws on prehistoric archaeological discoveries from southeastern China and traces the historical links between Chinese maritime civilization and Austronesian culture through more than 200 artifacts.

Initially, linguists were the first to research the Austronesian peoples, but archaeologists soon joined the studies, focusing on stone stepped adzes.

One of the stone stepped adzes unearthed from the Huangguashan site in Xiapu county, Fujian province, is on display, indicating the migration of the Austronesian peoples.

Qin Zonglin, a curator at the Chongqing China Three Gorges Museum, says that although stone adzes have been widely found to be an important tool to obtain food and process wooden tools used by Neolithic people, stone stepped adzes were mostly discovered in coastal areas. Based on multidisciplinary studies, Austronesian peoples were a major group that used the stone stepped adzes.

"By checking its development and expansion, experts can gain clues to the origins and migrations of the peoples," says Ding, adding that such tools were especially helpful in cutting trees and making boats, which were important for people living in coastal areas who attempted to migrate.

By comparing the development of stone stepped adzes found in different regions, including China's southeast coast, Southeast Asian islands, and Pacific islands, scholars generally believe China's southeast coast was the birthplace of such tools, a conclusion reached as early as the 1930s, Ding says.

Some may doubt this conclusion — from China to the South Pacific islands takes more than a dozen hours to fly in modern times. Could Austronesian people sail so far so long ago?

The display shows an experiment conducted by Hiria Ottino, president of the Pacific China Friendship Association, who navigated from French Polynesia across the South Pacific with five other descendants of the Austronesian people in 2010.They made this journey in a self-built canoe, without using any modern devices or materials.

After 116 days out at sea and the numerous challenges of a typhoon and a shark attack alike, they reached a harbor in Fujian, proving a long-distance sea journey was possible without modern tools.

According to Ding, "Ancient people had superb abilities in navigating nature. With an understanding of currents, wind, stars, and bird migration, they could navigate the Pacific. Using these methods, they arrived at more and more islands, and gradually created the Austronesian cultural circle."

The exhibition also displays a replica of a human skull unearthed from the Qihedong site in Xianghu town, Fujian, estimated to be from 10,000 to 8,400 years ago. It is very precious because it is one of the earliest and most complete ancient human skulls ever discovered in the Fujian area. More importantly, by extracting its DNA, scholars have provided scientific evidence for the origins of the Austronesian peoples.

In 2020, an essay in the journal Science, titled Ancient DNA indicates human population shifts and admixture in northern and southern China, was written by researchers from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Through the genome-wide data of 26 ancient human remains from northern and southern East Asia, spanning 9,500 to 300 years ago, including some extracted from the Qihedong skull, they carried out a series of scientific analyses that "supported a southern China origin for proto-Austronesians".

The research shows the Austronesian peoples, now widely distributed across the Taiwan Strait, Southeast Asia, and the southwestern Pacific islands, have very close genetic ties to the Neolithic coastal populations of southern China. This suggests that the earliest Austronesian peoples originated in Fujian and its neighboring areas in southern China, with their origins traced back 8,400 years.

Moreover, analyses of pottery vessel morphology and cultural traditions shown in the display also support the view that China's southeast coast was one of the major origins of Austronesian peoples.

An important section of the exhibition is the Neolithic cultural relics discovered in Fujian, which may have been left by the ancestors of the Austronesian peoples. Many of them are newly unearthed and being presented to the public for the first time.

Qin says the archaeological discoveries in Fujian seem to show a trend that people developed from mountainous areas to coastal areas, as Paleolithic findings are located in the mountainous regions, while Neolithic discoveries extend to coastal areas.

One highlight is an oyster shell tool from the Xiying site on Pingtan Island in Fujian, which was likely used to extract oyster meat. "This is a stone tool from about 7,000 years ago. We judged its function based on its format, the unearthing environment, and the ethnological materials. This shows ancient people adapted to their environment and made the most of local resources," says Qin.

Communication between present-day Fujian and China's Central Plains can also be traced. For example, a drum-shaped pottery vessel on display, unearthed from the Huangtulun site in Fuzhou from about 3,500 to 3,000 years ago, has a similar style to the bronze drum-shaped vessels found in the Central Plains, indicating possible cultural interactions at that time.

The origins and migrations of Austronesian peoples have been a significant subject in "Archaeology China", a major program that studies early Chinese history through well-planned excavations. In the past few years, archaeologists have excavated the Keqiutou group sites on Pingtan Island and gained a better understanding of the Austronesian peoples' ancestors.

Although scholars have made vital progress in studying the group's origins and how they migrated, the reasons why they migrated are yet to be revealed.

The exhibition is a side event of the second general assembly of the Alliance for Cultural Heritage in Asia, which was held in Chongqing in November.

To gain a better understanding of the Austronesian peoples, the ACHA Austronesian and Maritime Civilization Committee announced its establishment during the event. The committee's first general conference was then held in Pingtan county, Fujian.

"The Austronesian language family extended from China's southeast coast, across Southeast Asia, and deep into the Pacific. Our shared heritage is both tangible, as seen in archaeological sites and artifacts, and intangible, reflected in our stories, navigational knowledge, agricultural and fishing traditions, and folk customs that still exist today," said Ottino, during the conference.

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SOURCE China Daily