Demography, trade and state power : a tripartite model of medieval farming/language dispersals in the Ryukyu Islands

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Authors

JAROSZ Aleksandra ROBBEETS Martine NEVES FERNANDES Luis Ricardo TAKAMIYA Hiroto SHINZATO Akito NAKAMURA Naoko SHINOTO Maria HUDSON Mark

Year of publication 2022
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source Evolutionary Human Sciences
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Arts

Citation
Web https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/evolutionary-human-sciences/article/demography-trade-and-state-power-a-tripartite-model-of-medieval-farminglanguage-dispersals-in-the-ryukyu-islands/F6111175F082A8C0A8070911C31DD596
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2022.1
Keywords Farming/language dispersals; trade; state space; Middle Ages; Ryukyu Islands
Description Hunter–gatherer occupations of small islands are rare in world prehistory and it is widely accepted that island settlement is facilitated by agriculture. The Ryukyu Islands contradict that understanding on two counts: not only did they have a long history of hunter–gatherer settlement, but they also have a very late date for the onset of agriculture, which only reached the archipelago between the eighth and thirteenth centuries AD. Here, we combine archaeology and linguistics to propose a tripartite model for the spread of agriculture and Ryukyuan languages to the Ryukyu Islands. Employing demographic growth, trade/piracy and the political influence of neighbouring states, this model provides a synthetic yet flexible understanding of farming/language dispersals in the Ryukyus within the complex historical background of medieval East Asia.
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