Close to a long time back, a youthful mother passed on close to the Taiwanese coast. Archaeologists discovered that she had been buried with a six-month-old baby in her arms when she was pulled from her grave as part of a scientific excavation. It appeared as though the couple had been carried into the afterlife in a loving embrace as they were buried near a stone house.

Although this type of joint burial is uncommon among the island’s Stone Age cultures, nobody knows what killed the mother and child.

“The youthful mother holding the child amazed us most,” says Chu Whei-Lee of Taiwan’s Public Exhibition hall of Science. ” She adds, “I suppose they were buried under the house by their loved ones,” despite the fact that additional evidence is required to support that hypothesis.

Sharks and Ranches
Chu and her partners uncovered the pair during work at a Neolithic site in Taichung City called An-ho in 2014 and 2015. The location, which is approximately 6.2 miles (10 kilometers) inland and appears to have been in use for at least 800 years, is along the center of Taiwan’s west coast.

However, ancient shorelines were different, and An-ho probably once had a coastline. According to Chu, the fact that more than 200 shark teeth were discovered among the graves, ash pits, and dwellings at the site suggests that the sea was significant to the people who lived there.

While it’s not the most established proof of people on Taiwan, the An-ho site is accepted to be the primary illustration of what’s known as Dabenkeng culture in this piece of the island. Archaeologists believe that the Dabenkeng people arrived on the island rather than originating from cultures that already existed there, as evidenced by the sudden appearance of Dabenkeng sites along the Taiwanese coast about 5,000 years ago.

According to Chengwha Tsang of Taiwan’s Academia Sinica, “The Dabenkeng people were the first farmers in Taiwan, who may have come from the south and southeast coasts of China about 5,000 years ago.” This culture is the earliest Neolithic culture up to this point tracked down in Taiwan.”

The Dabenkeng may have spread across Southeast Asia and Oceania from Taiwan, bringing their language and culture with them.

According to Tsang, “they were probably the earliest ancestors of the Austronesian language-speaking people who are currently living in Taiwan and on the islands of the Pacific.”

Burial Rituals Archaeologists should be able to learn more about the Dabenkeng people’s funeral practices from this find.

The mother and kid were uncovered among somewhere around 48 graves, including those of five small kids. The bodies were interred in a north-south orientation and placed on their backs, a departure from the typical facedown position found at other Taichung human burial sites. Burial goods like pottery were found with the bodies.

Chu adds that the group has extricated DNA from the remaining parts and sent it off for examination, which ought to assist researchers with concentrating on the connection between the Dabenkeng, native Taiwanese, and societies across Oceania.

The An-ho site is thought to be the first instance of what is known as Dabenkeng culture in this part of the island, despite the fact that it is not the earliest evidence of humans on Taiwan. Archaeologists believe that the Dabenkeng people arrived on the island rather than originating from cultures that already existed there, as evidenced by the sudden appearance of Dabenkeng sites along the Taiwanese coast about 5,000 years ago.

“The Dabenkeng public were the principal ranchers in Taiwan, who might have come from the south and southeast shorelines of China around a long time back,” says Chengwha Tsang of Taiwan’s Scholarly community Sinica. ” The earliest Neolithic culture discovered in Taiwan is this one.

From Taiwan, the Dabenkeng public might have spread across Oceania and Southeast Asia, conveying their language and culture with them.

According to Tsang, “they were probably the earliest ancestors of the Austronesian language-speaking people who are currently living in Taiwan and on the islands of the Pacific.”