167
bamboo or wood made intercommunity trade unnecessary at this time. Populations
slowly increased and their self-sufficient communities had simple social organisations. From about 2000 YBP, some sub-groups became more efficient at farming,
and as they moved down to lower ground with foraging confined to the foothills and
at the edge of farmed areas. With the intensification of hunting and gathering, the
residual upland foragers gradually reduced their reliance on swidden farming. The
rise in importance of trans-isthmian/trans-peninsular routes at about this time
encouraged the collection of forest produce, which complemented the agricultural
pursuits of their lowland neighbours.
Archaeologists and others have claimed the forest people have an ancient
tradition of trading with the outside world (Dunn 1975). During the Hoabinhian
period, the Orang Asli were already involved in the trade of coastal shells for forest
products like rattan, resin, tree bark and stone for making tools. By about 5000 YBP,
this trade extended to communities as far away as northwestern and central Thailand.
Maritime trade in forest products between Orang Asli and their trading partners,
such as Malays and Thais, continued to be strong from about 2500 YBP to the
founding of Melaka in/around the fifteenth century. Undoubtedly, this was spurred
by polities in southern Thailand, the Isthmus of Kra, and the northern part of the
Malay Peninsula (Andaya 2008). Until the nineteenth century, the forest aboriginals
were the only people available to extract most of Malaya’s forest produce. They
were armed with the necessary experience and knowledge to seek out and exploit
forest resources. Forest products that were exported from the Peninsula between the
fifth and early nineteenth centuries must have been supplied mostly by them
although after the nineteenth century, Chinese and Malays began joining the
industry.
Based on archaeographic evidence, Dunn (1975) reiterated that trading links had
existed between the peninsula’s coasts and remote interior during the Hoabinhian
and Neolithic age. Species of marine molluscs have been found regularly at all levels of inland caves, indicating that these shells must have been traded for. From
these pieces of evidence, Dunn provided a hypothetical reconstruction that from
20,000 YBP (at which time the Peninsular Malaysia was united with Sumatera,
Java, Borneo and Indochina in the greater Sundaland area), the people probably
subsisted as hunter-fisher-gatherers, and trading exchanges must have been exclusively internal and primarily inland-inland.
At 10,000 YBP, roughly the end of the Pleistocene period, rising sea levels had
isolated the Malay Peninsula from surrounding regions of Southeast Asia. Limestone
caves of the interior were occupied by Hoabinhian people, although not for long
after the end of the Pleistocene age. For the next few thousand years, their subsistence lifestyle was probably based on hunting, fishing and gathering, together with
subsidiary cultivation of root crops and other plants. Crop cultivation at this time
may have been quite casual, while the swidden form of “agriculture” may not have
evolved until much later, around 5000 YBP. Dunn insisted that trading must have
been almost exclusively internal, but despite the predominance of inland-inland
trading, inland-coastal trading was now on the rise.
Between 5000 and 4000 YBP, the Neolithic people were dependent on hunting,
fishing and gathering, but root crops had assumed an important place in their
A Multidisciplinary Account of the Orang Asli in Peninsular Malaysia
bamboo or wood made intercommunity trade unnecessary at this time. Populations
slowly increased and their self-sufficient communities had simple social organisations. From about 2000 YBP, some sub-groups became more efficient at farming,
and as they moved down to lower ground with foraging confined to the foothills and
at the edge of farmed areas. With the intensification of hunting and gathering, the
residual upland foragers gradually reduced their reliance on swidden farming. The
rise in importance of trans-isthmian/trans-peninsular routes at about this time
encouraged the collection of forest produce, which complemented the agricultural
pursuits of their lowland neighbours.
Archaeologists and others have claimed the forest people have an ancient
tradition of trading with the outside world (Dunn 1975). During the Hoabinhian
period, the Orang Asli were already involved in the trade of coastal shells for forest
products like rattan, resin, tree bark and stone for making tools. By about 5000 YBP,
this trade extended to communities as far away as northwestern and central Thailand.
Maritime trade in forest products between Orang Asli and their trading partners,
such as Malays and Thais, continued to be strong from about 2500 YBP to the
founding of Melaka in/around the fifteenth century. Undoubtedly, this was spurred
by polities in southern Thailand, the Isthmus of Kra, and the northern part of the
Malay Peninsula (Andaya 2008). Until the nineteenth century, the forest aboriginals
were the only people available to extract most of Malaya’s forest produce. They
were armed with the necessary experience and knowledge to seek out and exploit
forest resources. Forest products that were exported from the Peninsula between the
fifth and early nineteenth centuries must have been supplied mostly by them
although after the nineteenth century, Chinese and Malays began joining the
industry.
Based on archaeographic evidence, Dunn (1975) reiterated that trading links had
existed between the peninsula’s coasts and remote interior during the Hoabinhian
and Neolithic age. Species of marine molluscs have been found regularly at all levels of inland caves, indicating that these shells must have been traded for. From
these pieces of evidence, Dunn provided a hypothetical reconstruction that from
20,000 YBP (at which time the Peninsular Malaysia was united with Sumatera,
Java, Borneo and Indochina in the greater Sundaland area), the people probably
subsisted as hunter-fisher-gatherers, and trading exchanges must have been exclusively internal and primarily inland-inland.
At 10,000 YBP, roughly the end of the Pleistocene period, rising sea levels had
isolated the Malay Peninsula from surrounding regions of Southeast Asia. Limestone
caves of the interior were occupied by Hoabinhian people, although not for long
after the end of the Pleistocene age. For the next few thousand years, their subsistence lifestyle was probably based on hunting, fishing and gathering, together with
subsidiary cultivation of root crops and other plants. Crop cultivation at this time
may have been quite casual, while the swidden form of “agriculture” may not have
evolved until much later, around 5000 YBP. Dunn insisted that trading must have
been almost exclusively internal, but despite the predominance of inland-inland
trading, inland-coastal trading was now on the rise.
Between 5000 and 4000 YBP, the Neolithic people were dependent on hunting,
fishing and gathering, but root crops had assumed an important place in their
A Multidisciplinary Account of the Orang Asli in Peninsular Malaysia