60
3 The Oceanographic Context
palaeo-environmental evidence for the first settlement of Palau predates the earliest archaeological evidence by 2,300 years [30], so we might well expect that
reliably dated archaeological evidence for the earliest coastal spice trading with
Egypt and Asia from the Spice Islands may well lag behind the true dating by
millennia.
In Chapter 5 we outline the considerable evidence (craniometric, cultural, archaeological, linguistic and genetic) presented by Ann Kumar and Phil Rose [31] for
the establishment of an Indonesian colony in Japan in the Yayoi period (300 BC–
AD 300). But the possession of shared mitochondrial markers between Japanese
and Indonesian women, which Kumar records, suggests a far more ancient contact
between the two countries than that implicit in a later Yayoi colony. Given the time
needed for coalescence, a far earlier colony is needed to explain the genetic evidence. The Indonesian contribution of Japanese mitochondrial DNA suggests not
just trading visits by male mariners but a permanent early settlement and a long
period of intermarriage with an established Japanese population. (The presence over
a long time of only Spice Island male traders would have had no effect on Japanese
maternal DNA.)
In this chapter we have suggested that the volcanic creation of a voyaging nursery
in the WPWP, possessing extraordinarily high SSTs, allowed Spice Island mariners
to develop skills and technologies relevant to long-distance voyaging with far less
risk of hypothermia. Here we add the possibility that the motivation for mastering
long-distance voyaging within the WPWP may have been driven by the possibility
of their establishing spice trading with Japan, and perhaps through Japan with Asia.
The setting up of transoceanic voyaging in the Indian Ocean, perhaps 1,500 years
later in the reign of Queen Hatshepsut of Egypt, seems to have been triggered by a
greater demand for spices, perhaps specifically for cloves and cinnamon for use in
embalming. Both spices appear to have been valued from the earliest times for their
medicinal properties.
Given the great distance covered by the Cinnamon Route, from the Spice Islands
to east Africa, a long section of it without landfall, it seems likely that Madagascar
was colonized when the route was first established. It would have provided a rest
stop en route to Rhapta and a means for replenishing food supplies. The very considerable land area of Madagascar would have made it attractive to colonists. There
is an obvious contrast here with the early settlement of Palau. There was neither land
area nor richness in the coral atolls of Micronesia to explain their choice as possibly
the earliest distant Spice Island colonies. Establishing settlements in Micronesia
to give material support to long-distance voyaging to Japan makes practical
sense.
In suggesting that the Spice Islanders established an early trading route to Japan
perhaps 5,700 years ago and possibly founded a colony there in the same era, what
we are proposing is a far greater antiquity for the maritime history, spice-trading history and colonizing history of the Spice Islanders than that which becomes obvious
with their colonizing of the Bismarcks 2,000 years later. For many archaeologists
the colonies in the Bismarcks correspond to the supposed first arrival of the Lapita
peoples in Near Oceania. We suggest that the Spice Islanders, supported in the Ice
3 The Oceanographic Context
palaeo-environmental evidence for the first settlement of Palau predates the earliest archaeological evidence by 2,300 years [30], so we might well expect that
reliably dated archaeological evidence for the earliest coastal spice trading with
Egypt and Asia from the Spice Islands may well lag behind the true dating by
millennia.
In Chapter 5 we outline the considerable evidence (craniometric, cultural, archaeological, linguistic and genetic) presented by Ann Kumar and Phil Rose [31] for
the establishment of an Indonesian colony in Japan in the Yayoi period (300 BC–
AD 300). But the possession of shared mitochondrial markers between Japanese
and Indonesian women, which Kumar records, suggests a far more ancient contact
between the two countries than that implicit in a later Yayoi colony. Given the time
needed for coalescence, a far earlier colony is needed to explain the genetic evidence. The Indonesian contribution of Japanese mitochondrial DNA suggests not
just trading visits by male mariners but a permanent early settlement and a long
period of intermarriage with an established Japanese population. (The presence over
a long time of only Spice Island male traders would have had no effect on Japanese
maternal DNA.)
In this chapter we have suggested that the volcanic creation of a voyaging nursery
in the WPWP, possessing extraordinarily high SSTs, allowed Spice Island mariners
to develop skills and technologies relevant to long-distance voyaging with far less
risk of hypothermia. Here we add the possibility that the motivation for mastering
long-distance voyaging within the WPWP may have been driven by the possibility
of their establishing spice trading with Japan, and perhaps through Japan with Asia.
The setting up of transoceanic voyaging in the Indian Ocean, perhaps 1,500 years
later in the reign of Queen Hatshepsut of Egypt, seems to have been triggered by a
greater demand for spices, perhaps specifically for cloves and cinnamon for use in
embalming. Both spices appear to have been valued from the earliest times for their
medicinal properties.
Given the great distance covered by the Cinnamon Route, from the Spice Islands
to east Africa, a long section of it without landfall, it seems likely that Madagascar
was colonized when the route was first established. It would have provided a rest
stop en route to Rhapta and a means for replenishing food supplies. The very considerable land area of Madagascar would have made it attractive to colonists. There
is an obvious contrast here with the early settlement of Palau. There was neither land
area nor richness in the coral atolls of Micronesia to explain their choice as possibly
the earliest distant Spice Island colonies. Establishing settlements in Micronesia
to give material support to long-distance voyaging to Japan makes practical
sense.
In suggesting that the Spice Islanders established an early trading route to Japan
perhaps 5,700 years ago and possibly founded a colony there in the same era, what
we are proposing is a far greater antiquity for the maritime history, spice-trading history and colonizing history of the Spice Islanders than that which becomes obvious
with their colonizing of the Bismarcks 2,000 years later. For many archaeologists
the colonies in the Bismarcks correspond to the supposed first arrival of the Lapita
peoples in Near Oceania. We suggest that the Spice Islanders, supported in the Ice