This study presents the first directly dated physical evidence of crop remains from the Early Neolithic archaeological layers in Taiwan. Systematic sampling and analysis of macro-plant remains suggested that Neolithic farmers at the Zhiwuyuan (Botanical Garden) site in Taipei, northern Taiwan, had cultivated rice and foxtail millet together at least 4500 years ago. A more comprehensive review of all related radiocarbon dates suggests that agriculture emerged in Taiwan around 4800–4600 cal. BP, instead of the previous claim of 5000 cal. BP. According to the rice grain metrics from three study sites of Zhiwuyuan, Dalongdong, and Anhe, the rice cultivated in northern and western-central Taiwan was mainly a short-grained type, the japonica subspecies, similar to the discoveries from the southeast coast of mainland China and the middle Yangtze valley. These new findings support the hypothesis that the southeast coast of mainland China was the origin of proto-Austronesian people who brough
The divine bovine
Even though beef is widely consumed in Taiwan, oxen and buffalo are still animals with spiritual significance and certain taboos
By Han Cheung / Staff reporter
Eating beef was once so taboo in Taiwanese society that a traditional idiom warned that doing so would damn one’s soul to hell. Old people also warned children that consuming beef would make them stupid.
The prohibition made sense when Taiwan was a predominantly agricultural society since oxen and buffalo were integral to farming, and people refrained from eating them out of respect just like they do with dogs today.
Some farmers still feel this way. In 2019, photographer Tsai Meng-hsing (蔡孟興) captured a tear-jerking moment when an old man kissed his long-time ox companion goodbye. The man had turned down multiple offers to sell the animal for meat, and finally decided to send him to a “retirement home” for bovines to live out its life peacefully.