“The cranial morphometric study of human skeletal remains unearthed from the Xiaoma Caves in eastern Taiwan, for the first time, validates the prior existence of small-stature hunter-gatherers 6000 years ago in the preceramic phase,” the research team explained.
Ancient finds uncovered in Xiaoma Caves
The research team believes the archaeology find confirms the existence of the ancient people in Taiwan. There are still questions about what happened to the Negritos. They had disappeared by the time other early Austronesian groups arrived in the area.
Some groups believe they were descended from the Xiaoma Cave dwellers. In other legends the “people of the mountains” were enemies. There is also some evidence that the ancient people were killed off around 1,000 years ago.
The researchers point out that small, dark-skinned people were mentioned in documents from the Qin Dynasty. And most of the 16 Austronesian groups living in Taiwan today have handed-down stories describing small, dark-skinned people who once lived in the mountain caves.
