140
S. F. BALFOUR
On the one hand are the Tanka and Hoklo who do not know the use of stone in building, who live by fishing and who represent in fact a water culture. On the other hand is the culture of the wall-building and rice-growing Hakka and Punti, who migrated overland from parts of China unconnected with these shores.
It is not correct to say that these two cultures merge, for clearly the land culture is a much stronger force than the water culture and has already almost entirely smothered it. Such has been the fate of many ancient peoples who were pushed to the seaboard by invaders, and have finally disappeared.
II. ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE
Our analysis of the existing population has revealed that the order of migration into the region corresponds roughly with the height above sea level of each part of the community. The Tanka and Hoklo, who were the earliest people, live on the seacoast, the Punti who came next occupy the fertile plains and valleys, and the latest comers, the Hakka, are to be found mostly in the uplands. We must now consider traces of a still earlier culture found as it were below sea level, buried in the ground.
The principal archaeological sites are on the South coast of Lamma and Lantao islands. Evidence of primitive communities has been found buried below three to four feet of sand in dunes only a few yards from the high water mark. There are no traces of houses or of any construction. Agriculture would have been possible at some distance from the settlements but not particularly near them. The sites are not easy of access from any other place except by sea, nor are they conveniently situated as regards access to the Canton river estuary.
This must be qualified by the fact that finds have been made in other places including hillsides and islands in the Canton river estuary, but in much lesser quantities. Outside the region important excavations have been made near Swabue in the Hoifung district and this link points, in the absence of other evidence, to a distribution eastward along the coast.
Unfortunately it has not been possible to find out the age of the settlements by comparing the strata of the soil, as is generally done in archaeology. Indications as to the rate of accumulation
140
S. F. BALFOUR
On the one hand are the Tanka and Hoklo who do not know the use of stone in building, who live by fishing and who represent in fact a water culture. On the other hand is the culture of the wall- building and rice-growing Hakka and Punti, who migrated over- land from parts of China unconnected with these shores.
It is not correct to say that these two cultures merge, for clearly the land culture is a much stronger-force than the water culture and has already almost entirely smothered it. Such has been the fate of many ancient peoples who were pushed to the seaboard by invaders, and have finally disappeared.
II. ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE
Our analysis of the existing population has revealed that the order of migration into the region corresponds roughly with the height above sea level of each part of the community. The Tanka and Hoklo, who were the earliest people, live on the seacoast, the Punti who came next occupy the fertile plains and valleys, and the latest comers, the Hakka, are to be found mostly in the uplands. We must now consider traces of a still earlier culture found as it were below sea level, buried in the ground.
The principal archaeological sites are on the South coast of Lamma and Lantao islands. Evidence of primitive communities has been found buried below three to four feet of sand in dunes only a few yards from the high water mark. There are no traces of houses or of any construction. Agriculture would have been possible at some distance from the settlements but not particularly near them. The sites are not easy of access from any other place except by sea, nor are they conveniently situated as regards access to the Canton river estuary.
This must be qualified by the fact that finds have been made in other places including hillsides and islands in the Canton river estuary, but in much lesser quantities. Outside the region important excavations have been made near Swabue in the Hoifung district and this link points, in the absence of other evidence, to a distribution eastward along the coast.
Unfortunately it has not been possible to find out the age of the settlements by comparing the strata of the soil, as is generally done in archaeology. Indications as to the rate of accumulation
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