Friday 7 October 2022 04:40 PM Legends of 'Negrito' people living in Taiwan CONFIRMED, study says trends now
The ancient Taiwanese legend of 'short, dark skinned' people who lived in remote mountains and suddenly disappeared has been confirmed to be true following the discovery of a 'Negriot' woman's remains in a cave that dates back 6,000 years.
The nation's indigenous tribes have long shared stories about small stature hunter-gatherers who were already settled when they arrived 4,800 years ago - but a lack of evidence has shrouded this group in mystery for several hundred years.
A DNA analysis on the skull shows it is close to African samples and features of the cranium resemble Negritos of the Philippines and South Africa, who all are well known for their short stature and small body size.
Archaeologists also uncovered femur bones from the female, which suggest she stood about four feet, six inches tall.
It is still not known what happened to this ancient group, but researchers involved with the study suggest the arrival of the Austronesian peoples could have led to the decline and disappearance of the Negritos in Taiwan.
A DNA analysis of the skull shows it is closer to African samples and features of the cranium resemble Negritos of the Philippines and South Africa, who all are well known for their short stature and small body size
'The term 'Negrito', little black person, is a Spanish diminutive of negro, first used by the 16th-century Spanish missionaries to describe the hunter-gatherers in the Philippines,' reads the study published in World Archeology.
'As the Negrito groups are characterized by their short stature, dark skin, and frizzy hair, all groups of a similar phenotype in the neighboring region, including the Mani (Maniq) in southern Thailand, the Semang groups in Peninsular Malaysia, and the Andamanese in the Andaman Islands are often labeled together as the Negritos.'
There are 16 recognized Austronesian groups in Taiwan and all but one have similar legends about the Negrito people.
The legends about the apparent 'Negritos' of Taiwan were collected during three major cultural periods: the Chinese Qing Dynasty of 1683 to 1895, the Japanese Rule period of 1895 to 1945, and then the post-1945 era.
The woman's remains were found inside a cave and are believed to be at least 6,000 years old
Several documents from the Quin Dynasty have mentioned the existence
