Dynamics of Austronesian Expansions: Coconut Domestication and Material Backflow

Abstract

This paper investigates the dispersal of the cultivated coconut ( Cocos nucifera ) and its eventual entry into the Chinese historical record. While wild coconuts were native to Oceania for millennia, archaeobotanical evidence demonstrated that the systematic cultivation of the domesticated niu vai type emerged around 3300 BP within the Lapita cultural complex. Because cultivated coconuts were absent from the initial Austronesian expansions out of Asia, this study proposes a “material backflow” model. It argues that Austronesian groups returning westward reintroduced the plant to mainland Southeast Asia during the Iron Age, beginning around 2500 BP. Excavations at the Phu Chanh site in Vietnam recovered an early coconut endocarp ladle dated to 2200–2000 BP, alongside artifacts reflecting both Austronesian maritime networks and southward Han Chinese expansion. This discovery physically substantiates the backflow hypothesis. Furthermore, this convergence logically explains how a Pacific-domesticated plant entered the Han cultural sphere, subsequently appearing in Chinese textual records during the Western Han period (206 BCE–25 CE) and integrating into Chinese knowledge systems.