In Taiwan Archaeology: Local Development and Cultural Boundaries in the China Seas, Richard Pearson describes the archaeology of the island, outlining the major discoveries of the past fifty years. These date from roughly 200,000 years ago to the pivotal seventeenth century AD, the time of Dutch and Spanish contact and the entry of Taiwan into global trade markets. The book focuses on some forty sites and is based on roughly 450 published sources in English, Chinese, and Japanese and includes a brief discussion of finds from the surrounding areas of Fujian, Guangdong, the northern Philippines, and the Ryukyu Islands, noting their significance for understanding Taiwan. This discussion allows for comparison of the different historical trajectories of the neighboring regions of the East and South China Seas through more than five millennia.While the early chapters are primarily descriptive with some interpretive conclusions, the final chapter contains discussions of general topics that in
