Living on ancient land

When construction began on a new train station for Taitung in 1980 it was meant to pave the way for the county's future development. What it did instead was inadvertently reveal the area's history -- rather its prehistory -- and put Taitung County on the map as the location of the largest prehistoric burial site on the Pacific Rim.

The Peinan Cultural Park (卑南文化公園), as it's now known, has since become the focus of attention for a wide range of groups including archeologists, government officials, at least one hotelier, farmers who cultivate the land adjacent to the park, and most recently the UN, which is considering it for inclusion in UNESCO's list of World Heritage sites.

The focus of all the attention is a 40-hectare tract of land abutting the train station that was first inhabited by the ancestors of the Puyuma Aborigines (卑南) at least 5,000 years ago. Although there are some 10,000 Puyuma living in Taiwan today, according to the Council for Aboriginal Affairs, little is known of the lives of those whose graves were plowed up by backhoes to make way for new railway lines. That discovery 23 years ago of hundreds of slate coffins, each arranged with the head to the northeast and feet to the southwest, became an instant obsession for scientists around the world and the ancient burial ground instantly became a battle ground for various interest groups.

Historical strata

Immediately after the discovery, archeologists from National Taiwan University descended upon the site and raced to save it from destruction. At the same time, many organizations and private individuals began calling for the long-term preservation of the site. Their efforts began to bear fruit in 1986 when the area was set aside to be protected for further archeological study and with the hopes of promoting tourism to the area.

Aside from the scholars, there were plenty of other people also interested in tourists and the dollars they would bring.

Located at the foot of Peinan Mountain at the highest point of the park is the concrete skeleton of a hotel which Lin Yi-shan (林宜山) began building late in 1995. Lin claimed to have authorization to build on the site and work began despite the protests of archeologists working there. Only when county legislators intervened was construction stopped, but the derelict shell remains -- Lin's eyesore of a legacy.

About the same time Lin was building his hotel, the government began construction on an outdoor amphitheater, gardens and a visitors center for the park. Farmers who cultivate land leading up Peinan Mountain began pressing to have the roads widened so as to draw tourists further up the hill.

Their requests weren't met and the farmers protested. When Peinan Cultural Park was first opened to the public in 1997, protests by local farmers successfully kept tourists away.

During construction, there were tales of negligent government contractors digging up ancient pottery with huge landscaping machinery in order to lay flowerbeds.

After all the hullabaloo, the the park was officially reopened last year. It is the first facility in Taiwan where tourists can see the work of archeologists and researchers unearthing buried artifacts.

But the park constitutes only part of the story. With the excitement of the 1980 discovery came increased interest in highlighting not only the ancient Peinan culture, but the histories of all Taiwan's indigenous peoples. A preparation committee was formed in 1990 to draw up plans for what, a decade later, would become the National Museum of Prehistory (國立台灣史前文化博物館).