RAPID: First contact with Punan Batu hunter-gatherers in Borneo

Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe NM

Investigators

Abstract

During the Pleistocene, our ancestors lived as hunter-gatherers, a way of life that shaped the biology and social behavior of our species. Consequently the study of the few remaining populations of hunter-gatherers has high priority for the social, medical and behavioral sciences. Most research has focused on a few very well-known African groups, notably the Khoisan peoples of southern Africa and the Hadza of Tanzania, who have been conscripted by anthropologists and the popular media as the model for ancestral human society. In the past, hunter-gatherer societies also existed in tropical Asia, but much less is known about them. It is an open question whether Asian rainforest hunter-gatherers differ in significant ways from the savannah-dwelling Africans. The discovery of an isolated tribal population is an unique and exceedingly rare event, and one that is likely to excite public interest in anthropological, biological, and linguistic science. The research team have plans to educate both scientific and non-technical audiences about the population genetics, language, and ethnography about this group, thereby engaging a wider audience in scientific research. In addition, the project would strengthen collaboration among scientists in the U.S. and Indonesia, and broaden the participation of underrepresented groups in the sciences. This RAPID award supports the collection of critical but ephemeral data on the island of Borneo in Indonesia. Borneo is the third largest island in the world, and contains the greatest terrestrial biodiversity. Until recently the island was home to hunter-gatherers called Punan. But full-time hunting and gathering by the Punan is believed to have ended more than a generation ago, and most of the remaining Punan now live in reservations. In 2017 the elected leader of the Punan of the eastern region of Indonesian Borneo discovered an unknown, isolated population of 118 cave-dwelling Punan hunter-gatherers. Concerned about their welfare, the Punan leader requested assistance from a biomedical research team from the Indonesian Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education, including anthropologist Dr. Steve Lansing of the Santa Fe Institute. Specifically, the Punan leader requested that Lansing and one Indonesian researcher accompany him to the cave, to assess the immediate biomedical vulnerabilities of the inhabitants, and ensure that appropriate precautions are taken to safeguard their health and welfare. Lansing and the Indonesian research team will seek the informed consent of the Cave Punan for follow-up visits to conduct comprehensive studies of their health, demography, languages, material culture and kinship practices, using methods described in numerous recent publications by Lansing and colleagues. Realistically, without NSF support contact is likely to occur soon, but not by anthropologists and medical researchers. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.