Wikimedia Taiwan/GLAM/Taiwan1000/Saqacengalj site

Saqacengalj(Chinese: Saqacengalj舊社遺址; pinyin: Saqacengalj jiùshèyí zhǐ) is an abandoned settlements of a Paiwan tribe in Gaoshi Village, Mudan Township, Pingtung County, Taiwan. The term “Saqacengalj” has the meaning of “a tool for chiseling slate,” and the site is believed to be the first settlement of the tribe when they moved to Hengchun. The site, dating back to 500-600 years ago, is about 200-300 meters above sea level, and covers an area of 3.5 hectares. 6-7 times of migrations happened after the site was abandoned, the tribe settled down at the location of Gaoshi Village nowadays at the last migration happened around 50 years ago. The location of the site is about 7 kilometers away from the current settlement of Gaoshi Village, there are still about 83 slate houses at present, which are arranged in parallel rows along the mountain steps.

Research and Discovery

Saqacengalj has been systematically researched by Chen Maaling, professor of Department of Anthropology, National Taiwan University since 2002. The initial work was the restoration of the site, focusing on mapping the entire settlement’s appearance and its structural space, and during the clean-up process, related remains were also discovered. In addition to archaeological excavations, the investigations of oral history, digital scanning modeling, and GIS analysis have also been included to make the research more complete. According to the research and excavation results, unearthed remains including stone tools such as adze and chisel, axe and hoe, whetstone and stone core tool; large stone creations such as stone mortars, human-shaped stone statues and stone pillars; metal remains such as bronze spoon, needle, bell and ring, iron spearhead, arrowheads, knife, as well as metal slag; pottery remains such as pottery beads; and porcelain and hard pottery as well. Among them, the glazed hard pottery was identified to be produced in Fujian, China, and imported to Taiwan, indicating that the residents of Saqacengalj may have interacted with the Han people.

Spatial Organization

Through the results of GIS analysis and spatial research, the settlement presents systematic planning and organization, and shows hierarchical divisions. Two houses are usually share a wall next to each other, backed by a hillside and piled up with stone wall. Most of the house has a stone platform in front of it. Among them, a house, with a larger stone platform accompanied by a 3 meters stone pillar, is generally believed to be the house of the chieftain. Most of the ethnographic reference and research are mainly of the northern-style houses by the northern Paiwan. There are relatively few studies on the slate house of southern Paiwan, and most of them are recorded since the Japanese colonial period. The research of Saqacengalj shows the characteristic of slate houses by the southern Paiwan.