| Abstract: |
The history of iron in the Austronesian world has long been puzzling. Although archaeological evidence for ironworking goes back no further than 200-500 BCE (Bellwood 1997: 268), comparative linguistic data suggest a knowledge of iron that is much more ancient (Blust 1976). As noted by Blust (1999) the apparent discrepancy in these two lines of evidence is not irreconcilable, since a knowledge of iron does not necessarily imply a knowledge of ironworking. The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to certain loanwords that seem to indicate a significant change in the use of iron by Austronesian-speaking peoples in southwest Borneo, probably in the first two or three centuries BCE. The term 'southwest Borneo' is left deliberately vague, as its precise specification depends on determining the most likely center of dispersal of the Malayo-Chamic languages. Minimally, however, it can be identified with the area between the middle courses of the Sarawak and Kapuas rivers, with a probable extension southward to Tanjung Puting or beyond.
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