Andamanasia (28,577 – 7,822 BCE) Upper Pleistocene II — Deglaciation, First Foragers, and Littoral Colonization

Geographic and Environmental Context

Andamanasia encompasses:

• Andaman Islands (North, Middle, South Andaman) and Nicobar Islands.

• Aceh in northern Sumatra, with nearby islands (Simeulue, Nias, Batu, Mentawai).

• The Cocos (Keeling) Islands.

• The Preparis, Coco, and Little Coco Islands (off Myanmar).
  
  Anchors: North–South Andaman coasts and reefs, Nicobar Great Channel, Aceh’s Weh Island and Lhokseumawe–Banda Aceh corridor, Simeulue–Nias–Mentawai arc, Preparis/Coco islets, Cocos (Keeling) lagoon.

• Sea levels rose rapidly; Andamans/Nicobars isolated further from the mainland; Aceh’s capes eroded into modern form; Simeulue/Nias/Mentawai isolated as deep-sea islands.

Climate & Environmental Shifts

• Bølling–Allerød (warm/moist): expanded forest belts; rich fisheries.

• Younger Dryas (cold/dry): contraction of vegetation; reliance on reef/turtle rookeries.

• Early Holocene (after 11,700 BCE): forest expansion, stable lagoons.

Subsistence & Settlement

• Andaman Islands: earliest continuous settlement; microlith-using foragers hunted pigs, deer, and turtles; gathered tubers, yams, pandanus, wild fruit; shell middens accumulate.

• Nicobars: canoe-borne foragers harvested coconuts, fish, turtle; shifting camps along lagoon passes.

• Aceh & outer islands: seasonal foragers exploited coastal forests, estuaries, reefs.

• Cocos/Preparis: likely uninhabited, but visited episodically.

Technology & Material Culture

• Microliths, bone harpoons, shell adzes; fire-drills; canoes of dugout log.

• Barkcloth garments, ornaments of shell and bone.

Movement & Interaction Corridors

• Canoe routes stitched Andamans–Nicobars–Aceh; island-hop chains enabled sustained presence.

Cultural & Symbolic Expressions

• Rock art and symbolic shell use inferred; ancestor veneration may already have begun around long-lived middens.

Environmental Adaptation & Resilience

• Dual subsistence: forest hunting + marine foraging buffered climate swings.

Transition

By 7,822 BCE, Andamanasia was a canoe world of forager-islanders, firmly occupied.