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"Polynesia Antiquities."
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Hawaiki, Ancestral Polynesia
The power of an anthropological approach to long-term history lies in its unique ability to combine diverse evidence, from archaeological artifacts to ethnographic texts and comparative word lists. In this innovative book, Kirch and Green explicitly develop the theoretical underpinnings, as well as the particular methods, for such a historical anthropology. Drawing upon and integrating the approaches of archaeology, comparative ethnography, and historical linguistics, they advance a phylogenetic model for cultural diversification, and apply a triangulation method for historical reconstruction. They illustrate their approach through meticulous application to the history of the Polynesian cultures, and for the first time reconstruct in extensive detail the Ancestral Polynesian culture that flourished in the Polynesian homeland - Hawaiki - some 2,500 years ago. Of great significance for Oceanic studies, Kirch and Green's book will be essential reading for any anthropologist, prehistorian, linguist, or cultural historian concerned with the theory and method of long-term history.
eBook
Samoan archaeology and cultural heritage : monuments and people, memory and history
The overall purpose of this book is to provide a foundation for Samoan students to become the custodians of the historical narrative based on Archaeological research.
eBook
'Kaute': An endemic East Polynesian hibiscus?
Kaute and its derivatives 'koute', ''oute and 'aute' are Polynesian names for a red-flowered Hibiscus. Since its first botanical collection on Tahiti by Banks and Solander (1769), this hibiscus has been referred to as 'H. rosa-sinensis' L. and assumed to have been introduced by the bearers of the archaeological culture known as Lapita. Lapita people settled West Polynesia around 2800 BP and spoke a language derived from Proto-Oceanic, the common ancestor of almost all the Austronesian languages of Island Melanesia and Micronesia as well as Polynesia. However, whereas Proto-Oceanic names can be reconstructed for many plants found in East Polynesia, the term 'kaute' cannot be attributed to Proto-Oceanic, the name likely being locally derived in East Polynesia from that of paper mulberry ('Broussonetia papyrifera' (L.) L'Her. ex Vent.). On the basis of linguistic evidence, we contend that 'kaute' was domesticated in a high island area of Central Eastern Polynesia and then dispersed in relatively recent pre-European times (ca. 500-700 BP) westwards through West Polynesia, to nearby islands such as the Fiji archipelago and Rotuma and to Polynesian Outliers in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Dissemination occurred before the -'au'- sequence changed to -'ou'- and 'k' sporadically changed to ', so that kaute rather than contemporary Marquesan 'koute' and ''oute' was the term that was carried westward from the Marquesas. 'Kaute' is here suggested to be an endemic East Polynesian species, different from 'H. rosa-sinensis' L. Further field and genetic research is needed to definitively determine the phylogenetic relationships of 'kaute' and a taxonomic description is required for formal recognition.
Journal Article
REFINING THE SOCIETY ISLANDS CULTURAL SEQUENCE: COLONISATION PHASE AND DEVELOPMENTAL PHASE COASTAL OCCUPATION ON MO'OREA ISLAND
The Society Islands are critical to chronology building in East Polynesia, as the archipelago served as a potential first landfall for voyagers moving out of the West Polynesia homeland. Yet determining the particulars of migration sequences and settlement chronology in the Society Islands, like the rest of East Polynesia, has been challenging. Here, we report on a dating and re-dating program of four coastal sites on the island of Mo'orea, Windward Society Islands, aimed at refining the archipelago's cultural chronology and its place within larger settlement trends for East Polynesia. We begin with a brief discussion of 1960s archaeological research in the Society Islands and the archipelago's role in the East Polynesian colonisation debate before turning to a discussion of the newly dated and re-dated Mo'orea coastal sites. Our new corpus of ¹⁴C dates provides evidence for two well-studied Mo'orea Island sites dating to the Colonisation Phase (GS-1 and ScMf-5). The earliest dated occupation of the ScMf-5 site contained an earth oven, diverse artefacts and dense faunal remains indicative of a permanent, and perhaps large, settlement along the north shore of Mo'orea. Results point to established Society Island populations from the 11th to 13th centuries AD, supporting both the Conservative Model of East Polynesian settlement and more inclusive synthetic models. Developmental Phase dates from ScMf-2 illustrate that new parts of the Mo'orea north shore were inhabited at this time, while other earlier coastal sites continued to be occupied, tentatively suggesting population increase. The re-dated M5 site, with its elaborate temples of the 'Oro cult style, fits well into accepted dates for the Classic Phase. Our re-dating program has not only allowed us to refine the Society Islands cultural sequence, but has permitted precise identification or confirmation of two sites dating to the Colonisation Phase.
Journal Article
Taking the High Ground
This volume brings the remote and little known island of Rapa firmly to the forefront of Polynesian archaeology. Thirteen authors contribute 14 chapters, covering not only the basic archaeology of coastal sites, rock shelters, and fortifications, but faunal remains, agricultural development, and marine exploitation. The results, presented within a chronology framed by Bayesian analysis, are set against a background of ethnohistory and ethnology. Highly unusual in tropical Polynesian archaeology are descriptions of artefacts of perishable material. Taking the High Ground provides important insights into how a group of Polynesian settlers adapted to an isolated and in some ways restrictive environment.
eBook
Geochemical Sourcing of New Zealand Obsidians by Portable X-Ray Fluorescence from 2011 to 2018
This dataset includes 4,582 obsidian artefacts matched to their natural geological source from 45 archaeological sites in New Zealand (Aotearoa). It is a compilation of a number of independent projects conducted in the laboratories of the University of Auckland and University of Otago from 2011 to 2018 [12345678910111213]. It combines previously published studies [35678910111213], an MA thesis [1], a BA(Hons) dissertation [2], a site report [4], and other previously unpublished primary data. The dataset has high reuse potential for future non-destructive studies of artefacts and social network analyses.
Journal Article
Remnants of the 'Wallis Maro 'Ura' (Tahitian Feathered Girdle): History and Historiography
Following the identification of remnants of a maro 'ura (Tahitian feathered girdle) in the Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, Paris, this article reassesses some of what has been written about maro 'ura from first contacts with Europeans to 20th-century historical anthropology. Maro 'ura were always described and analysed as traditional high-status regalia from the Society Islands. But this common description appears to be the result of the historical and political contexts in which texts were produced. Thus, this article analyses how the early disappearance of maro 'ura led to their reshaping as traditional objects.
Journal Article
Estimating trajectories of colonisation to the Mariana Islands, western Pacific
The colonisation of the Pacific islands represents one of the major achievements of early human societies and has attracted much attention from archaeologists and historical linguists. Determining the pattern and chronology of colonisation remains a challenge, as new discoveries continue to push back dates of earliest settlement. The length and direction of the colonising voyages has also led to lively debate seeking to trace languages and artefactual techniques and traditions to presumed places of origin. Seafaring simulation models provide one way of resolving these controversies. One of the most remote of these island groups, the Marianas, is shown here to have been settled not from Taiwan or the Philippines, as has been argued in Antiquity by Hung et al. (2011) and Winter et al. (2012), but from New Guinea or Island Southeast Asia to the south. It represents an incredible feat of early navigation over an ocean distance of some 2000km.
Journal Article