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Pacific Islands Archaeology/Prehistory The  Pleistocene  

 

•  2.588  million  (±5,000)  to  11,700  years  ago  •  Holocene:  ~11,700-­‐  present  

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Indo-­‐Pacific  Region  

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Indo-­‐Malaysian  Archipelago  

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Oceania/Island  SE  Asia  

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Dumont  d’Urville  1832  

•  Polynesia  (“many  islands”)      Melanesia  (“dark  islands”)  

•  Micronesia  (“small  islands”)  

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Near/Remote  Oceania  

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Late  Pleistocene  Sites  in  Near  Oceania  

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Sunda/Sahul  

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Early  Holocene  (aPer  8,000  B.C.)  

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•  Hunters  and  gatherers  •  Obsidian  exchange  •  DomesUcaUons  of  tree,  root,  and  tuber  crops  

•  Early  agriculture  7,000  B.C.  at  Kuk  in  Highlands  of  New  Guinea  

Near/Remote  Oceania  

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Lapita  Diaspora  into  Remote  Oceania  

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Lapita  Economy  

•  Oceanic  horUculturalists  •  Brought  root,  tuber,  tree  crops,  pigs,  dog,  chickens  via  canoes  

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Austronesian  Expansion  and  Lapita  

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Oceanic  Branch  of  Austronesian  

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IniUal  Austronesian  Dispersa:  W.  Micronesia  and  Bismarck  Arch.    

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Bismarck  Archipelago    Lapita  Cultural  Complex  

17 Tridacna shell adzes

Early  Lapita  Sites  

•  Swidden  Gardens  •  Reef  foraging  •  Inshore  fishery  •  Limited  inter-­‐island  exchange  

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Subgrouping  

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Proto-Austronesian

Proto-Oceanic Indonesia Philippines Taiwan Madagascar

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Proto-Eastern Oceanic New Guinea Solomon Islands Loyalty Islands New Caledonia

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Micronesia Rotuma

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Proto-Central Pacific

Proto-Fijian Proto-Polynesian

(Clark1979: 255) Triple I: Intrusion, Integration, Innovation

ColonizaUon  Beyond  Solomons  ca.  1300  BC  

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ColonizaUon  of  Central/Eastern  Micronesia  

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East  Polynesia  and  the  Long  Pause  Debate  

22 1300 - 1600 year standstill in ancestral Polynesia?

Se^lement  of  the  Polynesian  Triangle:  Easter  Island,  Hawaii  and  New  Zealand  

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Settlement of East Polynesia no later than 1600-1400 BP (Marquesas earliest) Settlement of Society Islands, Cooks, Hawaii and Easter Island relatively rapid between 1400 and 1050 BP Settlement of New Zealand between 1000 and 800 BP

Hunt  (2006)  

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Double-­‐Hulled  Sailing  Canoe  

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Did  Polynesians  Reach  South  America  ?  

•  Sweet  potato  by  1000  BP  to  Polynesia  

•  Bo^le  gourd  1000  BP  to  Polynesia  

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Polynesia  

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Development  of  Complex  SocieUes  

•  Polynesian  Chiefdoms  

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Human  Impact  on  Island  Ecosystems  

•  substanUal  open-­‐ocean  distances/isolaUon  •  difficulty  of  dispersal  to  islands  •  high  species-­‐level  endemicity  •  lower  diversity  in  higher-­‐level  (generic  and  family)  taxa  

•  lowered  compeUUon  •  survival  of  archaic  forms  •  vulnerability  to  disturbance  from  outside    

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Remote  Oceania  

•  Near  Oceania:  marsupials,  rats,  snakes,  frogs,  lizards  •  Only  a  few  species  make  it  to  Fiji  and  Samoa  in  east  •  Pre-­‐human  vertebrate  in  Remote  Oceania  dominated  by  birds  

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Lapita  Impacts  on  Island  Ecosystems  

•  Clearing  of  forests  •  IntroducUon  of  plant  crops,  

chickens,  pig,  dogs  •  Large  number  of  exUncUons  

(e.g.,  birds)  in  first  century  of  se^lement  

•  Significant  impact  avifauna  and  marine  resources  

•  IntroducUon  of  Polynesian  rat    

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Consequences  of  Human  ColonizaUon  

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Discussion  •  Thomas,  F.  1999.  The  Precontact  Period.  In  M.  Rapaport  (ed.)  The  Pacific  Islands  

Environment  and  Society.  pp.  121-­‐133.  Honolulu:  The  Bess  Press.  •  Green  RC  1991.  Near  and  remote  Oceania—Disestablishing  ‘‘Melanesia’’  in  culture  

history.  In:  Pawley  A,  editor.  Man  and  a  half:  Essays  in  Pacific  anthropology  and  ethnobiology  in  honour  of  Ralph  Bulmer.  Auckland:  The  Polynesian  Society.  pp.  491–502.  

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