Explaining the processes underlying the emergence of monument construction is a major theme in co... more Explaining the processes underlying the emergence of monument construction is a major theme in contemporary anthropological archaeology, and recent studies have employed spatially-explicit modeling to explain these patterns. Rapa Nui (Easter Island, Chile) is famous for its elaborate ritual architecture, particularly numerous monumental platforms (ahu) and statuary (moai). To date, however, we lack explicit modeling to explain spatial and temporal aspects of monument construction. Here, we use spatially-explicit point-process modeling to explore the potential relations between ahu construction locations and subsistence resources, namely, rock mulch agricultural gardens, marine resources, and freshwater sources-the three most critical resources on Rapa Nui. Through these analyses, we demonstrate the central importance of coastal freshwater seeps for precontact populations. Our results suggest that ahu locations are most parsimoniously explained by distance from freshwater sources, in particular coastal seeps, with important implications for community formation and inter-community competition in precontact times.
Marine foraging is an under-studied aspect of S¯amoan archaeology, although it clearly played a p... more Marine foraging is an under-studied aspect of S¯amoan archaeology, although it clearly played a primary role in subsistence, with implications for settlement and demography. A pair of previous ichthyoarchaeological studies identified general stability in fish exploitation during 1500–2000 year sequences. We present a foraging-theory-based analysis of fish remains from Tula Village, Tutuila Island. Our results identify a decrease in foraging efficiency, but there is no unequivocal evidence for resource depression. To frame this issue at a broader level, we re-analyse published data for Fatu-ma-Futi, Tutuila Island, and To‘aga, Ofu Island. Our results are consistent with previous analyses in suggesting little change in the prevalence of particular fish families and the contribution of large-bodied prey at these two sites. However, a degree of localised variability in dominant fish taxa is evident. Our analysis has implications for studies of resilience in nearshore marine environments, as well as methodological issues for data generated to examine foraging efficiency and resource depression.
International Archaeological Research Institute, Inc., (IARII) completed archaeological monitorin... more International Archaeological Research Institute, Inc., (IARII) completed archaeological monitoring and emergency data recovery in support of the Kamehameha Highway Emergency Shoreline Improvements project, Makaua 2 Ahupua‘a, Ko‘olauloa District, Island of O‘ahu (HDOT Project No. 83D-01-15). Monitoring was conducted during all earth-moving activities, and data recovery excavations were completed in the area of a buried traditional Hawaiian cultural deposit. This deposit, designated as Site 50-80-06-7921, is estimated to have covered approximately 128 m2 prior to construction of shoreline improvements (construction trenching removed approximately 75 m2 of the site). Additionally, the historic seawall that runs for 100 m along the makai side of Kamehameha Highway in this area was recorded as Site 50-80-06-7922. Site 7921 is a paleosol that was the former land surface sometime during the 16th to early 19th centuries. A relatively thick, charcoal-enriched cultural deposit containing multiple combustion features is indicative of intensive occupation; a single post mold attests to a structure in this area. The midden collection, and more limited artifact assemblage, indicates that activities focused on fishing and foraging along the shoreline and reef area, while the archaeobotanical remains provide modest evidence for arboreal cultigens. In a regional windward O‘ahu context, exploitation of a greater number of bony fish and mollusks (expanded diet breadth) combined with a decreased capture of large, high-value prey (low foraging efficiency) at Site 7921 suggest localized resource depression. This may be explained by Makaua’s limited reef area compared to larger ahupua‘a along this coastline. This hypothesis does require testing through the collection and analysis of older midden assemblages from Makaua (there currently are no other collections). Site 7921 is significant under HAR §13-275-6 Criterion d and NHRP Criterion D. It has integrity of location, setting, and association. It is evaluated as eligible for listing on the Hawai‘i Register of Historic Places (per HAR §13-198-8) under Criterion D. The site has provided, and retains potential to yield, information about traditional habitation in Makaua, namely the spatial distribution of activities, kinds of materials/activities, and chronology. Importantly, the site has provided information about marine exploitation along coastal Makaua during the late pre-Contact period. Site 7922 is a mortared basalt seawall built in the 1920s during the construction of Kamehameha Highway. The wall is 100 m long and is constructed with 5–6 courses of dressed basalt blocks. Stabilization of the wall, completed as part of the current emergency repairs, had a negligible effect to the aesthetics of the site. Site 7922 is significant under Criteria c and d and Criteria C and D following the NHRP significance evaluation criteria. It is evaluated as eligible for listing on the Hawai‘i Register of Historic Places under Criteria C and D. The site has integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association. The seawall, as a component of Kamehameha Highway, documents early 20th century engineering aimed at improving transportation between rural areas and the Honolulu urban core. It is a fine example of early 20th century masonry infrastructure. In consideration of these results, it is recommended that any future construction in this area involving excavation below the modern fill be subject to State Historic Preservation Division (SHPD) review and proceed under an SHPD-accepted mitigation plan (e.g., data recovery in the form of excavation or in the form of archaeological monitoring). Further, the shoreline from Makaua to Kaʻaʻawa is continuously eroding and it is anticipated that archaeological materials will continue to be exposed in the future. Due to the limited archaeological information available for this area, any opportunity to adequately collect data will be beneficial to understanding the human occupation and cultural history of the region. The creation of a state-wide coastal erosion database would greatly benefit SHPD, as it would assist in ranking threatened cultural sites and could also be used to create management and preservation procedures (Kane et al. 2012).
The timing and choice of initial settlement location are examined on the small island of Tavua in Fiji’s Mamanuca Group. The mid- to late-Holocene sealevel retreat influenced the island’s coastal landforms through the acceleration of coastal progradation and the production of habitable land. Archaeological, sedimentological, and chronological data are integrated to better understand the island’s settlement and geomorphological history. These datasets are then compared with regional and modeled sea-level curves for Fiji in order to constrain the time period for the onset of coastal regression. The results indicate that Tavua was initially settled around 3000 years ago, within a few centuries of the formation of the coastal plain. Integrating archaeological, sedimentological, and sea-level datasets helps produce a more precise understanding of the relationship between sea-level change and the timing of settlement on small islands in Oceania.
The Hawaiian Islands, like many other high volcanic islands, are characterized by a diversity of ... more The Hawaiian Islands, like many other high volcanic islands, are characterized by a diversity of ecozones, which had ramifications for the types of subsistence strategies that developed within each. Although traditional cultivation practices were highly variable, agricultural systems can be roughly split into windward and leeward forms. Leeward agriculture is differentiated from windward agriculture based on the almost complete dependence on rainfall. Dependence on rainfall, an often-unpredictable resource, creates a high level of risk and uncertainty in agricultural yields. Dryland field-systems were highly susceptible to droughts, potentially resulting in food shortages that would have had various societal consequences, such as increased intergroup conflict, community cooperation, or social inequality. The concepts of risk and uncertainty, derived from human behavioral ecology, are useful for exploring how fluctuations in the availability of resources from droughts influenced agriculturalists in the Hawaiian Islands. Using the Rainfall Atlas of Hawai'i, a newly published rainfall archive, we investigate spatiotemporal rainfall patterns in the Leeward Kohala Field System (LKFS) on Hawai'i Island. We employ geostatistical modeling techniques, time-series analysis, and a simulation model to quantify the intensity, frequency, and periodicity of droughts in the LKFS. Our results support previous studies and suggest a high degree of agricultural risk, particularly from ca. AD 1450–1600, with implications for Hawaiian agriculture and emerging sociocultural patterns.
The diverse island societies of East Polynesia are well-suited as models for comparative evoluti... more The diverse island societies of East Polynesia are well-suited as models for comparative evolutionary analysis. Settled ca. 750 BP by a common ancestral population, colonists of the remote corners of the Pacific shared a pool of cultural traits that included commensal species, language, technology, and other cultural practices. Following colonization however, island populations diverged in language, subsistence practices, degree of territoriality, settlement patterns, investment and forms of monumental architecture, and social organization. Driven by historical circumstances and varied environmental conditions, this divergence presents evolutionary case studies of alternative paths of cultural change. One explanatory approach to this evolutionary divergence involves isolating the critical ecological parameters that likely constrained and shaped the diverse history of island populations. Here, we offer a comparative evolutionary analysis that explores the divergent histories of two marginal East Polynesian islands: Rapa Nui and Rapa Iti.
The resilience and susceptibility of key marine organisms to human predation and environmental ch... more The resilience and susceptibility of key marine organisms to human predation and environmental change is a topic of importance to archaeologists, wildlife managers, and conservation biologists. While contemporary studies are useful for linking managerial strategies to prey population patterns, zooarchaeological assemblages when combined with computer-based simulation methods provide additional insights into marine prey resilience or susceptibility to harvesting pressures over the long-term. In this paper we generate a set of predictions, drawing on concepts from life-history theory, and then build an agent-based model to examine how energetic return rate and age at reproductive maturity influence prey resilience to foraging pressures. Our agent-based model results are then compared with archaeological observations from a limited number of Pacific island assemblages to assess the validity of the model. The results of the simulation indicate that prey taxa with low energetic return rates which reach reproductive maturity at young ages are more impervious to human predation than those which reach reproductive maturity later in life and have greater energetic returns. The archaeological assemblages examined support these key findings and suggest that the susceptibility of marine organisms to human predation is likely to be multi-faceted and context dependent. Our results also demonstrate the utility of agent-based modeling as a technique for establishing the dynamic sufficiency of competing explanations and for generating new hypotheses.
The diverse island societies of East Polynesia are well-suited as models for comparative evolutio... more The diverse island societies of East Polynesia are well-suited as models for comparative evolutionary analysis. Settled ca. 750 BP by a common ancestral population, colonists of the remote corners of the Pacific shared a pool of cultural traits that included commensal species, language, technology, and other cultural practices. Following colonization however, island populations diverged in language, subsistence practices, degree of territoriality, settlement patterns, investment and forms of monumental architecture, and social organization. Driven by historical circumstances and varied environmental conditions, this divergence presents evolutionary case studies of alternative paths of cultural change. One explanatory approach to this evolutionary divergence involves isolating the critical ecological parameters that likely constrained and shaped the diverse history of island populations. Here, we offer a comparative evolutionary analysis that explores the divergent histories of two marginal East Polynesian islands: Rapa Nui and Rapa Iti.
The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. All in-text references underlined in b... more The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. All in-text references underlined in blue are added to the original document and are linked to publications on ResearchGate, letting you access and read them immediately.
Geologist Bill Dickinson argued that prior to late Holocene sea level fall, in many Pacific islan... more Geologist Bill Dickinson argued that prior to late Holocene sea level fall, in many Pacific island settings low-lying islands were awash, shallow nearshore environments were restricted and human settlement was constrained or sometimes impossible. Stable coastlines and islets of modern configuration only developed after the “cross-over date”, when declining high-tide levels fell below mid-Holocene low-tide levels, a regionally variable process. We evaluate evidence from the almost-atoll of Aitutaki, Cook Islands against this model, providing: (1) a local late Holocene sea level reconstruction including nine U/Th-dated microatolls; (2) 22 new AMS dates on human activities, many from small, low-lying offshore islets; and (3) elevation data for 14C-dated cultural deposits on three islets. Our results include an early first millennium sea level position 0.74–0.97 m (± 0.126) above modern height-of-living-corals, an eighth to eleventh century AD minimum relative to the long-term trend, and a sea level rise peaking in the mid-fourteenth to sixteenth centuries. This reconstruction, combined with twelfth century AD Cocos nucifera charcoal, informs on the timing and distribution of human activities across Aitutaki’s evolving land and seascapes and sea level impacts. While our findings do not contradict Dickinson’s model of sea level constrained island settlement, other explanations cannot be excluded.
At the base of a steep cliff towering some 500 feet
above the coast of the remote Nā Pali distric... more At the base of a steep cliff towering some 500 feet above the coast of the remote Nā Pali district on the island of Kaua‘i, lies the spectacular historical and archaeological site at Nu‘alolo Kai. First excavated by Bishop Museum archaeologists between 1958 and 1964, the site contained the well-preserved remains of one of the largest and most diverse arrays of traditional and historic artifacts ever found in Hawai‘i. The house sites that constitute the focus of Abundance and Resilience were built over five centuries of occupation and contained deeply buried, stratified deposits extending more than nine feet beneath the surface. The essays in this volume detail the work of archaeologists associated with the University of Hawai‘i who have been compiling and studying the animal remains recovered from the excavations.
The contributors discuss the range of foods eaten by Hawaiians, the ways in which particular species were captured and harvested, and how these practices might have evolved through changes in the climate and natural environment. Adding to this are analyses of a sophisticated material culture—how ancient Hawaiians fashioned animal remains into artifacts such as ornaments made of shell, pointed bird bone “pickers,” sea urchin and coral files and abraders, turtle shell combs, and bone handles for kāhili (feathered standards) used by Hawaiian royalty.
For researchers, Nu‘alolo Kai opened up the world of everyday life of indigenous Hawaiians between AD 1400 and 1900. More importantly, we learn how their procurement and utilization of animals—wild marine organisms and birds, as well as domesticated dogs and pigs—affected local resources. Demonstrating that an increased preference for introduced animals, such as dogs and pigs, effectively limited negative impacts on wild animal resources, the essays in Abundance and Resilience collectively argue that the Hawaiian community of Nu‘alolo Kai practiced a sustainable form of animal resource procurement and management for five centuries.
Between 3050-2700 years ago humans first colonized the islands of south-west Remote Oceania, a r... more Between 3050-2700 years ago humans first colonized the islands of south-west Remote Oceania, a region stretching from Vanuatu to Sāmoa. These colonists created a dense archaeological record of Lapita pottery and other artefacts on island coastlines across the region. There is one striking exception to this pattern: Sāmoa, with only a single Lapita pottery colonization site dating to approximately 2800 years ago. There are two competing explanations for the unique Sāmoan colonization record. First, there was a dense Lapita colonization record, now displaced through sedimentation and coastal subsidence. Second, there were few coastal plains suitable for settlement 2800 years ago resulting in the lack of colonization sites. This article describes the first archaeological and geological research designed to systematically test these explanations. The research focuses on the south-eastern coastal plain of ‘Upolu Island, an area where previous geological research and mid-Holocene sea-level indicators predict the least relative subsidence over the last 3000 years. Auger cores and controlled excavation units sampled the geological sequence and archaeological deposits across 700 m of coast. Sedimentary and dating analyses indicate coastal plain formation beginning 1200 years ago with the earliest archaeological deposits, including plain pottery, lithics, shellfish and vertebrate fauna, dating possibly 700 years later. Microfossil analyses identify burning and forest clearance coincident with the earliest archaeological remains. Compared to other Sāmoan archaeological deposits, the cultural materials and ecofacts represent very low-intensity occupation. These results support the proposal that there were few coastal plains suitable for Lapita pottery-bearing colonists approximately 2800 years ago.
The relationship between environmental variation and subsistence practices is a central point of ... more The relationship between environmental variation and subsistence practices is a central point of discussion in much Oceanic archaeology. While human predation can significantly reduce prey populations, environmental variation also contributes to reductions in prey abundance, possibly leading to increased human competition and resource scarcity. At the Natia Beach site, Nacula Island, Fiji, geoarchaeological evidence suggests that coastal progradation began soon after initial occupation of the coastal plain. Additionally, at approximately 650 BP a marked increase in clay and silt deposition occurred. Changes in coastal geomorphology may be explained by landscape response to regional Mid-Holocene sea level fall combined with human induced soil erosion due to upland settlement. Smaller scale environmental changes associated with climate variability may have also played a role. Additionally, landscape change appears to have had a measurable impact on local nearshore mollusks that are sensitive to high levels of water turbidity. Minor evidence of human exploitation is observable in this shellfish assemblage, although changes in predation pressure may have allowed shellfish populations to recover. Increased ceramic diversity and fortified settlements also appear at approximately 650 BP on Nacula and other parts of Fiji. The suite of changes at Natia may be explained by processes of regional and local environmental changes, and human adaptation in terms of subsistence, spatial organization, and competition.
Explaining the processes underlying the emergence of monument construction is a major theme in co... more Explaining the processes underlying the emergence of monument construction is a major theme in contemporary anthropological archaeology, and recent studies have employed spatially-explicit modeling to explain these patterns. Rapa Nui (Easter Island, Chile) is famous for its elaborate ritual architecture, particularly numerous monumental platforms (ahu) and statuary (moai). To date, however, we lack explicit modeling to explain spatial and temporal aspects of monument construction. Here, we use spatially-explicit point-process modeling to explore the potential relations between ahu construction locations and subsistence resources, namely, rock mulch agricultural gardens, marine resources, and freshwater sources-the three most critical resources on Rapa Nui. Through these analyses, we demonstrate the central importance of coastal freshwater seeps for precontact populations. Our results suggest that ahu locations are most parsimoniously explained by distance from freshwater sources, in particular coastal seeps, with important implications for community formation and inter-community competition in precontact times.
Marine foraging is an under-studied aspect of S¯amoan archaeology, although it clearly played a p... more Marine foraging is an under-studied aspect of S¯amoan archaeology, although it clearly played a primary role in subsistence, with implications for settlement and demography. A pair of previous ichthyoarchaeological studies identified general stability in fish exploitation during 1500–2000 year sequences. We present a foraging-theory-based analysis of fish remains from Tula Village, Tutuila Island. Our results identify a decrease in foraging efficiency, but there is no unequivocal evidence for resource depression. To frame this issue at a broader level, we re-analyse published data for Fatu-ma-Futi, Tutuila Island, and To‘aga, Ofu Island. Our results are consistent with previous analyses in suggesting little change in the prevalence of particular fish families and the contribution of large-bodied prey at these two sites. However, a degree of localised variability in dominant fish taxa is evident. Our analysis has implications for studies of resilience in nearshore marine environments, as well as methodological issues for data generated to examine foraging efficiency and resource depression.
International Archaeological Research Institute, Inc., (IARII) completed archaeological monitorin... more International Archaeological Research Institute, Inc., (IARII) completed archaeological monitoring and emergency data recovery in support of the Kamehameha Highway Emergency Shoreline Improvements project, Makaua 2 Ahupua‘a, Ko‘olauloa District, Island of O‘ahu (HDOT Project No. 83D-01-15). Monitoring was conducted during all earth-moving activities, and data recovery excavations were completed in the area of a buried traditional Hawaiian cultural deposit. This deposit, designated as Site 50-80-06-7921, is estimated to have covered approximately 128 m2 prior to construction of shoreline improvements (construction trenching removed approximately 75 m2 of the site). Additionally, the historic seawall that runs for 100 m along the makai side of Kamehameha Highway in this area was recorded as Site 50-80-06-7922. Site 7921 is a paleosol that was the former land surface sometime during the 16th to early 19th centuries. A relatively thick, charcoal-enriched cultural deposit containing multiple combustion features is indicative of intensive occupation; a single post mold attests to a structure in this area. The midden collection, and more limited artifact assemblage, indicates that activities focused on fishing and foraging along the shoreline and reef area, while the archaeobotanical remains provide modest evidence for arboreal cultigens. In a regional windward O‘ahu context, exploitation of a greater number of bony fish and mollusks (expanded diet breadth) combined with a decreased capture of large, high-value prey (low foraging efficiency) at Site 7921 suggest localized resource depression. This may be explained by Makaua’s limited reef area compared to larger ahupua‘a along this coastline. This hypothesis does require testing through the collection and analysis of older midden assemblages from Makaua (there currently are no other collections). Site 7921 is significant under HAR §13-275-6 Criterion d and NHRP Criterion D. It has integrity of location, setting, and association. It is evaluated as eligible for listing on the Hawai‘i Register of Historic Places (per HAR §13-198-8) under Criterion D. The site has provided, and retains potential to yield, information about traditional habitation in Makaua, namely the spatial distribution of activities, kinds of materials/activities, and chronology. Importantly, the site has provided information about marine exploitation along coastal Makaua during the late pre-Contact period. Site 7922 is a mortared basalt seawall built in the 1920s during the construction of Kamehameha Highway. The wall is 100 m long and is constructed with 5–6 courses of dressed basalt blocks. Stabilization of the wall, completed as part of the current emergency repairs, had a negligible effect to the aesthetics of the site. Site 7922 is significant under Criteria c and d and Criteria C and D following the NHRP significance evaluation criteria. It is evaluated as eligible for listing on the Hawai‘i Register of Historic Places under Criteria C and D. The site has integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association. The seawall, as a component of Kamehameha Highway, documents early 20th century engineering aimed at improving transportation between rural areas and the Honolulu urban core. It is a fine example of early 20th century masonry infrastructure. In consideration of these results, it is recommended that any future construction in this area involving excavation below the modern fill be subject to State Historic Preservation Division (SHPD) review and proceed under an SHPD-accepted mitigation plan (e.g., data recovery in the form of excavation or in the form of archaeological monitoring). Further, the shoreline from Makaua to Kaʻaʻawa is continuously eroding and it is anticipated that archaeological materials will continue to be exposed in the future. Due to the limited archaeological information available for this area, any opportunity to adequately collect data will be beneficial to understanding the human occupation and cultural history of the region. The creation of a state-wide coastal erosion database would greatly benefit SHPD, as it would assist in ranking threatened cultural sites and could also be used to create management and preservation procedures (Kane et al. 2012).
The timing and choice of initial settlement location are examined on the small island of Tavua in Fiji’s Mamanuca Group. The mid- to late-Holocene sealevel retreat influenced the island’s coastal landforms through the acceleration of coastal progradation and the production of habitable land. Archaeological, sedimentological, and chronological data are integrated to better understand the island’s settlement and geomorphological history. These datasets are then compared with regional and modeled sea-level curves for Fiji in order to constrain the time period for the onset of coastal regression. The results indicate that Tavua was initially settled around 3000 years ago, within a few centuries of the formation of the coastal plain. Integrating archaeological, sedimentological, and sea-level datasets helps produce a more precise understanding of the relationship between sea-level change and the timing of settlement on small islands in Oceania.
The Hawaiian Islands, like many other high volcanic islands, are characterized by a diversity of ... more The Hawaiian Islands, like many other high volcanic islands, are characterized by a diversity of ecozones, which had ramifications for the types of subsistence strategies that developed within each. Although traditional cultivation practices were highly variable, agricultural systems can be roughly split into windward and leeward forms. Leeward agriculture is differentiated from windward agriculture based on the almost complete dependence on rainfall. Dependence on rainfall, an often-unpredictable resource, creates a high level of risk and uncertainty in agricultural yields. Dryland field-systems were highly susceptible to droughts, potentially resulting in food shortages that would have had various societal consequences, such as increased intergroup conflict, community cooperation, or social inequality. The concepts of risk and uncertainty, derived from human behavioral ecology, are useful for exploring how fluctuations in the availability of resources from droughts influenced agriculturalists in the Hawaiian Islands. Using the Rainfall Atlas of Hawai'i, a newly published rainfall archive, we investigate spatiotemporal rainfall patterns in the Leeward Kohala Field System (LKFS) on Hawai'i Island. We employ geostatistical modeling techniques, time-series analysis, and a simulation model to quantify the intensity, frequency, and periodicity of droughts in the LKFS. Our results support previous studies and suggest a high degree of agricultural risk, particularly from ca. AD 1450–1600, with implications for Hawaiian agriculture and emerging sociocultural patterns.
The diverse island societies of East Polynesia are well-suited as models for comparative evoluti... more The diverse island societies of East Polynesia are well-suited as models for comparative evolutionary analysis. Settled ca. 750 BP by a common ancestral population, colonists of the remote corners of the Pacific shared a pool of cultural traits that included commensal species, language, technology, and other cultural practices. Following colonization however, island populations diverged in language, subsistence practices, degree of territoriality, settlement patterns, investment and forms of monumental architecture, and social organization. Driven by historical circumstances and varied environmental conditions, this divergence presents evolutionary case studies of alternative paths of cultural change. One explanatory approach to this evolutionary divergence involves isolating the critical ecological parameters that likely constrained and shaped the diverse history of island populations. Here, we offer a comparative evolutionary analysis that explores the divergent histories of two marginal East Polynesian islands: Rapa Nui and Rapa Iti.
The resilience and susceptibility of key marine organisms to human predation and environmental ch... more The resilience and susceptibility of key marine organisms to human predation and environmental change is a topic of importance to archaeologists, wildlife managers, and conservation biologists. While contemporary studies are useful for linking managerial strategies to prey population patterns, zooarchaeological assemblages when combined with computer-based simulation methods provide additional insights into marine prey resilience or susceptibility to harvesting pressures over the long-term. In this paper we generate a set of predictions, drawing on concepts from life-history theory, and then build an agent-based model to examine how energetic return rate and age at reproductive maturity influence prey resilience to foraging pressures. Our agent-based model results are then compared with archaeological observations from a limited number of Pacific island assemblages to assess the validity of the model. The results of the simulation indicate that prey taxa with low energetic return rates which reach reproductive maturity at young ages are more impervious to human predation than those which reach reproductive maturity later in life and have greater energetic returns. The archaeological assemblages examined support these key findings and suggest that the susceptibility of marine organisms to human predation is likely to be multi-faceted and context dependent. Our results also demonstrate the utility of agent-based modeling as a technique for establishing the dynamic sufficiency of competing explanations and for generating new hypotheses.
The diverse island societies of East Polynesia are well-suited as models for comparative evolutio... more The diverse island societies of East Polynesia are well-suited as models for comparative evolutionary analysis. Settled ca. 750 BP by a common ancestral population, colonists of the remote corners of the Pacific shared a pool of cultural traits that included commensal species, language, technology, and other cultural practices. Following colonization however, island populations diverged in language, subsistence practices, degree of territoriality, settlement patterns, investment and forms of monumental architecture, and social organization. Driven by historical circumstances and varied environmental conditions, this divergence presents evolutionary case studies of alternative paths of cultural change. One explanatory approach to this evolutionary divergence involves isolating the critical ecological parameters that likely constrained and shaped the diverse history of island populations. Here, we offer a comparative evolutionary analysis that explores the divergent histories of two marginal East Polynesian islands: Rapa Nui and Rapa Iti.
The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. All in-text references underlined in b... more The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. All in-text references underlined in blue are added to the original document and are linked to publications on ResearchGate, letting you access and read them immediately.
Geologist Bill Dickinson argued that prior to late Holocene sea level fall, in many Pacific islan... more Geologist Bill Dickinson argued that prior to late Holocene sea level fall, in many Pacific island settings low-lying islands were awash, shallow nearshore environments were restricted and human settlement was constrained or sometimes impossible. Stable coastlines and islets of modern configuration only developed after the “cross-over date”, when declining high-tide levels fell below mid-Holocene low-tide levels, a regionally variable process. We evaluate evidence from the almost-atoll of Aitutaki, Cook Islands against this model, providing: (1) a local late Holocene sea level reconstruction including nine U/Th-dated microatolls; (2) 22 new AMS dates on human activities, many from small, low-lying offshore islets; and (3) elevation data for 14C-dated cultural deposits on three islets. Our results include an early first millennium sea level position 0.74–0.97 m (± 0.126) above modern height-of-living-corals, an eighth to eleventh century AD minimum relative to the long-term trend, and a sea level rise peaking in the mid-fourteenth to sixteenth centuries. This reconstruction, combined with twelfth century AD Cocos nucifera charcoal, informs on the timing and distribution of human activities across Aitutaki’s evolving land and seascapes and sea level impacts. While our findings do not contradict Dickinson’s model of sea level constrained island settlement, other explanations cannot be excluded.
At the base of a steep cliff towering some 500 feet
above the coast of the remote Nā Pali distric... more At the base of a steep cliff towering some 500 feet above the coast of the remote Nā Pali district on the island of Kaua‘i, lies the spectacular historical and archaeological site at Nu‘alolo Kai. First excavated by Bishop Museum archaeologists between 1958 and 1964, the site contained the well-preserved remains of one of the largest and most diverse arrays of traditional and historic artifacts ever found in Hawai‘i. The house sites that constitute the focus of Abundance and Resilience were built over five centuries of occupation and contained deeply buried, stratified deposits extending more than nine feet beneath the surface. The essays in this volume detail the work of archaeologists associated with the University of Hawai‘i who have been compiling and studying the animal remains recovered from the excavations.
The contributors discuss the range of foods eaten by Hawaiians, the ways in which particular species were captured and harvested, and how these practices might have evolved through changes in the climate and natural environment. Adding to this are analyses of a sophisticated material culture—how ancient Hawaiians fashioned animal remains into artifacts such as ornaments made of shell, pointed bird bone “pickers,” sea urchin and coral files and abraders, turtle shell combs, and bone handles for kāhili (feathered standards) used by Hawaiian royalty.
For researchers, Nu‘alolo Kai opened up the world of everyday life of indigenous Hawaiians between AD 1400 and 1900. More importantly, we learn how their procurement and utilization of animals—wild marine organisms and birds, as well as domesticated dogs and pigs—affected local resources. Demonstrating that an increased preference for introduced animals, such as dogs and pigs, effectively limited negative impacts on wild animal resources, the essays in Abundance and Resilience collectively argue that the Hawaiian community of Nu‘alolo Kai practiced a sustainable form of animal resource procurement and management for five centuries.
Between 3050-2700 years ago humans first colonized the islands of south-west Remote Oceania, a r... more Between 3050-2700 years ago humans first colonized the islands of south-west Remote Oceania, a region stretching from Vanuatu to Sāmoa. These colonists created a dense archaeological record of Lapita pottery and other artefacts on island coastlines across the region. There is one striking exception to this pattern: Sāmoa, with only a single Lapita pottery colonization site dating to approximately 2800 years ago. There are two competing explanations for the unique Sāmoan colonization record. First, there was a dense Lapita colonization record, now displaced through sedimentation and coastal subsidence. Second, there were few coastal plains suitable for settlement 2800 years ago resulting in the lack of colonization sites. This article describes the first archaeological and geological research designed to systematically test these explanations. The research focuses on the south-eastern coastal plain of ‘Upolu Island, an area where previous geological research and mid-Holocene sea-level indicators predict the least relative subsidence over the last 3000 years. Auger cores and controlled excavation units sampled the geological sequence and archaeological deposits across 700 m of coast. Sedimentary and dating analyses indicate coastal plain formation beginning 1200 years ago with the earliest archaeological deposits, including plain pottery, lithics, shellfish and vertebrate fauna, dating possibly 700 years later. Microfossil analyses identify burning and forest clearance coincident with the earliest archaeological remains. Compared to other Sāmoan archaeological deposits, the cultural materials and ecofacts represent very low-intensity occupation. These results support the proposal that there were few coastal plains suitable for Lapita pottery-bearing colonists approximately 2800 years ago.
The relationship between environmental variation and subsistence practices is a central point of ... more The relationship between environmental variation and subsistence practices is a central point of discussion in much Oceanic archaeology. While human predation can significantly reduce prey populations, environmental variation also contributes to reductions in prey abundance, possibly leading to increased human competition and resource scarcity. At the Natia Beach site, Nacula Island, Fiji, geoarchaeological evidence suggests that coastal progradation began soon after initial occupation of the coastal plain. Additionally, at approximately 650 BP a marked increase in clay and silt deposition occurred. Changes in coastal geomorphology may be explained by landscape response to regional Mid-Holocene sea level fall combined with human induced soil erosion due to upland settlement. Smaller scale environmental changes associated with climate variability may have also played a role. Additionally, landscape change appears to have had a measurable impact on local nearshore mollusks that are sensitive to high levels of water turbidity. Minor evidence of human exploitation is observable in this shellfish assemblage, although changes in predation pressure may have allowed shellfish populations to recover. Increased ceramic diversity and fortified settlements also appear at approximately 650 BP on Nacula and other parts of Fiji. The suite of changes at Natia may be explained by processes of regional and local environmental changes, and human adaptation in terms of subsistence, spatial organization, and competition.
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Site 7921 is a paleosol that was the former land surface sometime during the 16th to early 19th centuries. A relatively thick, charcoal-enriched cultural deposit containing multiple combustion features is indicative of intensive occupation; a single post mold attests to a structure in this area. The midden collection, and more limited artifact assemblage, indicates that activities focused on fishing and foraging along the shoreline and reef area, while the archaeobotanical remains provide modest evidence for arboreal cultigens. In a regional windward O‘ahu context, exploitation of a greater number of bony fish and mollusks (expanded diet breadth) combined with a decreased capture of large, high-value prey (low foraging efficiency) at Site 7921 suggest localized resource depression. This may be explained by Makaua’s limited reef area compared to larger ahupua‘a along this coastline. This hypothesis does require testing through the collection and analysis of older midden assemblages from Makaua (there currently are no other collections). Site 7921 is significant under HAR §13-275-6 Criterion d and NHRP Criterion D. It has integrity of location, setting, and association. It is evaluated as eligible for listing on the Hawai‘i Register of Historic Places (per HAR §13-198-8) under Criterion D. The site has provided, and retains potential to yield, information about traditional habitation in Makaua, namely the spatial distribution of activities, kinds of materials/activities, and chronology. Importantly, the site has provided information about marine exploitation along coastal Makaua during the late pre-Contact period.
Site 7922 is a mortared basalt seawall built in the 1920s during the construction of Kamehameha Highway. The wall is 100 m long and is constructed with 5–6 courses of dressed basalt blocks. Stabilization of the wall, completed as part of the current emergency repairs, had a negligible effect to the aesthetics of the site. Site 7922 is significant under Criteria c and d and Criteria C and D following the NHRP significance evaluation criteria. It is evaluated as eligible for listing on the Hawai‘i Register of Historic Places under Criteria C and D. The site has integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association. The seawall, as a component of Kamehameha Highway, documents early 20th century engineering aimed at improving transportation between rural areas and the Honolulu urban core. It is a fine example of early 20th century masonry infrastructure.
In consideration of these results, it is recommended that any future construction in this area involving excavation below the modern fill be subject to State Historic Preservation Division (SHPD) review and proceed under an SHPD-accepted mitigation plan (e.g., data recovery in the form of excavation or in the form of archaeological monitoring). Further, the shoreline from Makaua to Kaʻaʻawa is continuously eroding and it is anticipated that archaeological materials will continue to be exposed in the future. Due to the limited archaeological information available for this area, any opportunity to adequately collect data will be beneficial to understanding the human occupation and cultural history of the region. The creation of a state-wide coastal erosion database would greatly benefit SHPD, as it would assist in ranking threatened cultural sites and could also be used to create management and preservation procedures (Kane et al. 2012).
The timing and choice of initial settlement location are examined on the small island of Tavua in Fiji’s Mamanuca Group. The mid- to late-Holocene sealevel
retreat influenced the island’s coastal landforms through the acceleration of coastal progradation and the production of habitable land. Archaeological,
sedimentological, and chronological data are integrated to better understand the island’s settlement and geomorphological history. These datasets are
then compared with regional and modeled sea-level curves for Fiji in order to constrain the time period for the onset of coastal regression. The results
indicate that Tavua was initially settled around 3000 years ago, within a few centuries of the formation of the coastal plain. Integrating archaeological,
sedimentological, and sea-level datasets helps produce a more precise understanding of the relationship between sea-level change and the timing of
settlement on small islands in Oceania.
importance to archaeologists, wildlife managers, and conservation biologists. While contemporary studies are useful for linking managerial strategies to prey population patterns, zooarchaeological assemblages when combined with computer-based simulation methods provide additional insights into marine prey resilience or susceptibility to harvesting pressures over the long-term. In this paper we generate a set of predictions, drawing on concepts from life-history theory, and then build an agent-based model to examine how energetic return rate and age at reproductive maturity influence prey resilience to foraging pressures. Our agent-based model results are then compared with archaeological observations from a limited number of Pacific island assemblages to assess the validity of the model. The results of the simulation indicate that prey taxa with low energetic return rates which reach reproductive maturity at young ages are more impervious to human predation than those which reach reproductive maturity later in life and have greater energetic returns. The archaeological assemblages examined support these key findings and suggest that the susceptibility of marine organisms to human predation is likely to be multi-faceted and context dependent. Our results also demonstrate the utility of agent-based modeling as a technique for establishing the dynamic sufficiency of competing explanations and for generating new hypotheses.
seascapes and sea level impacts. While our findings do not contradict Dickinson’s model of sea level constrained island settlement, other explanations cannot be excluded.
above the coast of the remote Nā Pali district on the
island of Kaua‘i, lies the spectacular historical and
archaeological site at Nu‘alolo Kai. First excavated
by Bishop Museum archaeologists between 1958
and 1964, the site contained the well-preserved
remains of one of the largest and most diverse arrays
of traditional and historic artifacts ever found
in Hawai‘i. The house sites that constitute the focus
of Abundance and Resilience were built over five
centuries of occupation and contained deeply buried,
stratified deposits extending more than nine
feet beneath the surface. The essays in this volume
detail the work of archaeologists associated with
the University of Hawai‘i who have been compiling
and studying the animal remains recovered from
the excavations.
The contributors discuss the range of foods eaten
by Hawaiians, the ways in which particular species
were captured and harvested, and how these
practices might have evolved through changes
in the climate and natural environment. Adding
to this are analyses of a sophisticated material
culture—how ancient Hawaiians fashioned animal
remains into artifacts such as ornaments made of
shell, pointed bird bone “pickers,” sea urchin and
coral files and abraders, turtle shell combs, and
bone handles for kāhili (feathered standards) used
by Hawaiian royalty.
For researchers, Nu‘alolo Kai opened up the
world of everyday life of indigenous Hawaiians
between AD 1400 and 1900. More importantly,
we learn how their procurement
and utilization of animals—wild marine
organisms and birds, as well as domesticated
dogs and pigs—affected local resources.
Demonstrating that an increased preference
for introduced animals, such as dogs and
pigs, effectively limited negative impacts
on wild animal resources, the essays in
Abundance and Resilience collectively argue
that the Hawaiian community of Nu‘alolo
Kai practiced a sustainable form of animal
resource procurement and management for
five centuries.
Site 7921 is a paleosol that was the former land surface sometime during the 16th to early 19th centuries. A relatively thick, charcoal-enriched cultural deposit containing multiple combustion features is indicative of intensive occupation; a single post mold attests to a structure in this area. The midden collection, and more limited artifact assemblage, indicates that activities focused on fishing and foraging along the shoreline and reef area, while the archaeobotanical remains provide modest evidence for arboreal cultigens. In a regional windward O‘ahu context, exploitation of a greater number of bony fish and mollusks (expanded diet breadth) combined with a decreased capture of large, high-value prey (low foraging efficiency) at Site 7921 suggest localized resource depression. This may be explained by Makaua’s limited reef area compared to larger ahupua‘a along this coastline. This hypothesis does require testing through the collection and analysis of older midden assemblages from Makaua (there currently are no other collections). Site 7921 is significant under HAR §13-275-6 Criterion d and NHRP Criterion D. It has integrity of location, setting, and association. It is evaluated as eligible for listing on the Hawai‘i Register of Historic Places (per HAR §13-198-8) under Criterion D. The site has provided, and retains potential to yield, information about traditional habitation in Makaua, namely the spatial distribution of activities, kinds of materials/activities, and chronology. Importantly, the site has provided information about marine exploitation along coastal Makaua during the late pre-Contact period.
Site 7922 is a mortared basalt seawall built in the 1920s during the construction of Kamehameha Highway. The wall is 100 m long and is constructed with 5–6 courses of dressed basalt blocks. Stabilization of the wall, completed as part of the current emergency repairs, had a negligible effect to the aesthetics of the site. Site 7922 is significant under Criteria c and d and Criteria C and D following the NHRP significance evaluation criteria. It is evaluated as eligible for listing on the Hawai‘i Register of Historic Places under Criteria C and D. The site has integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association. The seawall, as a component of Kamehameha Highway, documents early 20th century engineering aimed at improving transportation between rural areas and the Honolulu urban core. It is a fine example of early 20th century masonry infrastructure.
In consideration of these results, it is recommended that any future construction in this area involving excavation below the modern fill be subject to State Historic Preservation Division (SHPD) review and proceed under an SHPD-accepted mitigation plan (e.g., data recovery in the form of excavation or in the form of archaeological monitoring). Further, the shoreline from Makaua to Kaʻaʻawa is continuously eroding and it is anticipated that archaeological materials will continue to be exposed in the future. Due to the limited archaeological information available for this area, any opportunity to adequately collect data will be beneficial to understanding the human occupation and cultural history of the region. The creation of a state-wide coastal erosion database would greatly benefit SHPD, as it would assist in ranking threatened cultural sites and could also be used to create management and preservation procedures (Kane et al. 2012).
The timing and choice of initial settlement location are examined on the small island of Tavua in Fiji’s Mamanuca Group. The mid- to late-Holocene sealevel
retreat influenced the island’s coastal landforms through the acceleration of coastal progradation and the production of habitable land. Archaeological,
sedimentological, and chronological data are integrated to better understand the island’s settlement and geomorphological history. These datasets are
then compared with regional and modeled sea-level curves for Fiji in order to constrain the time period for the onset of coastal regression. The results
indicate that Tavua was initially settled around 3000 years ago, within a few centuries of the formation of the coastal plain. Integrating archaeological,
sedimentological, and sea-level datasets helps produce a more precise understanding of the relationship between sea-level change and the timing of
settlement on small islands in Oceania.
importance to archaeologists, wildlife managers, and conservation biologists. While contemporary studies are useful for linking managerial strategies to prey population patterns, zooarchaeological assemblages when combined with computer-based simulation methods provide additional insights into marine prey resilience or susceptibility to harvesting pressures over the long-term. In this paper we generate a set of predictions, drawing on concepts from life-history theory, and then build an agent-based model to examine how energetic return rate and age at reproductive maturity influence prey resilience to foraging pressures. Our agent-based model results are then compared with archaeological observations from a limited number of Pacific island assemblages to assess the validity of the model. The results of the simulation indicate that prey taxa with low energetic return rates which reach reproductive maturity at young ages are more impervious to human predation than those which reach reproductive maturity later in life and have greater energetic returns. The archaeological assemblages examined support these key findings and suggest that the susceptibility of marine organisms to human predation is likely to be multi-faceted and context dependent. Our results also demonstrate the utility of agent-based modeling as a technique for establishing the dynamic sufficiency of competing explanations and for generating new hypotheses.
seascapes and sea level impacts. While our findings do not contradict Dickinson’s model of sea level constrained island settlement, other explanations cannot be excluded.
above the coast of the remote Nā Pali district on the
island of Kaua‘i, lies the spectacular historical and
archaeological site at Nu‘alolo Kai. First excavated
by Bishop Museum archaeologists between 1958
and 1964, the site contained the well-preserved
remains of one of the largest and most diverse arrays
of traditional and historic artifacts ever found
in Hawai‘i. The house sites that constitute the focus
of Abundance and Resilience were built over five
centuries of occupation and contained deeply buried,
stratified deposits extending more than nine
feet beneath the surface. The essays in this volume
detail the work of archaeologists associated with
the University of Hawai‘i who have been compiling
and studying the animal remains recovered from
the excavations.
The contributors discuss the range of foods eaten
by Hawaiians, the ways in which particular species
were captured and harvested, and how these
practices might have evolved through changes
in the climate and natural environment. Adding
to this are analyses of a sophisticated material
culture—how ancient Hawaiians fashioned animal
remains into artifacts such as ornaments made of
shell, pointed bird bone “pickers,” sea urchin and
coral files and abraders, turtle shell combs, and
bone handles for kāhili (feathered standards) used
by Hawaiian royalty.
For researchers, Nu‘alolo Kai opened up the
world of everyday life of indigenous Hawaiians
between AD 1400 and 1900. More importantly,
we learn how their procurement
and utilization of animals—wild marine
organisms and birds, as well as domesticated
dogs and pigs—affected local resources.
Demonstrating that an increased preference
for introduced animals, such as dogs and
pigs, effectively limited negative impacts
on wild animal resources, the essays in
Abundance and Resilience collectively argue
that the Hawaiian community of Nu‘alolo
Kai practiced a sustainable form of animal
resource procurement and management for
five centuries.