Archaeology in Oceania最新文献

Small islands are important model systems for examining the role of people in shaping novel environments and modifying resources through time. Here we report on the vertebrate faunal assemblages recovered from two sites on Ofu and Olosega islands (American Samoa), which were occupied only a few centuries after the initial settlement of the islands. We assess forager decision-making both locally and regionally as well as changing subsistence regimes. Our results suggest foraging efforts were focused on the marine environment, particularly fish, but with concomitant evidence for interactions with terrestrial habitats (e.g. seabirds) including the introduction of commensal species (i.e. red junglefowl and Pacific rat). Notably we documented a high degree of similarity between the fish species reported archaeologically and those targeted by modern subsistence fishers in the region, which is despite the occurrence of wide scale coastal landscape changes over the past several thousand years. These preliminary outcomes may suggest fish resources have remained stable through initial occupation to the present-day, but future zooarchaeological research is required to comprehensively evaluate the sustainability of the marine fishery over the past several millennia.

A count of 6235 Chondrichthyes vertebrae was recovered from the 17th to 18th century AD NRD site (R11/859) on the Manukau Harbour, Auckland, New Zealand. These have been identified by aDNA analysis as mostly rig (Mustelus lenticulatus). To provide context for this unusual assemblage we briefly review the archaeological record of Chondrichthyes fishing in Oceania and New Zealand, and more extensively review the 19th and early 20th century ethnography of Māori shark fishing in New Zealand along with the archaeological record. Chondrichthyes were of economic, social and spiritual importance to pre-European Māori. A variety of species were caught by a variety of techniques, including mass harvest, and could be dried for storage. Our initial reading of the ethnographic record led us to expect that the assemblage would be dominated by school shark (Galeorhinus galeus), but a closer analysis of the record showed that Māori sharking practice was diverse. The NRD assemblage encapsulates this variation.

Monolithic statues (moai) of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) are three-dimensional objects and unique to the ancient public art of Eastern Polynesia. The primary purpose here is to summarize the specific landscape and statue production contexts of moai 156 and moai 157 in Rano Raraku, the statue quarry, demonstrating that they are embellished with rock art applied post-production (sixteenth to seventeenth centuries) and after they were upright and partially buried by colluvium in a named quarry chamber. Secondly, motif analysis reveals that crescents are present on moai 156 and 157 and incorporated into other motif types at 'Orongo, Rano Kau. The crescent is the central motif in a diagrammatic schema of Rapa Nui design development. Thirdly, iconographic norms allow controlled comparison with other moai for applied rock art. Although Hoa Hakananai'a differs in material, size, and situation from all others, the motifs on it are within the conventions of the iconographic corpus. Rano Raraku and Rano Kau are validated as ritual places on the dualistic, regionalized Rapa Nui landscape. The internal affinities and overall continuity of Rapanui cultural expression is established within an evolving anthropogenic environment during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

This article describes three freshwater mussel shell artefacts recently documented for the Murray River in South Australia. These finds more than double the known examples of such artefacts from this region. Two of the modified shells are perforated, with the other serrated. The finely serrated item is a rare artefact and we have not located any similar published examples in Australia, although international correlates exist. The function/s and cultural significance of the objects are also considered in this paper. Hypotheses for the perforated finds include ornamentation, tool stringing and fibre scraping. Ornamentation, idle tinkering and food utensil use are considered as possible intended functions for the serrated artefact. Given the age range of the objects reported here (c. 6181–517 cal BP), together with other finds in the Murray Darling Basin, we tentatively suggest that shells have been a material resource used continually in this region for a range of purposes. However, as argued by other researchers, we concur that there has probably been infrequent identification and reporting of such shell artefacts. This is considered particularly likely given that our finds were recovered from relatively small scale excavation/coring and surface sampling efforts. As such, this paper attempts to raise awareness of this form of material culture in archaeological sequences.

Domestic dogs were transported by voyagers to the islands of Remote Oceania. However, the distribution of these, and other domesticates, varies by location. By the time of European contact, dogs were extirpated from many islands, but the cause of their disappearance remains unknown. Archaeological reports and ethnohistoric text analysed for 35 islands and island groups in Remote Oceania reveal regional patterns of dog introduction and loss that shed light on their disappearance. The findings of this survey indicate that people introduced dogs to most island groups in Remote Oceania and that pre-European extirpation rates were high. The highest localized extinction rates occurred on low islands suggesting that low-island vulnerabilities and spatial constraints on population size affect survivorship. The dogs of Remote Oceania have a complex history in which introduction to new islands was common, but long-term persistence was difficult.

This paper provides a complete overview of all the known rock art sites to demonstrate the variation in motifs and techniques used in the Philippines, outline the indigenous associations, and highlight issues for conservation. In addition, new findings are introduced that include a second rock art site in Alab and previously unnoticed styles of rock art in Peñablanca. In recent years, the study of Philippine rock art has also yielded valuable contributions for archaeology both in methods and theory. Recording the rock art in challenging contexts necessitated the development of several pioneering digital methods, some low-cost, to see obfuscated rock art and expedite inventories that can be used worldwide. After reviewing the rock art in the Philippines, it is clear that the much-debated Austronesian rock art theories do not apply to these sites. A comparison of similar motifs and their contexts found in Southeast Asia and Micronesia is a starting point for developing new rock art theories in the region.