Alex E. Morrison

Human Impacts on the Nearshore Environment: An Archaeological Case Study from Kaua'i, Hawaiian Islands

ABSTRACT Archaeology provides a long-term framework to document prehistoric resource use and habitat modification. Excavation at Nu‘alolo Kai, Kaua‘i, yielded a large, well-preserved shellfish assemblage. Analysis determined the susceptibility of mollusk communities to human foraging pressures in the past. Some coral reef and intertidal species, such as Turbo sandwicensis and Strombus maculatus, declined in abundance as a result of heavy exploitation. In contrast, shoreline mollusk communities remained fairly stable through time. Archaeological research provides baselines for modern conservation efforts and fisheries management.

The Temporal and Spatial Patterning of the Initial Settlement of Sāmoa

ABSTRACT Among the Lapita-bearing island groups of the Pacific, Sāmoa is unusual for having a relatively large land area but only one cultural deposit containing Lapita ceramics. Although it has been proposed that additional Lapita settlements may have been distributed along the coasts of much of the archipelago, investigations have not located these deposits nor reliably dated early Polynesian Plainware deposits older than ∼2500 cal BP. We combine a chronometric hygiene protocol and a GIS-based model of the paleoshoreline to examine the temporal and spatial distribution of pre-2000 cal BP archaeological deposits in the islands. Using the currently available suite of radiocarbon dates, it is apparent that only by ∼2300–2000 cal BP were a number of settlements occupied across the archipelago. Acknowledging that a variety of geomorphological processes have changed the Sāmoan landscape, we developed a GIS-based model of the ∼3000 cal BP coastlines of Tutuila and Aunu’u Islands, which suggest that suitable sandy coastal flats had not formed in many areas prior to ∼2500 cal BP, hence limiting settlement by Lapita peoples. Our methodology, which combines an evaluation of early radiocarbon dates with a GIS-based paleoshoreline model, offers a valuable means of incorporating temporal and spatial data for the examination of coastal and island colonization.

Examining Causes and Trends in Marine Trophic Level Change: 1500 Years of Fish Exploitation at Fatu-ma-Futi, Tutuila Island, American Sāmoa

ABSTRACT Excavations at Fatu-ma-Futi, Tutuila Island, American Sāmoa reveal a rich cultural deposit spanning approximately 1500 years (1620–150 cal BP). Abundant cultural material was recovered, including a large assemblage of fish remains. We present our analysis of a sample of the fish remains, including a trophic level analysis applied to the assemblage to document patterns in fish community structure and composition. Results indicate relative stability in the mean trophic level of fish families exploited through time. A minor decrease in trophic level is documented between 300–100 cal BP. The relative abundance of fish feeding classes suggests that two inshore herbivore families, surgeonfish (Acanthuridae) and parrotfish (Scaridae), increase through time. Further research is needed to document the extent to which these patterns result from environmental, cultural, or methodological variables.

East Polynesian Islands as Models of Cultural Divergence: The Case of Rapa Nui and Rapa Iti

ABSTRACT 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.

Early Human Impacts on Megamolluscs

Antczak and Cipriani’s edited volume, Early Human Impacts on Megamolluscs, is a collection of case studies drawn from the Early Human Impacts on Megamolluscs International (EHIM) Workshop held in Venezuela in 2005. This impressive volume includes 17 contributions from 26 scholars examining mollusc-human interactions in a variety of geographic regions, including North America, Central and South America, South Africa, Europe, Japan, Papua New Guinea, and Asia. Introductory and closing chapters provide broader context and discussion for the substantive issues examined in the volume. These issues, and their variety, make this collection a microcosm of current debates within archaeology. Consequently, readers who are not necessarily specialists in archaeomalacology will find the book useful outside of the specific focus on human-

Archaeological and sedimentological data indicate Lapita settlement on a newly formed coastal plain: Tavua Island, Mamanuca Group, Fiji:

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 sea-level 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.