1st Edition
Archaeology of Pacific Oceania Inhabiting a Sea of Islands
This book integrates a region-wide chronological narrative of the archaeology of Pacific Oceania. How and why did this vast sea of islands, covering nearly one-third of the world’s surface, come to be inhabited over the last several millennia, transcending significant change in ecology, demography, and society? What can any or all of the thousands of islands offer as ideal model systems toward comprehending globally significant issues of human-environment relations and coping with changing circumstances of natural and cultural history? A new synthesis of Pacific Oceanic archaeology addresses these questions, based largely on the author’s investigations throughout the diverse region.
CHAPTER 1: RESEARCH THEMES IN PACIFIC OCEANIC ARCHAEOLOGY
Defining Pacific Oceania
Islands as Laboratories, Microcosms, and Model Systems
Human-environment Relations
Human Migrations
Trade and Exchange
Coasts and Islands
Landscapes and Seascapes
Structure of This Book
References
CHAPTER 2 REGIONAL CONTEXT AND PERSPECTIVES
Geological Processes: Earth and Ocean
Climate and Weather Patterns: More than the Humid Tropics
Plant and Animal Communities: Natural and Human-mediated
Historical Contexts
Linguistic Histories
Genetics Lineages
Role of Archaeology
References
CHAPTER 3: SUBSTANCE AND SCOPE OF PACIFIC OCEANIC ARCHAEOLOGY
Range of Materials and Questions
Framework of Cultural Chronologies
References
CHAPTER 4: HUNTER-GATHERER TRADITIONS IN THE WESTERN ASIA-PACIFIC REGION
Expedient Chipped Tools
Edge-grinding and Other Formal Developments
Microliths and Small Flaked Stone Tool Traditions
Stemmed Tools
Adzes
Plant Foods
Animal Life
Burial Practice
Patterns of Resource Use
References
CHAPTER 5: FOLLOWING THE ASIA-PACIFIC POTTERY TRAIL, 4000 THROUGH 800 B.C.
Perspectives and Scales of Origins
Pottery as a Diagnostic Element of an Archaeological Horizon
Possible Early Pottery in Borneo
Coastal China
Taiwan
Philippines
Indonesia
Mariana Islands
Bismarck Archipelago
Southern Melanesia and West Polynesia
New Guinea
Palau
Tracking the Pottery Trail
References
CHAPTER 6: FIRST CONTACT WITH THE REMOTE OCEANIC ENVIRONMENT: THE MARIANA ISLANDS AT 1500 B.C.
Earliest Marianas Sites
Migration and Settlement Process
Successful Settlement and Viability
Situating Earliest Marianas Settlement in the Asia-Pacific Region
References
CHAPTER 7: A SIEGE OF ECOLOGICAL IMPERIALISM: LAPITA INVASIONS, 1100 THROUGH 800 B.C.
Meaning of Lapita?
Linguistic Perspective
Human Biology and Genetics
Transported Landscapes
Lapita Contemporaries
References
CHAPTER 8: THE END OF AN ERA: ADJUSTING TO CHANGING COASTLINES, 1100 THROUGH 500 B.C.
Coastal Morphologies and Ecologies
Shifting Contexts in Nature and Society
References
CHAPTER 9: A BROAD-SPECTRUM REVOLUTION? 500 B.C. THROUGH A.D. 100
Ecological Zones in Large and Small Islands
Roles of Fishing, Foraging, and Farming
Sustainability, Resilience, and Collapse
References
CHAPTER 10: THE ATOLL HIGHWAY OF MICRONESIA, A.D. 100 THROUGH 500
Early Site Contexts
Inter-island Connectivity
Contributions of Micronesia in Pacific-wide Voyaging
References
CHAPTER 11: ETHNOGENESIS AND POLYGENESIS, A.D. 500 THROUGH 1000
The Dying Art of Pottery and Other Cultural Transformations
Changing House Forms and Settlement Systems
References
CHAPTER 12: AN A.D. 1000 EVENT? FORMALIZATION OF CULTURAL EXPRESSIONS
Monuments and Monumental Traditions
Indexing and Profiling Monumentality
Stonework Villages
Everlasting Burials
Religious Complexes and Components
Linking Lands and Lineages
Climate Stability and Instability
References
CHAPTER 13: EXPANSION AND INTENSIFICATION, A.D. 1000 THROUGH 1800
Processes of Expansion and Intensification
Expanding to the Margins of Pacific Oceania
Field Systems
Animal Foods
Interaction and Exchange Networks
Population Growth and Climate Change
Making and Re-making Chiefdoms
Warfare
Inside and Outside a Globalized Economy
References
CHAPTER 14: LIVING WITH THE PAST: LIFE, LORE, AND LANDSCAPE IN PACIFIC OCEANIA
Overview of Trends and Patterns
Long-term Continuity and Transformation
Future Directions of Enhancing Archaeological Values
References
Biography
Mike T. Carson (Ph.D. in Anthropology, Unviersity of Hawai‘i, 2002) has investigated the broad geographic range and chronological scope of archaeological landscapes throughout the Asia-Pacific region. He currently is Associate Professor of Archaeology at the Richard F. Taitano Micronesian Area Research Center at the University of Guam, and he is co-editor of Asian Perspectives: The Journal of Archaeology for Asia and the Pacific.
CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title 2018
"Archaeology of Pacific Oceania is recommended to anyone looking for a compact yet exhaustive and above all up-to-date introduction to the archaeological situation of Oceania. It will inspire experts and – thanks to its high readability – interested laymen in equal measure." - Hermann Mückler, Journal of New Zealand & Pacific Studies
