Abstract
The timing of human colonization of East Polynesia, a vast area lying between Hawai‘i, Rapa Nui, and New Zealand, is much debated and the underlying causes of this great migration have been enigmatic. Our study generates evidence for human dispersal into eastern Polynesia from islands to the west from around AD 900 and contemporaneous paleoclimate data from the likely source region. Lake cores from Atiu, Southern Cook Islands (SCIs) register evidence of pig and/or human occupation on a virgin landscape at this time, followed by changes in lake carbon around AD 1000 and significant anthropogenic disturbance from c. AD 1100. The broader paleoclimate context of these early voyages of exploration are derived from the Atiu lake core and complemented by additional lake cores from Samoa (directly west) and Vanuatu (southwest) and published hydroclimate proxies from the Society Islands (northeast) and Kiribati (north). Algal lipid and leaf wax biomarkers allow for comparisons of changing hydroclimate conditions across the region before, during, and after human arrival in the SCIs. The evidence indicates a prolonged drought in the likely western source region for these colonists, lasting c. 200 to 400 y, contemporaneous with the phasing of human dispersal into the Pacific. We propose that drying climate, coupled with documented social pressures and societal developments, instigated initial eastward exploration, resulting in SCI landfall(s) and return voyaging, with colonization a century or two later. This incremental settlement process likely involved the accumulation of critical maritime knowledge over several generations.
Funder
RCUK | Natural Environment Research Council
Publisher
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Reference51 articles.
1. Short-Lived Plant Materials, Long-Lived Trees, and Polynesian 14C Dating: Considerations for 14C Sample Selection and Documentation
2. Suggested best practices for the application of radiocarbon dating to Hawaiian archaeology;Rieth;Hawaii Archaeol.,2013
3. 230Th dating of coral abraders from stratified deposits at Tangatatau Rockshelter, Mangaia, Cook Islands: Implications for building precise chronologies in Polynesia;Niespolo;J. Archaeol. Sci.,2018
4. P. V. Kirch , Ed., Tangatatau Rockshelter: The Evolution of an Eastern Polynesian Socio-Ecosystem (Monumenta Archaeologica 40, UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press, 2017).
5. Timing, magnitude and effects of Late Holocene sea level drawdown on island habitability, Aitutaki, Cook Islands;Allen;Archaeol. Ocean.,2016
Cited by
55 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献