Overview
Tangatatau Rockshelter on Mangaia Island in the Southern Cook Islands, excavated by a multidisciplinary team in 1989-1991, produced one of the richest stratigraphic sequences of artifacts, faunal assemblages, and archaeobotanical materials in Eastern Polynesia. More than seventy radiocarbon dates provide a tight chronology from AD 1000 to European contact in about 1800. The faunal assemblage provides compelling evidence for dramatic reductions in indigenous bird life following Polynesian colonization, one of the best documented cases for human-induced impacts on island biota. Tangatatau is unique among Polynesian archaeological sites in the extent to which fishing was dominated by freshwater fishes and eels. The site also yielded an extensive suite of carbonized plant materials, including sweet potato tubers, demonstrating that this South American domesticate had reached Eastern Polynesia by AD 1400. Mangaia illustrates the often far-reaching consequences of human land use and resource exploitation on small and vulnerable islands.
Full Product Details
Author: Patrick Vinton Kirch
Publisher: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA
Imprint: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA
Volume: 40
Weight: 1.356kg
ISBN: 9781938770104
ISBN 10: 1938770102
Pages: 348
Publication Date: 30 April 2017
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Tertiary & Higher Education
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Available To Order
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Reviews
The monograph is exemplary as both a final archaeological site report from Polynesia and a multi-faceted contribution to Polynesian island settlement studies. On both counts, it should serve as a high benchmark for others to follow. --Ian Barber, Archaeology in Oceania, 2018
"""The monograph is exemplary as both a final archaeological site report from Polynesia and a multi-faceted contribution to Polynesian island settlement studies. On both counts, it should serve as a high benchmark for others to follow."" --Ian Barber, Archaeology in Oceania, 2018"
'A remarkable fusion of dirt archaeology and lab science focused on a tropical island at the gateway to Eastern Polynesia. Ancient Polynesia comes alive in Tangatatau.' Barry V. Rolett, Department of Anthropolgy, University of Hawaii, USA
Author Information
Patrick Vinton Kirch is a Chancellor's Professor Emeritus and the Class of 1954 Professor of Anthropology and Integrative Biology Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Curator of Oceanic Archaeology in the P. A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology at Berkeley.
