Tangatatau Rockshelter: The Evolution of an Eastern Polynesian Socio-Ecosystem
Patrick Vinton Kirch
Dec 2017 · Monumenta Archaeologica Book 40 · Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press
Ebook
348
Pages
family_home
Eligible
info
reportRatings and reviews aren’t verified Learn More
About this ebook
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.
About the author
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.
Rate this ebook
Tell us what you think.
Reading information
Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.
