Micronesia (Other Keyword)
1-7 (7 Records)
Remote Oceania was one of the last major regions colonized by humans prehistorically. While there has been an increasing amount of archaeological and genetic research in the region in recent years, many parts are sorely un- or understudied. This is particularly true of Micronesia, where many questions remain as to how and when these early inhabitants settled and adapted to the area. The Palauan archipelago, which comprises hundreds of smaller uplifted limestone "Rock Islands," hosts identified...
Clay and Technology: Micronesian ceramic tradition (2015)
Pottery tradition in Micronesia was diverse in terms of technology. This relates to various factors, such as historical and/or cultural reasons and the natural environmental conditions. Above all, the nature of clay resource available to the potters has significant effect upon forming techniques and products. Thanks to William Dickinson’s wide-ranging geological knowledge and active involvement in mineralogical studies of excavated pottery from Oceania, our understanding on prehistoric pottery...
Early Settlement of Atolls in Eastern Micronesia: Investigations on Mwoakilloa Atoll (2015)
While atolls are the most ubiquitous island type in the Pacific, there has been a general dearth of archaeological research to help elucidate when they were settled prehistorically and how they fit into regional systems of exchange and interaction, particularly in Micronesia. Recent fieldwork on Mwoakilloa Atoll in the eastern Caroline Islands have shown that settlement of the island ca. 1700 cal. BP coincides with the earliest occupation of larger high islands in the region (1700-2000 BP)....
Fire up the Uhmw: Deciphering Botanical Residues from Earth Ovens in Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia (2017)
In Pohnpei, Micronesia, the uhmw, or earth oven, is one important way of preparing food. These ovens are typically located in cookhouses next to residential sites. Pohnpeians use heated stones on the ground to cook food and cover items with large leaves while cooking. It is clear that umhw are a long-standing Pohnpeian tradition, as multiple examples have been found in the archaeological record. In this paper, we ask what botanical residues from uhmw can tell us about the prehistory and history...
Investigating resource sustainability during two millennia of occupation on Ebon Atoll, Marshall Islands: the ichthyoarchaeological evidence (2015)
Low coral atolls, consisting predominately of unconsolidated sand and gravel, are commonly less than 2 m above sea level; consequently, atolls are amongst the most precarious landscapes for sustained human occupation in Oceania. Constraints encountered by colonisers include nutrient-poor soils and salt laden winds which hindered plant growth, the absence of perennial surface freshwater, limited terrestrial biodiversity, and an inherent vulnerability to extreme weather events. Conversely, the...
Tracking Human Dispersals to Palau Using Ancient DNA: Results from the Chelechol ra Orrak Site (2021)
This is an abstract from the "When the Wild Winds Blow: Micronesia Colonization in Pacific Context" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Initial settlement of Remote Oceania represents the world’s last major wave of human dispersal. While transdisciplinary models involving linguistic, archaeological, and biological data have been utilized in the Pacific to develop basic chronologies and trajectories of initial settlement, a number of elusive gaps remain...
X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) and Morphological Analysis of Trade Beads from Palau, Micronesia (2017)
Glass beads have long played an important role in Micronesian societies. Oral histories and ethnographic accounts describe how clay and glass beads ("udoud") in Palau functioned as traditional forms of currency in exchange relationships and were apparently used by islanders from Yap several hundred miles away to negotiate access to limestone quarries that enabled them to carve their famous stone money disks ("rai"). Evidence shows that both stone money quarrying and the exchange of high-valued...