Geospatial Studies in the Archaeology of Oceania

DOCUMENT Citation Only Kyle Riordan. Julie Field.

This is an abstract from the "Geospatial Studies in the Archaeology of Oceania" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The concept of landscapes of movement establishes the theoretical basis for understanding meaning behind the creation and use of roads, trails, and pathways. This meaning can be categorized by "prioritized relationships" (i.e., social, political, religious, economic) which ultimately stimulate the existence of landscapes of movement. This...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Matthew Prebble. Seth Quintus. Ethan Cochrane.

This is an abstract from the "Geospatial Studies in the Archaeology of Oceania" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The development and present nature of landscape archaeology in the Pacific owes much to the pioneering work of Janet Davidson and Roger Green in Falefa Valley, Upolu, Sāmoa. This research, completed in the absence of modern geospatial technology, not only demonstrated the potential of landscape-scale investigations in Polynesia but also...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Adam Johnson. Mark McCoy. Jesse Casana. Austin Hill. Thegn Ladefoged.

This is an abstract from the "Geospatial Studies in the Archaeology of Oceania" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Geospatial technology has allowed for significant advances in archaeological practice in Hawaii and Oceania as the equipment, software, and datasets have become more affordable and widely available. Remotely sensed data, notably aerial LiDAR and terrestrial laser scanning, are used in research and applied archaeology for site prospection...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Jared Koller. Stephen Acabado.

This is an abstract from the "Geospatial Studies in the Archaeology of Oceania" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Archaeological dating of agricultural terraces is complicated due to the nature of its technological foundation and use. Various methods have been proposed for dating agricultural features, but the issue of stratigraphic disturbance persists. In this paper, we highlight our work in the UNESCO-listed Ifugao Rice Terraces as a case study to...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Britton Shepardson.

This is an abstract from the "Geospatial Studies in the Archaeology of Oceania" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The island communities of Oceania, and none more so than that of Rapa Nui (Easter Island, Chile), continue to develop their economies, modern identities, and narratives of their cultural past based on plentiful archaeological remains that are visited by hundreds, or even thousands, of people on a daily basis. While archaeologists surge...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Craig Shapiro.

This is an abstract from the "Geospatial Studies in the Archaeology of Oceania" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In 2014, The World Bank helped the government of Samoa to launch a climate resilience program. Included in this initiative was the financing of a light detecting and ranging (LiDAR) survey throughout the entirety of the country. Although originally meant solely for national climate information services and hazard mapping, the LiDAR...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Julie Field. John Dudgeon. Christopher Roos. Amy Commendador. Rebecca Hazard.

This is an abstract from the "Geospatial Studies in the Archaeology of Oceania" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Previous GIS-based analyses (2017) by the authors have identified the ranges of several classes of terrestrial fauna that would inhabited the island of Viti Levu in prehistory. The ranges and habits of reptiles (giant tortoises, iguanas, and snakes), flightless birds (megapodes and giant pigeons), and bat and seabird colonies intersect in...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Katherine Peck. Michael Graves.

This is an abstract from the "Geospatial Studies in the Archaeology of Oceania" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The South Kohala Field System (SKFS), Hawai‘i Island, is a network of contoured and sloping field borders first constructed in the prehistoric period but utilized into the 19th century. Many features are located below the 750 mm rainfall isohyet, the lower boundary for rainfed agriculture in Hawai‘i. In order to sustain agriculture in...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Stephen West. Michael Graves. Katherine Peck.

This is an abstract from the "Geospatial Studies in the Archaeology of Oceania" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This project is a demonstration of GIS methods for identifying irrigated agricultural complexes in the heavily vegetated drainage of Halawa Gulch, windward Kohala. Through use of GIS tools on a LiDAR data set I created slope interpolation and elevational profile graphs of potential agricultural sites. In some cases these could be verified...

DOCUMENT Citation Only John Dudgeon. Rebecca Hazard. Julie Field. Christopher Roos. Amy Commendador.

This is an abstract from the "Geospatial Studies in the Archaeology of Oceania" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The transition from coastal foraging to inland/upland horticulture in Viti Levu, Fiji appears to be marked by the early incorporation (~3000 BP) of fruit arboriculture in the primary tributaries of the Sigatoka River, with later (~2500 BP) evidence for the development of more intensive agriculture involving root and tuber farming and pond...