The Origins and Distribution of Oceanic Agricultural Techniques Revealed through Comparative Phylogenetic Analysis
Author(s): Timothy Rieth; Ethan Cochrane
Year: 2015
Summary
Agricultural innovation fuelled the development of Oceanic societies. Techniques such as pond-fields and lithic mulching increased yields and made marginal landscapes habitable. Unfortunately, our knowledge of the evolution of techniques, including ancestral states, homologies, and independent inventions has been largely speculative. Here I present a phylogenetic analysis of ethnohistorically and archaeologically documented agricultural techniques across Oceanic societies. The analysis combines linguistic trees as models of population history with agricultural technique data to explain the evolution of techniques across Oceania. Results have implications for explaining prehistoric interaction, variation in social complexity, and the concept of Polynesia as a monophyletic cultural unit.
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Cite this Record
The Origins and Distribution of Oceanic Agricultural Techniques Revealed through Comparative Phylogenetic Analysis. Timothy Rieth, Ethan Cochrane. Presented at The 80th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, San Francisco, California. 2015 ( tDAR id: 395367)
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Spatial Coverage
min long: 111.973; min lat: -52.052 ; max long: -87.715; max lat: 53.331 ;