Prehistoric Fishing Declines at Chelechol ra Orrak, Palau: Resolving Issues of Anthropogenic Impacts and Long-Term Resource Sustainability

Summary

Previous research at Chelechol ra Orrak in the Rock Islands of Palau has revealed several critical shifts in marine resource exploitation between ca. 3000/1700 – 0 BP. These changes include a decline in fishing, increased reliance on molluscs, particularly Mactra clams, and statistically significant size increases in one of the most heavily exploited gastropod species, Gibberulus (Strombus) gibberulus. Commonly invoked explanatory mechanisms, such as broad scale climate change and anthropogenic resource depression, fail to account for these shifts. Here, we present our findings from further investigation into these temporal trends based on analyses of fish size change and marine resource patch use. Results indicate negative evidence for anthropogenic exploitation depression and suggest that fishing declines may be driven by alternative causes that bear no direct relation to trends in mollusc exploitation. We interpret the record for changing subsistence practices at Orrak in terms of interacting, complex sociocultural and environmental variables that altered foraging constraints and opportunity costs, leading ultimately to shifts in the way Orrak’s residents interacted with their environment.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Evolution and Ecology in Oceania

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