WDXRF Analyses and Understanding Variability in Time and Space: Trade in the Complex Society Island Chiefdoms

Summary

This is an abstract from the "2019 Fryxell Award Symposium: Papers in Honor of M. Steven Shackley" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Our WDXRF sourcing program of geological and archaeological specimens (n=177) from the Society Islands, outlines the dynamics of inter- and intra-archipelago exchange over an 800 year period. Adzes from 21 sources were identified. Those traded in from the Marquesas Islands, an over 1,400 km voyage, are found with low frequency (3%), augmenting known extra-archipelago imports by sixfold and illustrating inter-archipelago trade post-dating the 15th century. Four Moorean sources have "broad" island-wide reach; two represent quarries and two represent probable working floors. Nearly half of the analyzed artifacts are from non-local sources demonstrating widespread intra-island exchange in the pre-contact period and the development of a local prestige goods economy. Adzes from Tahiti Island quarries have the broadest reach, found on all three islands studied (Maupiti, Rai'atea, and Mo’orea), while adzes from Maupiti were also traded into Mo’orea. Evidence suggests two main mechanisms for adze exchange from the mid-15th century onwards. Trade and exchange of raw material and adze preforms and blanks amongst high status tahua, or adze specialists, likely accounts for non-local imports recovered at adze quarries and working floors. Trade and exchange amongst high status priests and secondary elites likely accounts for non-local imports recovered at elite ceremonial sites.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• 2019 Fryxell Award Symposium: Papers in Honor of M. Steven Shackley   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22845