Ethnoarchaeological Contributions to Interpreting Pacific Archaeofish Assemblages

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Supporting Practical Inquiry: The Past, Present, and Future Contributions of Thomas Dye" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In 1976, Tom Dye conducted an ethnographic study of marine resource exploitation on Niuatoputapu, Kingdom of Tonga, to help provide a reference from which to interpret prehistoric patterns evident in the archaeological remains. Ethnoarchaeology provides a point of control for an expanded comparative framework through which analytical interpretations of the archaeological record can be formulated and examined. In this paper, we consider Dye’s contributions to Pacific ethnoarchaeological research, and his methodological advances to fish studies in Hawai‘i through the creation of an ichthyology manual. A case study from Hawai‘i demonstrates the value of such ethnographic work and the base of information that they generate. Many traditions and historical records describe coastal Ka‘ūpūlehu as renowned for its rich fishing grounds. These records indicate that the heads of certain species of goatfish, mullet, and surgeonfish were tossed back to avoid strange occurrences or nightmares from their consumption. The possibility of butchery affecting element representation was examined in an archaeofish assemblage from Ka‘ūpūlehu by comparing the survivorship of cranial bones to vertebrae to determine if underrepresentation may be due to offsite head removal.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Supporting Practical Inquiry: The Past, Present, and Future Contributions of Thomas Dye   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36431.0