Chronology building for the Marquesas Islands (Eastern Polynesia): The emerging consensus
Author(s): Guillaume Molle
Year: 2025
Summary
This is an abstract from the "Evolutionary and Ecological Perspectives on Oceanic Archaeology: Papers to Honor the Contributions of Melinda Allen" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.
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Since publication of the first radiocarbon dates from the Ha’atuatua (Nuku Hiva) and Hane (Ua Huna) sites, the Marquesas Islands, te henua ‘enana, have played a critical role in the construction of settlement models for Eastern Polynesia. However, the chronology of Polynesian arrivals in the Marquesas and the subsequent cultural sequence have been largely debated for more than fifty years. Research led by Melinda Allen and her team on Nuku Hiva over the past two decades has contributed to major advancements such as improving the radiocarbon chronologies and acquiring new archaeological and paleoecological evidence to document the long history of this archipelago.
Here we review the most recent studies including the reinvestigation of key sites in both the northern (Hane on Ua Huna) and southern group (Hanamiai on Tahuata) along with results from M. Allen’s field work on Nuku Hiva. Almost 70 years following R.C. Suggs’ pioneering stratigraphic excavations, a growing consensus now shows that the first human installations in the Marquesas Islands occurred by the 11<sup>th</sup> or 12<sup>th</sup> century AD, a framework coherent with current views on the colonization of Eastern Polynesia as a whole.
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Cite this Record
Chronology building for the Marquesas Islands (Eastern Polynesia): The emerging consensus. Guillaume Molle. Presented at The 90th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. 2025 ( tDAR id: 510003)
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Abstract Id(s): 51220