Satellites and Sociocultural Economics in the Pacific

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Using data collected by satellite and aerial remote sensing platforms, we developed an economic model of human niche construction at the islands in the Pacific. We argue that types of niches are determined by human choice, given environmental conditions, which can be both assets and challenges. Deciding to surmount challenges increases cultural capital, which we carefully define here as knowledge. We use here examples of Indigenous knowledge, in particular Indigenous navigational knowledge developed to recognize ocean dynamics that can be seen in models and images generated with data collected by satellites. We argue that this and other forms of Indigenous knowledge were used to develop recognizable forms of economic capital, especially landesque capital, as well as social capital. These forms of capital can be seen clearly in models and images generated at the island of Pohnpei, including the World Heritage Site of Nan Madol.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 52453