Easter Island Foundation - Conference 2004

"A Palynologist Looks at the Colonization of the Pacific".

CONFERENCE SESSION DESCRIPTION

& SELECTED ABSTRACTS

Several recent and widely read papers have challenged conventional notions about the early settlement of Rapa Nui, the tempo of cultural elaboration as expressed through architecture, and when the fragmentation of Rapa Nui society occurred. In addition, there have been new contributions that highlight the importance of prehistoric agricultural intensification on the organization of Rapa Nui society. Recent excavations and a renewed emphasis on landscape survey are providing new information on all of these critical issues. In this session the solicited papers will address subject matter that can help clarify the key events and processes that helped shaped Rapa Nui society.

We have analysed the archaeological sites, buildings, megalithic monuments, tools, agricultures terraces, and manavai developed during Rapa Nui prehistory and correlated them with the volcanic structures and rocks which have been identify on the geological-volcanic map of the island. These rock forms include materials such as hyaloclasthic palagonite tuff, lava tunnels, tumuliform lava flows, columnar basaltic flows, trachyte lava domes, mugearite massive flow, and aglomero lapille tuff. We present the location maps for the quarries, the rock compositions, and evidence of the different techniques used by ancient Rapanui for the extraction of rock.

The work undertaken at Ahu Motu Toremo Hiva (Poike Peninsula, Easter Island) in 2004 and 2005 has brought to light several unexpected elements: the sequential emplacement of ritual platforms, testifying to the use of a site that has at least three times been completely rearranged since its initial occupation in the late 13th-14th century AD, the systematic disassembling of pebble pavements before each phase of abandonment, and the very recycling of one statue. All of these discoveries shed new light on the history of Easter Island ritual platform construction. Recycling, disassembling, and re-use of architectural elements and statues characterize the monuments at Ahu Motu Toremo Hiva. In addition, the geomorphological study of Ahu Motu Toremo Hiva has permitted us to determine that each ahu abandonment phase was coupled with agricultural exploitation. Evidently, the traditional settlement pattern of villages inserted between the ritual platform and the agricultural land, all functioning simultaneously, must be questioned, at least in part. Finally, the skeleton of a male adult buried at the beginning of the 20th century was also found at the site. This deceased person may well have been one of the first lepers on the island.

Obsidian hydration dating has been applied on Rapa Nui since the 1960s and has served as a supplemental method to radiocarbon dating for many decades. The ability to directly date obsidian tools and to establish site occupational ranges with a large number of samples are two analytical advantages. The technique has been criticized because of the non-convergence in ages with radiocarbon dating. Several reasons for this non-convergence are discussed and new infrared calibrations for estimating hydration rim thickness and water diffusion coefficients are presented. These calibrations are applied to a large body of previously reported hydration analyses and the time depth of the samples is discussed.

Dynamic geographic data sets are essential to describing and interpreting the interaction of natural and human phenomena on the Rapa Nui cultural landscape. The Easter Island Statue Project data set is drawn from mapping the density distribution of two discrete artifact classes (petroglyphs and sculpture) as they are related to three classes of production and display sites (quarries, ceremonial centers and roads) and associated with regional socio-political identity. Experimental replication drawn from aspects of our data set has produced an ecologically predictive model that quantifies the environmental impact of these aesthetic artifacts as products of individual or communal activity, socio-political demand and the objectification of religious belief. This paper describes the concentration of statues in Rano Raraku quarry and on one branch of the statue transport road network, and examines statue presence as one byproduct of habitual production, use, discard and reuse behaviors in specific locales not directly tied to socio-political boundaries, status restrictions or resource display demands.

A rock shelter on the north coast of Rapa Nui (Easter Island), used for at least 800 years, produced a lithic assemblage that provides evidence derived from obsidian tool and debitage flake-type and aggregate analyses that is useful for interpreting aspects of early Rapa Nui technology, including resource access, production methods, and distributional patterns. Site activities include using obsidian flakes for processing primarily hard contact materials, and this interpretation is considered in light of formal tool types, individual flake implements, and a larger sample of worked edges. Observed temporal shifts in technology are limited in this collection, a continuing problem for interpreting Rapa Nui's archaeological record in general, but suggest that a stable lithic technology based on obsidian and basalt had emerged already on the island by the end of the first millennium AD.

Easter Island is one of the most isolated small outcroppings of land on the Earth , but it is not free from the effects of global geological processes and the geophysic of natural events such as volcanic eruptions and tsunami generated earthquakes that have occurred many times from the Pleistocene to recent times. A Polynesian group arrived to Easter Island during the last millennium and developed the Rapanui culture represented by the archaeological record that we see today. The island cultural chronology has been discussed by many archaeologists who base their interpretations mainly on stratigraphic excavation and radiocarbon dated contexts. We present our contribution to improve the chronological sequence by considering the impact of natural geophysical hazards on the Rapanui culture. In our resent geological survey in the island, we recognised evidence of the three important tsunami dated to 1960, 1575, and 1200 (?), which have been imprinted on the geological deposits and the destruction of megalithic monuments along the southeast coast of the island. The impacts of these events permit us to identify and estimate the construction dates of those monuments. As this research demonstrates, we need to pay more attention to the natural events in the interpretation of cultural chronologies.

(Universidad de Chile, FAU, Depto. Geografía and Instituto Estudios, Isla de Pascua)

The moai are the most emblematic megalithic monuments in the Easter Island. For many decades archaeologists have formulated many hypothesis about the different types of moai, transportation methods, route locations, and distribution between clans. Now, we present our contribution to this discussion, from a different point of view; one based on results of the geological and geophysical survey in the island. More than 95% of the moai were carved from the hyaloclastite palagonite volcanic tuff found at the Rano Raraku quarry. However, the morphology the surface volcanic rocks, their topographic location and size, plus the shape and weight of the giant moai, suggest that it was improbable that long distance transport in excess of 15 km occurred across rugged volcanic fields without damage to the sculpture. We propose that coastal ramps located not too distant from the quarry played an important role in the transport process. We propose in this paper that the main means of transport was maritime, and one of the strong reasons that accounts for the fact that more than 90% the ahu.with moai were built along the coast of the island.

Archaeological evidence for how the hypothesized prehistoric cultural collapse of Easter Island society came about has been virtually non-existent, but rather extensively assumed by much of the scientific community, and mostly by the press. The cultural and ecological collapse of Rapa Nui culture originates from a scenario first presented by Mulloy (1976). The ecological demise of the island presented by Mulloy, especially its deforestation, has since been well documented. But how did the ahu building, moai moving and erection, and the classic culture come to a halt? How did it "decline" into the small scale warfare and cannibalism found by European explorers? This paper details archaeological data that points to the process of the cultural transformation from a society that appears to have been once somewhat unified, into one that seems entirely and internally antagonistic.

The Department Geomatics of the Hafen City University, Hamburg, conducted non-contact 3D documentation of ahu and moai (e.g., Ko te Riku, Akivi, Hanga Te'e) by high-precision terrestrial laser scanning and photogrammetry, that included GPS measurements for the later transformation of the laser scanning and magnetic prospecting data into the local coordinate system (SIRGAS). This first of five documentations of the architectural remains by repeated scanning over consecutive field seasons will help to determine an average erosion rate per annum as it affects the surface of the volcanic tuff sculptures. Geophysical survey methods were also conducted in the immediate vicinity of the monuments, which was originally an integrated part of the ritual complexes. The preliminary image processing of the data revealed excellent results. Unknown and unseen archaeological structures beneath the ground are clearly visible in the grey shade plots of the magnetic image. Some of these anomalies may be explained by earlier archaeological test trenches (i.e., excavations by W. Mulloy at Ahu Akivi); others point clearly to archaeological features such as pits and ditches previously undetected during excavation or simply as yet unstudied (e.g., Ahu Hanga Te'e). Altogether the results show that we are able to trace archaeological structures beneath the ground with high resolution and in a relatively short amount of time.

West Polynesia, along with the islands of Fiji, comprise a fertile part of Oceania in which to investigate human migration, mobility, interaction and the development of complex maritime chiefdoms in the last 3,000 years. This is because the three archipelagos are relatively close to each other and canoes were able to travel regularly between different island groups, unlike most other parts of Polynesia. The prehistory of Fiji-West Polynesia displays great diversity even though the first inhabitants were all Lapita people and there was ongoing interaction among island groups. This session examines the similarities and differences in the archaeological records of Tonga and Samoa, including the development of maritime chiefdoms, and considers comparative examples of migration and social complexity in other insular environments.

The dispersal of domestic animals (pig, dog, chicken. and also commensal rats), is a source of evidence about the nature of human colonization, including, potentially, the relative success of voyaging. It has been used in support of the transported landscapes model of Oceanic economic adaptation and in suggesting, by presence / absence of taxa, the probable connections between archipelagos. Here, I review the current patterns of dispersal in relation to introduction biology and discuss them in relation to several hypotheses that might account for them.

Stone adzes are integral to investigating cultural changes within Polynesian societies due to their archaeological durability and the vital roles they held in subsistence practices. This paper delves into how adze studies can offer insights into larger socio-political changes by examining adze production and distribution during the Traditional Period in prehistoric Samoa. During this period, there was a marked increase in the quantity of adze production recorded on Tutuila Island, and a geographic expansion in the distribution of these adzes into the larger Fiji-West Polynesian region. As these transformations manifested themselves together in a certain period of time, crucial questions need to be raised; 1) how do we quantify these increases, and 2) what mechanisms, cultural or otherwise, were responsible. I propose that these increases are interrelated and a result of coeval expansion in political control exercised over production labor for wealth accumulation at the expense of kin relationships.

The influence of the Tongan maritime chiefdom in the late prehistoric era moved well beyond Tonga to incorporate not only the outer islands of the archipelago, but other parts of the Central Pacific including Fiji, Samoa, Rotuma and 'Uvea. This expansion, unique to Polynesia where the ability to project sea power was generally confined to a single island or archipelago, was achieved through trade, intermarriage, raiding, warfare and colonization. We are using traditional history, geophysics, and archaeology to examine the development of this complex Polynesian chiefdom, and its impact on other islands through a study of the chiefly centre of Mua in Tonga, and excavation of Tongan sites in eastern Fiji. The history of the sacred Tui Tonga title, which is embodied in the monumental architecture at Mua — fortifications, roads, canoe facilities, and the stone-faced burial mounds of paramount chiefs — is central to understanding the political power of the maritime chiefdom from 1300-1850 AD. We take a "Centre-out" approach to determine changes within the Tongan chiefdom, and then compare these developments to evidence for Tongan involvement on other islands. This suggests how socio-political centralisation affects maritime trade and exchange, craft specialization and colony emplacement.

During field work in 2005 our attention was drawn to an interesting prehistoric remain at the Malaefono organic plantation close to Saliemoa village on 'Upolu. The plantation area had previously housed habitations since several stone platforms / stone heaps and remains are reported removed due to farming activities during the last century. During 2006 we carried out archaeological investigations in a remaining stone platform in the area. This "star / cog" shaped platform, with eight protrusions was mapped and test excavated. The investigations showed its internal structure and its relation to other features and the surrounding landscape. The excavation also gave indications of settlement activities prior to the construction of the platform at this site. This paper presents the results of the investigation and discusses the star mound concept.

The prehistoric unique site called Fale o le fe'e (the "House of the Octopus") situated in the village of Magiagi located inland just south of Apia was already visited and described by missionaries at contact phase. The structure with its 60 stone pillars and stone lintel overlay in the form of a traditional fale (Samoan house) has been described as a mini "Stonehenge". The site has subsequently been mapped and oral tradition tied to the monument was reported by Buck and Freeman in the 1930s-40s. During the last century (especially the last 50 years) the site has deteriorated and pillars have been destroyed or fallen, a decay probably both caused by natural and human activities. In 2006 the site was visited within the frame work of the new archaeological program at NUS (National University of Samoa) with the intention to start out an archaeological project including excavation, restoration and collection of the oral tradition and ethnographical evidences. This paper presents the objectives and current results of this project. Issues concerning possibilities and problematics of archaeological research in Samoa, on a general basis are also touched upon.

Human dispersal into Near and Remote Oceania during was perhaps the greatest diaspora ever undertaken by humankind. Evidence for this has traditionally been inferred from associated material culture, language, and (more recently) by human genetics. Recently, however, new and important evidence for human migration in this region is being revealed by the study of wild, domestic, and commensal animals, deliberately or inadvertently dispersed by people, sometimes over great distances. Of these, perhaps the most notable have been recent studies of the mtDNA of ancient and modern Pacific rats and pigs, both of which have suggested a much greater complexity of human Holocene migration than is encompassed by current models. A technique newly applied within the field of zooarchaeology — outline analysis of molar teeth — has recently been used to begin to explore the origins and human mediated dispersal trajectories of these key commensal and domestic animals. In this paper, geometric morphometric techniques applied to Pacific rat (Rattus exulans) mandibular 1st molars (M1) from mainland S.E Asia to Eastern Polynesia, clearly reveal detailed and meaningful patterning in the distribution of dental morphotypes which must be linked to past dispersal events. They reveal clear "Lapita" and "Polynesian" signatures, specific dispersal trajectories, as well as evidence of multiple introductions to e.g., New Guinea, Hawai'i and even Easter Island.

The conventional model for the colonization of Samoa postulates initially colonization during the Lapita expansion ~2800 cal BP and continuous human occupation of the archipelago subsequently. We apply chronometric hygiene protocols to the pre-2000 cal BP dates for Samoa and find that there is a hiatus in the period ~2700-2400 cal BP. We argue that genetic and ceramic evidence support a discontinuous settlement model. Falsifiable expectations are derived from our alternative settlement model, and a field testing strategy is proposed.

Rapanui is one of the best known of the Pacific Island places, but its fame is for its natural setting (as a disaster zone), for its most remote island in the world status, and for its archaeological works. Many people may be forgiven for not knowing that there is a lively, contemporary population on Rapanui. The purpose of this panel is to explore aspects of Rapanui culture and society today and in the recent past, as well as to consider influences from the island's traditional history. Topics such as the anthropology and sociology of contemporary rapanui, contact history, Rapanui (i.e., "tiki") imagery in the world at large and the use of Rapanui as an image in contemporary debates are amongst the areas that would be most welcome. Prospective participants are encouraged to propose other themes and topics in the anthropology and traditional history of the "island at the end of the world", as one translation of Te Pito ote Henua has it.

I describe aspects of being young in a geographically isolated yet world-known place like Rapa Nui. More specifically, I explore how life experiences of a group young adult Rapa Nui can be coloured by spatiotemporal circumstances, while their practices within these structures can in turn influence what Rapa Nui becomes. The outcomes of this exploration will be tentatively analysed and compared to personal experiences, following the guide lines of Pierre Bourdieu's "participant objectivation" (Bourdieu 2003) and Lefevre's concept of "Third Space".

While archaeologists inherently focus on the past, linguistic, biological and cultural anthropologists can study either the past or present. Few of the so-called "mysteries" or "enigmas" of Rapa Nui remained unanswered. While there is continuing research on the rongorongo tablets, what caused the population decline and how the moai were moved, we now have a good idea of where the people came from, how the moai were constructed and what they represent. However, there is a noticeable lack of anthropological information regarding the modern Rapanui population, including their beliefs, economics, social stratification, impact of immigration, and population gene flow, cultural change, health and well-being. These and many other issues are prominent in the anthropological research of other Pacific islands but are almost absent for Rapa Nui. In this paper we examine past trends in the last fifteen years of research concerning Rapa Nui and suggest some ideas for future investigation.

Studies of Easter Island have predominantly sought to understand its archaeology through historical analysis. How the moai were created, constructed, and seen have been the subjects of research that has approached the stone figures within the island landscape. Yet, the moai have long held a popular appeal that has extended far into the cultural arenas of Western societies that have been drawn to fantasies of a detached and distant civilisation. Murder mysteries, alien visitors, time travel, and hidden treasure have been a part of the island through popular fictions that have depicted professors and archaeologists as both villains and heroes. Popular narratives have seen the island explored variously by "Indiana Jones", "Dr Who", and "Scooby Doo", with ancient tablets able to resurrect the moai, and the stone figures given the power to talk and walk. In this paper, I seek to understand the popular appeal of Easter Island and the moai in particular. Fiction films, cartoons, computer games, novels, and Marvel comic books will be central to this study. As will objects of material culture, which position miniature replicas of the moai as tissue box holders, glowing lamps, salt and pepper shakers, pieces in a board game, fruit machine symbols, and garden ornaments. It will be argued that the mythical appeal of the moai within popular and material culture reveals a number of factors: the myth of creation, the myth of movement, the myth of power, and the myth of presence.

As a personal Rapa Nui comment to the research project of Helene Martinsson-Wallin this paper will discuss questions concerning the possible existence of a collective "Rapa Nui identity", from the mythical past to the present. The questions range from speculative ideas such as whether even the first Polynesians settlers might have imagined the island as a unique place or what it can be that makes Rapa Nui so special in the eyes of both inhabitants and outsiders, to the contemporary problems of how to balance tourism with heritage management and locally lived experiences with global scientific expertise.

During research for a book focusing on the cultural impact of eighteenth century Pacific explorer texts that featured "Easter Island", one source I used for investigating the re-circulation of such books and images was eBay. Frequently my quest produced graphic texts of another kind, American comic books from 1940 to the present featuring moai, usually in situ on a wildly fantastical version of the island. Over the course of three years, through eBay and other web-based comic book re-circulation sites, I put together what is possibly the largest collection of English language "Easter Island" comics, 46 in all. This collection is now forming an important part of a project to examine the way moai and Rapa Nui have been taken up, mediated, presented, and received within American popular culture. My starting point is to identify what categories these comic images and narratives sort themselves into. With this in mind, I propose a slide show (Powerpoint), offering examples by category in order to deal with a number of key questions. What identities of Rapa Nui, the Rapanui and their moai are imagined by "the world at large" in such an "undisciplined" medium. How do these imagined identities mediate perceptions in this context? What kinds of cultural spaces are created by such imaginings? What is lost?

History has made an impression on all societies and cultures to varying extents, based on multiple factors. This is the case with museums, which are no longer a mere exhibition of artifacts dominated by aesthetic functions, but places of gathering where the local population can express cultural identity in different ways. A case study is the exhibit "He a'amu tupuna, he mana'u a mu'a", prepared for the Father Sebastian Englert Anthropological Museum of Rapa Nui. The exhibit aims to rescue the tales of the past through the voices of the elders, providing Rapanui a place to revive their traditions and to tell their own history in first person so that those tales last in time, enabling them to reach the young generation of the island. Set in five separate elements following a chronological order, the exhibit "He a'amu tupuna, he mana'u a mu'a" targets diverse goals such as the preservation of the Rapanui culture and the reinforcement of their identity as an indigenous group. The display allows for this identity to be expressed in different ways. Their history is told by the Rapanui themselves rather than by the writings bequeathed by the Europeans visitors to the island throughout many decades. Thus, the value of the exhibition rests more within the collective memory than in the heritage worth of the artifacts exposed, making of the museum a place of memory, a space where part of the own Rapanui identity is disclosed and where the singularities and richness of the cultural heritage of their people are in display.

The year 2007 marks two anniversaries: It has been five years since controversial Pacific scholar Thor Heyerdahl passed away, and 60 years since his provocative Kon-Tiki expedition successfully crossed the Pacific from South America to Polynesia. Much has happened during the intervals of both occasions and this paper will address, elucidate and update several aspects of Heyerdahl's perspective and legacy.

On June 2, 1914, Rapanui consultants working with Katherine Routledge of the Mana Expedition to Easter Island excavated from Orongo a basalt paenga adorned with a carved anthropomorphic face. Considered to be one of the expedition's prized objects, it was crated and stored at Mataveri for eventual removal from the island, and then disappeared. A long search for this important carving among museum and private collections was futile until 2006. This paper details the original discovery of the Orongo "doorpost", its archaeological history and ethnographic context, and tracks its path through the 1914 "native rising" into a private collection and thence into the Easter Island Statue Project archive. The role of the Orongo "doorpost" in comparative iconography, as well as in Rapanui entrepreneurship and political expression of the time, is examined.

During the last 285 years the community and territory of Rapa Nui have experienced dramatic sociopolitical, economic and structural changes. A complex and irreversible process of acculturation continues today. This paper discusses changes that are transforming the scientific research and the cultural patrimony into a "commodity" and are modifying the directions of current and future scientific work on the island, heightening their role in processes of construction of cultural identity. Conflicts between organizations, individuals and groups of interest are strongly focusing in the archaeology, which is increasingly seen as a unique source of monetary resources, power and influence. Researchers, developers or political agents and a growing number of visitors roam the island. More than ever before, these join an increasing number of islanders who raise their personal or instrumental views of the past and project them in the community to influence the present and to design the future. The oral traditions, the archaeological data, and historic documents are scrutinized and interpreted time and time again to sustain external or internal sociopolitical or economic aims. We put under discussion the idea that is required of the scientists to examine the implications of the fact that the archaeological or historicist reconstructions of the past of Rapa Nui are defied by this extraordinary revisionism that paradoxically nourishes and is contributing to the foundation of a "new cultural identity".

A brief history of the scholarships funded by the Easter Island Foundation and the Wiegand Family Memorial Scholarship will be given. The program began in 2002 and continues to award scholarships to Rapanui youth studying at the university level and in graduate school. The program has been very successful to date and hopes to raise additional funding for more awards. A short personal history of each scholarship recipient will be given. Highlights will include the recipients' educational goals, career choices, and how these will be interrelated on Easter Island.

The video, in English with subtitles, explores contemporary issues of identity and autonomy on Rapanui, interview mainly, but not exclusively, the Rapanui themselves, recorded on the island itself. At once a very personal and a scholarly documentary, narrated by the film maker and related to his published article on the topic.

This session highlights recent research in East Polynesia from the marginal islands and archipelagos of Hawai'i, Marquesas, Rapa Nui, and Aotearoa, to the central archipelagos of the Cooks, Tuamotus, Society Islands and others. Presenters will outline the results of recent research and discuss broad theoretical implications in domains such as the development of sociopolitical complexity, interaction and exchange, population relatedness, environmental change, and human competition. Potential speakers are welcome to discuss these themes and others with the session organisers.

Nearly 70 years ago Edwin Burrows delineated a cultural boundary between East and West Polynesia. This paper reviews archaeological, oral-historical, and linguistic evidence for contact across this border and explores the archaeological utility of conceptualizing a boundary between East and West.

In this paper we give an overview of the chronological evidence from four field seasons of excavating marae sites on Huahine, in the Leeward group of the Society Islands. We also briefly discuss our findings in light of earlier work, mainly done on the islands of the Windward group. Since the beginning of scientific research in Polynesia it has been assumed that the Society Islands marae complex developed early. This may not be the case, and it is possible that these temple sites did not play an important part in Society Islands religious practices or socio-political structure until after AD 1500.

The cultural relatedness of Polynesian populations is exhibited through similarities in ceremonial architecture across multiple island groups. While many archaeologists and ethnologists have proposed specific cultural connections between the architectural traditions of different islands, there has been no quantitative analysis of homologous similarities in ceremonial architecture across Polynesia. In this paper I present a cladistic analysis of Polynesian ceremonial architecture from islands in West Polynesia, the Society Islands, the Tuamotus, Rapa Nui, and Hawai'i. Cladistics arranges classes into a branching hierarchy based on the distribution of derived (i.e., more recent) and ancestral characters across those classes. The results of the cladistic architectural analysis document new patterns of cultural relatedness among the islands of Polynesia.

space(s) are constructed upon comparative linguistics and comparative ethnography, as well as archaeological data. Consensus seems to be on a conceptual development of ritual space in Ancestral Polynesian Societies. The malae and marae / ahu / heiau complexes of ethnographical Polynesia are seen as variations of a common theme. In this paper I present an alternative model based upon only archaeological data. What evidence is there for ritual activity or religious architecture in excavations of early sites in East Polynesia? Based upon the archaeological evidence alone, when would we say that the classic Polynesian ahu / marae / malae complex developed? And, did it spread across this area with settler voyages, or at a later time?

The fishhooks represent one of the best evidence on fishing in prehistoric Polynesian societies. These archaeological artefacts are numerous but rarely analysed with a global perspective: what kind of fish is it used for? Which processes are involved? When and where did the fishermen use it? These questions are closely connected with the human subsistence system developed on these remote islands. What part did the fishing activities represent? We attempt to answer these questions through the study of two sites which yielded a great number of well-preserved fishhooks, combined with fish remains: the Manihina dune (Ua Huka, Marquesas islands) and Tangatatau rockshelter (Mangaia, Cook islands). The typological study of the artefacts, the fish bones analysis and an ethnologic study about Ua Huka and Nuku Hiva fishing traditions can give us information on the link between the gear and the fishes and shed light on one part of the ancient Polynesian fishing.

Research on Rapa Nui community patterning has lacked a theoretical framework for understanding the evolution of social organization and group formation. Despite widespread recording of the spatial distribution of surface remains across large sections of the island, many fundamental questions regarding the scale of community organization remain unresolved. Recent theoretical advances in the evolution of organization demonstrate that multi-level selection is an appropriate model for distinguishing the scale of community interactions and understanding the evolution of "complex" social organization. However, measuring organizational structure requires the development of appropriate archaeological units for linking the theoretical stipulations of the model to the empirical record. Here we outline the use of a multi-level selection framework using a case study from the Northwest and South coasts of Rapa Nui. Documenting community organization will ultimately facilitate a better understanding of the development of competition, cooperation, and megalithic construction on the island.

Manihina is a costal site on Ua Huka Island, in Marquesas archipelago (French Polynesia), and has been so far excavated during one evaluation and three archaeological campaigns. Its main features are a laying-out of the sand dune with stone slabs, few paepae pavements and many human and non-human inhumations: Around 40 burials concern human of both sexes and all ages, and there are also 10 pigs and 2 dogs. One of the human skeletons gave a radiocarbone date circa mid-15th century cal. AD. An archaeo-anthropological analysis of the burials leads to distinguish many different funerary practices in the site: Simple individual inhumation; use of coffin, canoe-coffin or stone covering; re-opening of burial for supplementary individual; body preparation such as mummification or limited disarticulation after partial decay; intentional post-disposal modification including skull taking; multi-stage burial including complete disarticulated secondary burial. Probably related to the status of the deceased, some of those practices are not documented in the previous archaeological data from the Marquesas and many are not clearly attested in the ethnological record from the early European observations. The question is also the link between those different practices because some of them can be seen as different phases of the same burial rite; in that view, the nature of the "final burial" for ancient Marquesans can be questioned.

This session will explore the current evidence and develop model in explaining past social and economic interactions within the western Pacific. Although exchange and social systems from the ethnographic present is often used in modelling the past, it can be shown that this regions past is unique with the present systems being the endpoint of thousand of years of change. We invite papers from archaeologists working in the western Pacific who wish to explore this theme of identifying and modelling the nature of past interactions in the colonisation and subsequent development of the western Pacific.

Archaeological excavations from a recent road project on Rota in the Northern Marianas have documented prehistoric activity in nine site complexes of solution caves and rock shelters distributed across a majority of the physiographic zones on this island. These results provide a unique overview of cave and shelter use extending from second century AD Pre-Latte occupation up until the early historic period. Site use features include evidence of both temporary and more intensive / permanent occupation, artifact production, burials and rock art. A majority of shelter activity dates to the Latte Period with a trend towards more extensive and intensive site use after c. 1200 AD suggesting expansion into more marginal locations at this time. There also appears to be a contrast in the nature of site use between larger bedrock outcrop shelters and more ubiquitous small boulder overhang shelters. The collective results from Rota can be used as a baseline for inter-island comparisons in order to develop a general model for cave / shelter use in the Marianas as a whole. This has relevance for understanding patterns of interaction within the archipelago and aspects of Latte Period expansion in particular.

The proto-historic Tongan Maritime Empire is well known to Pacific archaeologists. Less well understood is the role of Samoa as a regional player. Since the first anthropological work in Samoa in the 1920s, Tutuila has been known as a center of basalt tool manufacture. The last decade has seen a doubling of the number of lithic sites, with several now securely dated. This paper reviews the evidence for large-scale basalt tool manufacturing on Tutuila and the geographical and temporal spread of those tools in the southwest Pacific. Linguistic, oral historical, and archaeological evidence are mustered to argue that Samoa was a dominant regional influence prior to the rise of Tonga as a regional power.

This paper will consider how we might reconcile issues of scale in our attempts to describe and explain processes of colonization which must have involved interaction with existing populations. It will range models of diaspora focused on human-scale social processes against dispersalist scenarios that rest on large-scale biogeographical dynamics to determine if both can be accommodated by the empirical evidence to hand.

This paper will present the evolutions of the interaction-spheres developed by the traditional communities of New Caledonia over their nearly 3000 years of pre-European chronology. Archaeological studies have identified major changes in the flow of material exchanged, the direction of the exchanges and the distances traveled by the items depending on the period studied. In the first settlement phase related to Lapita, a common cultural background and low population density favoured regular interactions between related communities. The progressive diversification of cultural traditions over the first millennium of settlement highlights the appearance of distinct cultural entities over the archipelago, with the breakdown of some earlier interaction routes. During the first millennium AD, the archaeological data signals a clear isolation process between the main islands, allowing for the rise of localized traditions. This is followed during the second millennium AD by a new development of archipelago-wide interactions, in directions unrelated to those at play 1,000 years before. The paper will present these differences over time and discuss their overall significance in our modeling of Melanesian interactions.

The ethnographic picture of the richly tattooed Polynesians has been seen by some as an expression of a decorative treatment inspired by designs on Lapita pottery from more than 2,500 years ago. This view rests both on perceived design resemblances and an implied connection between the act of tattooing on skin and dentate stamping on pottery. The carriage of complex designs over such a long time span can be doubted when no intermediate ceramic wares are found between its early manifestation and the purported resemblance in tattoo recorded ethnographically. The evidence for tattoo alone is hard to find in the archaeological record, but what little evidence there is suggests a more complicated story. The simple operational parallel between decorating pottery with toothed stamps and human skin with multi-pronged needles can be examined in a wider context to include the distributional range of techniques used for tattooing within the southwest Pacific as recorded ethnographically. The hypothesis of the relationship between Lapita designs and tattoo has not been convincingly tested in any study. This paper aims to address the question of tattooing technology and Lapita stamped decoration.

As a part of the research initiative: Globalisation in the past and the present — a Joint Anthropological-Archaeological Research Project in Manus Papua New Guinea, initiated by Professor Helle Vandkilde — a team of eight persons, archaeologists and anthropologist from Aarhus University went to do fieldwork in the Manus Province and its surrounding islands Baluan, and Mbuke. After a season of fieldwork in the Manus Region (Mbuke and Baluan) this paper is a presentation of the results reached so far. A number of finds among others a rare prehistoric skeleton and its find context is being presented. Also features from an open-area settlement site is being presented.

Even though the colonisation history of many Pacific islands merely reaches back less than one thousand years, in some cases only a few centuries, these islands still pose as examples of the dramatic impact of humans on environment and landscape. Horticulture, agriculture, utilisation of wood, stock farming and the import of new species have changed landscapes, soils, vegetation and fauna tremendously during the prehistoric times as well as after the arrival of the Europeans. The consequences of these degradative changes still mould and influence the societies of many Pacific islands up to this day and threaten also their future existence. Historical analysis is necessary for foresight. The contributions in this section shall document how changes in the habitat of Pacific islands can be spatially and chronologically reconstructed using the techniques and procedures of geo-archaeology, paleo-ecology, geology, soil science, and landscape analysis. The results of the research presented substantially extend the knowledge of the cultural development and ecological impact of humans in the Pacific region.

Since 1986, the author has held the thesis that Jubaea chilensis was the prevailing palm tree of prehistoric Easter Island for many centuries. Pollen, as well as prehistoric coconut endocarps very similar to those of continental Jubaea have been found. Not only these findings but further evidence are indications that the original thesis stands strongly. Examples of further evidence are: Molds of palm tree trunks found in the lava of Terevaka volcano; representations of palm trees in the rongorongo tablets whose characteristics are definitely coincident with those of the typical Chilean palm tree; early writings and logbooks of old time sailors mention the existence of palms bearing tiny coconuts. The author has also demonstrated the feasibility of hydrochoric migration of seeds from the coast of Chile to the island. Later findings in this direction are consistent at Poike and other sites: Molds in clayish soil, found under big carbonized logs, correspond morphologically and sidewise to the typical cylindrical Jubaea roots. Studies on phytolites and DNA of remains mentioned are being carried out. These results will give a final word as to the actual identity of the prehistoric Easter Island palm tree.

Easter Island was formerly covered with palm trees that constituted one of the most distinctive attributes of the landscape. Twelve 14C dates were obtained from fragments of wood and of nuts discovered in archaeological sites and in cracks in cliffs. These dates, which cover a period between AD 1210 and 1440, are mainly centred around the 14th century which suggests that the population of palm trees was still important at this time. The lack of dates after AD 1450 suggests that the palm forest greatly decreased during the 15th century, without disappearing completely, as is proved by the European accounts. The existence of palm trees on Rapa Nui is confirmed by the presence of numerous palm phytoliths in archaeological sediments. Phytoliths are biogenic opal particles produced by plants. Because of their chemical composition, they are usually well preserved even in sediments unfavourable to the preservation of organic remains. Palm (Arecaceae) produce great quantities of phytoliths, including a very characteristic "spherical echinate" morphotype. The morphometric analysis of that kind of phytolith made it possible to improve our knowledge of Paschalococos disperta, the Rapanui extinct palm. The statistical comparison of fossil Easter Island palm phytoliths with phytoliths extracted from various palm species (Jubaea chilensis, Juania australis, Cocos nucifera, various species of Pritchardia) showed that phytolith assemblages produced by Jubaea chilensis are close to those from Easter Island sediments. Nevertheless, because of the differences between the two pools of data, we put forward the hypothesis that more than one species grew on the Island (Delhon & Orliac, 2004). Moreover, phytolith morphotypes sometimes vary from one part of the plant to another. We investigate the differences between trunk and leaf phytolith spectra, in order to determine which parts of plants are involved in archaeological deposits. In addition to paleo-ethnobotanical implications, the characterisation of leaves versus stem (which is currently impossible by wood anatomy criteria) will improve the interpretation of radiocarbon data. Indeed, if the trunk is a long-lasting organ that can sometimes be several centuries old, leaves represent a shorter period, and thus are more accurate for radiocarbon dating.

Plant microfossil analysis was recently carried out on 12 soil samples associated with a variety of landscape features at three locations (100-250 m a.s.l.) on the northwest coast of Easter Island at Te Niu. The results indicate burning of palm-dominated forest and the development of a mixed-crop, dryland production system. Charcoal and obsidian associated with the soil samples provide a radiocarbon and obsidian hydration timeframe. The original Te Niu forest was cleared probably between AD 1300 and 1450, with coastal forest cut initially and upslope forest a century or more later. Starch grain, pollen and phytolith evidence indicates cultivation of four introduced crops: common yam (Dioscorea alata), sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), taro (Colocasia esculenta) and bottle gourd (Lagenaria sicera-ria). The results show the potential for this type of analysis in providing direct evidence of crop type and range elsewhere on Easter Island.

For many scholars Easter Island (Rapa Nui) is a textbook example for a flourishing and highly developed culture that has collapsed as a result of the overexploitation of natural resources. Doubts on this "overshoot and collapse" theory have been voiced since 2002. A collapse in the way most authors have described it, involving starvation, major warfare and cannibalism is neither supported by the 18th century journals nor by the scientific evidence. More recently strong evidence has been presented in favour of a relatively late arrival of the Polynesian settlers and a major role (by preventing regeneration) of the Polynesian rats in the apparent deforestation. However, the stronger the case grew against the repeated claims of a pre-European "ecocide" the greater our longing for a more reliable picture of the past. Hunt's hypothetical population model is dissatisfying in this respect and seriously flawed for the period after the first European Contact with Easter Island. It even is at odds with the written text of his paper. While Hunt's model suggests a demographic collapse following the first visit by the Dutch in 1722, we maintain that Easter Island has undergone an unexceptional demographic transition. Our improved model is based on demographic and anthropological reasoning. Finally we will raise the question if this "reconstructing the past" bears any relevance to the present day debate on sustainability and quality.

This paper will propose a presentation of the first results acquired during a PhD program associating the palaeo-ecological and archaeological laboratories of the ANU, Paris I, and the New Caledonia Department of Archaeology, that try to precise the environmental dynamics in the northern Grande Terre of New Caledonia during kanak precontact times (i.e., mainly the second millennium AD). It is focused on the particular study of forest types changes compared with the anthropogenic colonization and lay-out of the landscape, the human management and use of woody species. The study is based mainly on an anthracological approach — analysis and identification of charred woody remains conserved in archaeological site or pedo-sedimentary layers — but also on the examination of general archaeological data relating to settlement patterns and horticultural practices, with the integration of socio-cultural data on kanak societies. This project tries to apply for the first time the anthracological approach in New Caledonia, and hence to test its potential for South West Pacific Islands palaeo-ecological and archaeological research. A first reference collection of woody species linked with an identification atlas have been created, and the way to adapt the methods and approaches of anthracology to a South West Pacific Island (fieldwork and research topics specificities) are explored. The approach is based on recent perspectives developed on the relationships between human societies and the environment, such as the link between the development of horticultural, arboriculture and forest management practices, the need to consider the ongoing double dynamics of adaptation and pressure between human societies and the environment, or the timing and modes of introduction and / or domestication of vegetal species (mainly trees and tubers in this case). We also emphasise the need to consider rapid climatic changes and data on the local cultural system of representation to build models of human-environment interactions. We will present here the first perspectives developed from the work realized, and the first conclusions reached about the limits, potentialities, and adapted methods of anthracology in New Caledonia.

Evidence for human induced changes in marine ecosystems structure in prehistoric Polynesia has recently been discussed in a number of studies. Here we briefly review theses impacts and outline the theoretical and methodological issues needing consideration when investigating evidence for resource depression using archaeological data. Relevant issues include the application of foraging theory models, the use of biological life history data, and comparability in quantification and recovery methods. Broader patterns in Polynesian prehistory perhaps associated with resource sustainability are also discussed. Finally, we examine the integration of archaeological, historical, and modern data for applied conservation biology and discuss the challenges of such an application.

Ever since the Europeans discovered the Galápagos Islands, the archipelago has been subject to drastic environmental changes. Ships' crews, settlers and domestic animals decimated the populations of native birds and giant tortoises. The archipelagos natural vegetation has been almost completely damaged or destroyed by means of lumbering, slashing and burning, agriculture and feral domestic animals. Humans imported highly competitive neophytes to the islands which rapidly repressed the indigene vegetation. Whereas such biotic changes are in the focus of much research, the interactions between humans, soils and topography on the Galápagos Islands have hardly been investigated. The authors researched on selected islands of the archipelago how land use has changed the topography and soils. The results of their field studies show significant interactions between land use, water balance and balance of matter: In the highlands of the island Floreana migrating feral cattle and donkeys have formed ravines into the tuff rock. At the west-coast of the island Floreana El Niño-events caused severe soil erosion for the first time in Holocene after the vegetation cover was degraded by land use in the 20th century. The water balance of the crater lake El Junco on the island San Christóbal changed after humans and domestic animals destroyed the unique primary vegetation.

Soils are changing their properties permanently due to internal processes short term and long term climate fluctuations and changes human activities. Soils as key elements of ecosystems are affected intensively by land use since the rise of agriculture. The long term quantitative consequences of human activities on the development and the destruction of soils are widely unknown. The complex long term soil formation – soil erosion – climate – land use – landscape structure – interactions were investigated by the authors on several Pacific Islands, in China, in the USA, and in Central Europe. Economical and social changes were common during the 20th century. Thus soil formation processes changed and soil erosion rates often increased dramatically and abruptly:

The intensive change in soil formation and the dramatic increase in soil destruction during 20th century is thus the direct or indirect result of colonisation, of changes in politics, national and global economy.

Island landscapes are dynamic entities composed of physical and culturally defined elements. Climatic, geographic, and geologic variables partly constrain terrestrial and marine resources, but social and political relations determined availability and needs. These contexts are not static, rather changed over time in response to patterned and stochastic natural processes, and the historically based actions of people. The ability of archaeologists to study these changing contexts is often dependent on collecting large data sets at multiple spatial scales ranging from the individual artefact to island wide distributions of features. Researchers have used a variety of computer applications to model changing island landscapes and the actions and responses of past people. These include agent-based simulation programs, GIS applications, 3-D modelling of artifacts and features, and virtual reality constructs. This session will explore the theoretical and methodological issues involved in computer based modelling of dynamic natural and cultural processes in island landscapes.

Historical maps are a vital and often use source in a variety of disciplines and applications involving cultural resource management and archaeology in Sweden. Since a decade or two, they are also used in GIS-based analyses. A large scanning project by the National Land Survey of Sweden will make most of the hundred of thousands of Historical maps in Sweden available as raster images. We have analysed the information content of a map series made over the Island of Gotland between 1693 and 1705 and made a database model and GIS-application for these maps. In this article the historical maps of Sweden is briefly presented and also some different applications, which goes beyond the traditional use of historical maps in GIS in Sweden toady. These brief examples involve data mining, statistics, retrogressive analysis and hypothesis testing for different archaeological research questions.

The Ten Thousand Islands are a remote archipelago of semi-tropical mangrove islands stretching for some 50 miles along southwest Florida's coast. Located within this maze of islands is a complex seascape of prehistoric shell midden mounds and massive, human-engineered shell work sites constructed by non-agricultural coastal foragers. Shell work sites appear to have similar spatial patterns, ranging from small, simple, architecturally non-complex sites, to massive sites containing complex, monumental architecture. More elaborate shell works may include features such as canals, fish ponds, water courts, public plazas, and ceremonial or residential mounds. Is it possible that some of these features may have functioned to support corporate labor activities needed to maintain an increasing population dependent on a coastal foraging economy? This study aims to define the variety of shell work types and features, their spatial patterns, and what they indicate about site function, activities, population and social organization. GIS, data visualization, and spatial analysis of shell work features and site layouts are valuable tools to enhance interpretation of these unique island landscapes, as well as to help build regional settlement patterns and track social movements over time. By comparing various island settlement types and sizes, it is hypothesized that variations in the spatial patterns of shell works will reflect changes in social complexity over time.

The lack of Lapita pottery recovered from archaeological deposits across the islands of Samoa has both fascinated and perplexed archaeologists for over 30 years. Despite several well funded and extensive research projects aimed at discovering early settlement locations, only one locale (Mulifanua) has yielded Lapita decorated pottery. Explanations for the absence of archaeological materials dating to this time period have often focused on geomorphological changes associated with tectonics and sea level. These arguments suggest that the deposits are likely present but extremely difficult to locate; being either submerged under water or deeply buried beneath colluvial runoff. Here we present a GIS model with two main goals: First, we model the environment of the American Samoan Islands circa 2800 B.P. We assess land availability and environmental characteristics at this time. Using the spatial and temporal distribution of radiocarbon dates across the archipelago we evaluate the results our GIS modeling. Next we suggest a number of areas that are most likely to contain the earliest archaeological deposits in American Samoa. Our model has ramifications for reviewing a number of hypotheses regarding initial settlement of the Samoan archipelago as well as changes in human spatial organization.

Despite the efforts of past archaeological surveys, there still remains thousands of unregistered archaeological sites on Easter Island. With funding provided from the Corporación Nacional de Desarrollo Indígena (CONADI) in 2005, an archaeological inventory began in Fundo Vaitea and surrounding areas with the objective of identifying and registering new sites. The study area is designated to be returned to the Rapanui people, however, before such a process can be completed, an archaeological study must be undertaken in order to make recommendations concerning the preservation and conversation of existing sites within this area. In 2005 - 2006, more than 2,500 features were recorded using up-to-date Global Positioning System (GPS) technology which allowed for precise data collection. A customized data dictionary was utlized in order to record the specific details of each site (i.e. individual characteristics and measurements). This paper will discuss the data collection methods and observations recorded during the two year period 2005 - 2007 of the archaeological survey.

The archaeological landscape on Rapa Nui contains a palimpsest of surface archaeological features, reflecting a long history of settlement and land use. The present project aims to develop a diachronic model for changing social complexity on the island based on the spatial and temporal distribution of archaeological features in the landscape. This paper presents some preliminary results of a detailed GIS-based analysis of surface archaeological features in an 8 square kilometer project area on the northern coast. The present project is being carried out to examine how different behavioural strategies that occurred throughout the prehistoric Rapa Nui cultural sequence are manifest in the spatial and temporal distribution of archaeological features. The preliminary results of spatial analyses and seriation of over 800 features recorded in 2006 will be presented, as well as preliminary results of the chronometric dating of eight residential features using obsidian hydration dating. A model for settlement and land use based on the preliminary findings has been established, and this model will be revised and tested using additional data collected during the next two years.

Leading archaeologists and popular writers have constructed narratives about pre-European societal collapse on Rapa Nui. The island is thought to have undergone a radical prehistoric shift towards anarchy as the island ecosystem was destroyed by overpopulation and environmental catastrophe. Elements of this story were first told by early 20th century ethnographers. In 1955, Thor Heyerdahl's Norwegian Expedition added to the narrative by recovering archaeological data which they attributed to warfare and destruction. More recent authors have retold the account of prehistoric societal failure, and today Rapa Nui is often depicted as a model for world ecosystem disaster. Despite the popularity of this narrative, there is very little solid evidence that drastic societal change occurred prior to European contact. We review the evidence for pre-European societal collapse, and consider GIS based methodologies for establishing the dynamic social and environmental landscape to enable the empirical evaluation of whether or not the narrative of Rapa Nui's prehistoric demise is supported.

For the second half of the 20th century, several ceremonial platforms of Rapa Nui were reconstructed, allowing the visitors to contemplate their original majestic greatness. At the same time, the observation confirmed more rapid deterioration of the moai exposed to the action of the elements in comparison with the statues that remained partially buried beneath the soil or rubble, which postponed further large-scale restoration activities. One of the possible ways to expand the number of the sites accessible for viewing in their original form without endangering the original monuments is to use computers to re-create their three-dimensional models from the actual measurements, maps and photos. In this paper, a three-dimensional model of the ceremonial center of Vinapu was constructed basing on the maps and photos published by Dr. William Mulloy in the Reports of the Norwegian Archaeological Expedition to Easter Island, 1955-56. Fine model geometry adjustment and texturization were performed using the photos taken by the author at the site in 2002. In the framework of the hypothesis that the proportions of the moai obey the golden section rule, the toppled statues were tentatively modeled after the set of their measurements available in the literature, which allowed us to make the conjectural reconstruction of the site following the drawings of William Mulloy. Obtained model of the site was used to perform the calculations concerning its visibility ranges from both land and sea, confirming that Yuri Lisyanskiy and other early visitors could have seen the main platform with the standing statues quite well without the aid of any telescopic equipment, if they were within 3 kilometers from the shore.

This paper presents the implementation and use of GIS and Computer applications in Easter Island with several examples of the remarkable analytical capacity of these tools in the interpretation of archaeological survey data within the isle landscape. It further reviews the variables and methodology involved in the geodesic transformations required for the adjustment of the Easter Island Archaeological Survey's cartography — originally in Datum Easter Island, 1967 — into the current world geodetic system WGS84, base of the NAVSTAR GPS system, and explore the archaeological fieldwork limitations and problems of the absolute method used by the "satellite navigators" in relation with the cartographic scales considered.

We describe the current status of a project creating a searchable online database of references for Pacific archaeology. The project will in the future aim to provide full-text of early or hard to find references.

It has for long been accepted that landscapes are polyvocal and in this meaningful to different people in different ways. Anthropologists and archaeologists have attempted to tease out these multiple meanings and in doing so have given us nuanced understandings of landscape perceptions which have enhanced the knowledge of histories and geographies of various places. It can be argued that seascapes are equally ingrained with multiple understandings beyond a simple perception of "bridge or barrier". This session invites contributions which considers the implications of the perception of the sea(s) which is such a feature of introductory descriptions to Easter Island (i.e., distances to next nearest land) and also the implications of Epeli Hau'ofa's "sea of islands" which reverses the land / sea relation of island in a sea so common in island archaeology. Contributions from these perspectives which may be regarded as enhancing our understanding of Easter Island are welcome for any period or place.

Concerning the origin of the Rapanui people, "Manuscript E" says that the people started to migrate over the sea, because of the rise of the sea (tsunami?). It is not easy to discuss how much tsunami has actually been the causal factor for the migration of the Austronesians including Rapanui people, but a very good example to discuss the mythicization of tsunami is found in the southernmost islands of Japan, Ryukyu Islands. In the southwestern end of the Ryukyu Islands, Yaeyama Region, the Great Tsunami of the Meiwa Period (1771) caused serious damages to the island societies. Ryukyu Islands have been often attacked by tsunami throughout history and a variety of tsunami legends have been talked until today. Among these legends, a particular type of legend is found on Ishigaki Island that is the closest to the seismic center of Meiwa Period Great Tsunami: men caught a mermaid which was an incarnation of sea spirit, and she predicted the coming of the Meiwa Period Great Tsunami. There are many natural and cultural features (e.g. tsunami stones) that are said to have originated in this tsunami. Recent geophysical studies indicate the distribution of this type of tsunami legends well correspond to the distribution of the damaged area of tsunami. Thus a real tsunami event has been partly mythicized incorporating folk beliefs. In this presentation, I will analyze the relationship between (1) the distribution of "tsunami features" and the degree of damages caused by tsunami, and (2) the type of tsunami legends and their degree of mythicization in Ryukyu Islands. I will then disclose the process in which disaster of the sea is mythicized, and discuss how natural phenomena have been culturally conceived in the formation of seascape among the people living in insular environments.

Recent work on Rapa Nui settlement, quarrying, resource acquisition, and ceremonial structures has increasingly incorporated a symbolic dimension – yet functionalist explanations of access to land and sea resources and territory formation still predominate. The ceremonial platforms (ahu) of Rapa Nui, particularly the "complex ahu" with anthropomorphic statues (moai), have been traditionally studied in terms of their construction elements, their chronology, and the spatial density and distribution of architectural types. Lineage-based ties have been presumed between the ahu and the land on which they are situated. On the basis of idealised Polynesian models of chieftain territories, these ties are perceived as being rationalised in the spatial clustering of ahu and their association with hypothesized pie-shaped segments of quotidian territorial space. In contrast, this paper sets out to explore the spatial settings of ahu beyond that of territory. The landscape locales of ahu predominantly lie physically at the interface of land and sea. Overarching the concept of land-tied identities, one of the most evocative characteristics of the locations of the elaborate ahu are that their high, dense walls which face the sea — while the statues facing inland "turn" their backs to the sea. The ahu are more often than not strategically placed at good positions to get in and out of the sea. In some cases they incorporate aggrandized slipways, and beach stones are components of specific elements of their architecture. The landward locales of ahu likewise have precise topographic settings, and associations with natural features. The ahu often face into discrete valleys with view-blocking rims and they recurrently have landscaped forecourts that further emphasize this natural topography — these landscaped settings often incorporate distinctive basalt flows. The paper concludes that when such land and sea features are considered from a symbolic and sensory perspective it can be suggested that the locations of ahu are as much conceptual as territorial.

The apparent self-inflicted demise of the "classical" Rapa Nui world and its inhabitants has over the last few years been portrayed as a "parable" for the relentless over-exploitation of resources in the wider world. Nowhere is this view more powerfully mediated than through the emotive portrayal of the Rapa Nui person cutting down the last tree — a mindless act epitomizing a mindless society on the brink of environmental disaster. The appeal of this lurid interpretation does not lie in the archaeological and botanical evidence, but that it resonates with our view of the externalized and manipulative relationship between people and the world and the conceptual framework through which we make sense of our own experiences. Much of this conceptual framework is captured in Ulrich Beck's (1992) Risk Society, Towards a New Modernity, and Anthony Giddens (1991) Modernity and Self-identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age. However, the environmental discourse which underlies the Rapa Nui "parable" owes as much to Mary Douglas's series of publications beginning in 1982 with Risk and Culture: An Essay on the Selection of Technological and Environmental Dangers (with A. Wildavsky). Although there exist many interesting issues to be explored within an examination of the concept of "Risk Society" and the assumptions underlying the over-exploitation debate, this paper explores two different points from the writings of Beck, Giddens and Douglas. The first concerns the proposed unique understanding of risk within high modernity which can be crudely described as the intentional or unintentional consequence of social action (Beck and Giddens). The second, concerns risk as a purely social construct (Douglas). The monumental constructions which ensure Rapa Nui's high archaeological profile are also held to be responsible for the postulated "ecological disaster". Here I wish to evaluate the nature and understanding of "risk" within Rapa Nui monument building society. In particular, the possibility that the concept of risk was understood and was indeed an intrinsic and vital component of monumental construction within the discourse of social competition. Through an examination of construction as a social process, from quarrying to transportation to ahu construction, it will be argued that Rapa Nui society could be described as a "Risk Society" and that the technologies of construction permeated every aspect of peoples lives.

Prehistoric movements across oceans should be viewed as not only feasible but faster than crossing continents. By sailing eastward, Polynesians discovered tiny Rapa Nui and might they have continued on to central or southern Chile. We also put forth the hypothesis that South American Indian groups made exploratory ventures into the Pacific region. It is widely accepted that the sweet potato was introduced into the Polynesian culture area, however, a more thorough analysis of cultural traits is needed to determine which Polynesian cultural institutions originated from from contact with indigenous American Indian groups.

A small but steadily increasing number of carefully-scrutinized lexical items suggests the occurrence of at least a few prehistoric contact events between Polynesian mariners and Native peoples of the west coasts of North and South America. In North America, the Southern California Chumashan *tomolo'o "sewn-plank canoe" and the Gabrielino ti'at "sewn-plank canoe" and tarayna "boat" are best understood as being derived by borrowing from Central Eastern Polynesian sailing vocabulary. In Polynesia, kumara (and variants) 'sweet potato' is believed to have been borrowed from a coastal South American language, and toki "basalt adze" may have been borrowed from Polynesia into South America. In this paper, I present two additional forms which support the contact hypothesis. From the Kawesqar (Alacaluf) group, who built sewn-plank canoes, Captain Robert Fitzroy (of Beagle fame) collected a form kialu "West Patagonian canoe"; this could plausibly derive from a Polynesian form ancestral to the modern Hawaiian compound kialoa "long, swift, light canoe". In addition, a possible shared word for "harpoon" or "spear" or "ironwood" (the material from which the weapons were made) exists in Chumashan w l "harpoon; ironwood"; Alacaluf (collected by Hyades) ou-léé "spear, harpoon"; and Hawaiian welau, elau, "spear point; tip, top, extremity" (Pukui and Elbert); Maori tavero "lance longue" (Jaussen) and Tuamotuan vero "to throw / hurl a spear / dart" (Stimson. Taken together with the archaeological evidence, these forms offer compelling support for prehistoric Polynesian-American contact.

Similarities in material culture, including sewn plank boat construction, compound bone fishhooks, and carved wooden bowls, compliment linguistic findings indicating at least one contact event between the Chumash and Gabrielino of southern California and Polynesian voyageurs. Oral traditions from Hawaii include an account of a voyage to America, while stories associated with the invention of sewn plank canoes among the Chumash allude to an intrusion from outsiders. Earlier estimates for the timing of this event between ca. cal A.D. 400 and 800 based on insecure proxy evidence are revised to cal A.D. 600-800 for a voyage that originated in Hawaii, although the possibility of an eastern Polynesian starting point cannot be ruled out. Strong similarities in the material culture of southern South America and the southern California coast, including compound bone fishhooks, barbed harpoons, and sewn plank boats compliment new linguistic findings that suggest yet another Polynesia-New World nexus.

Debates about the date of introduction and ultimate origins of chickens in South America have raged for decades. Through the application of radiocarbon dating and PCR amplification of ancient DNA sequences these debates can now be resolved. Recent evidence now suggests Polynesians introduced chickens to South America at least a century before Columbus arrived on the East Coast. The mtDNA evidence for this introduction of chickens, as well as subsequent introductions both in the pre-Columbian and historic periods will be discussed and future research directions explored.

A number of cultural parallels between Polynesia and South America have been explained as borrowings from one side or the other, but there was no way to prove they were independent developments either. Recently, the first evidence for a Polynesian contact was found in central-south Chile, the land of the pre-Hispanic and present Mapuche people (Lat. 32º to 42º South). A number of Polynesian like traits have been described among the Mapuche: hand clubs similar to the Maori wahaika, axes called toki and axe-like pendants called toki kura, besides other linguistics matchings. Some cultural parallels could remain as independent inventions, like the cooking oven or some fishing techniques, while others can be borrowings from Quechua, like the potato called "kumaka" in Chiloe island, but the first strong evidence for a direct Polynesian contact with a South American pre-Hispanic culture contact makes the Mapuche a new member of the old Pacific world. A new approach to the Maori - Mapuche materials is provided.

Within academia, the study of rock art, or images on rocks, has been traditionally treated as a "poor cousin", particularly in the United States. This was mainly because images painted or carved on rocks were not considered datable, they were not thought of as a force in culture change, and many studies lacked archaeological context. However, in the last few decades, large-scale field projects, some within the context of settlement landscape studies, have taken place on all the major Pacific islands. Thus we now know considerably more about this part of the Oceanic cultural past. In this session we invite contributors to present their projects, methods, and theories that have led to interpretation and the understanding of symbolism within the Oceanic milieu.

Archaeological surveys and researches conducted in East Kalimantan province (Indonesian Borneo) since 1992, have begun to unveil a large number of occupation remains. Although the oldest Pleistocene levels have not yet been reached, attested clues dated from late Pleistocene (12.000 y. B.P.) to late Holocene (500-200 y. B.P.) are largely present. Within these remains a particular and totally unexpected rock art expression has been discovered. Although some rock art had already been observed in Northern Borneo and the neighbouring Nusantaraan islands (Sulawesi, Moluccas, Timor or Irian Jaya) it had been attributed either to some Australian Aboriginal late influence, either to Austronesian influence. The oldest expressions we have yet studied being dated at least from late Pleistocene period (more than 10,000 y. B.P.), that rock art would anyway predate any Austronesian influence. That latter being visibly attested by the occurrence of ceramic, some 4,000 to 3,500 years ago. Borneo's rock art present different specificities including a relatively large number of negative hand prints (more than 1,800 within some 35 ornate caves already studied). These latter themselves being often over impressed and / or linked together, forming groups or clusters whose function although still puzzling, may suggest some therapeutic / initiatic activities (it includes the gender decipheration of hand prints showing the presence of women in painting activities). More recent complementary discoveries (decorated funerary jars, burials and / or ochre-coated bones for instance), present such strange formal similarities with the "Lapita cultural complex" that questions and hypothesis concerning its extension area and process may be suggested.

Even if the presence of pre-colonial rock art has been identified early in Island Melanesia by European visitors, few focussed studies have been attempted to date on this topic in the western Pacific, compared to Eastern Polynesia and New Zealand. New Caledonia, located at the southern tip of the Melanesian croissant, has since long been recognized as one of the archipelagos of Oceania where this tradition flourished during prehistory. The survey of several hundred petroglyph sites by J. Monnin, mainly on the Main Island, has allowed to record over 3,000 different engravings. After a general presentation of the background about the petroglyphs of New Caledonia, we present in this paper a proposal of expanded typology, divided into 40 categories, taking into account internal variations. These will be compared to a regional set of designs to highlight the existence of a related set of "Melanesian" motifs in Oceania.

Small man-made pits on stone surfaces are found all over the world and are the earliest known human markings. This paper discusses cupules found on Rapa Nui and compares them with the thousands of similar petroglyphs from the Big Island of Hawai'i. Were they part of a process, or functional? What did they symbolize?

Rock-artwork, often referred to as petroglyphs, are well known and documented in the Hawaiian Islands, particularly on the "Big Island" of Hawai'i. Amongst the thousands of images carved into rock are a numbers of images that show western influence on the Hawaiian culture. These would include Hawaiian words using the English style alphabet, zoo-morphs, including goats and horses as well as themes such as fire-arms and sailing vessels. It is this last category that this paper will deal with in some depth. There are some fifty images carved into rock amongst the Hawaiian Islands that clearly depict sailing vessels of a western design. This paper will look at the known rock images of such vessels beginning with the easternmost and moving across the state of Hawaii towards the west. We will be looking not only at the type of vessel portrayed, but consider the location and orientation of the ship-petroglyphs. We will also view some of the details of these images and contemplate what the artist was trying to portray.

Since 1995 research on archaeological art was carried out as a part of two major settlement-pattern surveys at the ancient district (moku) of Kahikinui and the land division (ahupuaha'a) of Nu'u located on southeastern Maui Island. Professor P.V. Kirch led these projects with teams from University of California, Berkeley. At Kahikinui 17 petroglyphs and pictograph sites, containing a total of 168 glyphic units were documented and analyzed. At Nu'u we documented 604 individual petroglyphs at 5 sites. Images both at Kahikinui and Nu'u vary in the number of images, site context, spatial distribution, and especially geological conditions. Thus these two diverse landscapes provide a unique opportunity to examine if geological conditions are reflected in the rock art or if other forces are at play.

Bones and teeth are a direct witness of living humans as well as animals that documents both population movements and lifestyles. The purpose of this session is to explore current evidence related to colonisation history and subsequent developments in Pacific islands. Papers based on osteological and ancient DNA studies of humans and domesticated and commensal animals are solicited to discuss these themes and help to clarify Polynesian islands settlement.

Throughout human history, animals have played a key and often intrinsic part in both human dispersal and trade and exchange networks, with some of the earliest known translocations of animals by people occurring in Island Melanesia during the late Pleistocene. The advent of farming during the Neolithic involved domesticated plants and animals accompanying humans in perhaps one of the greatest diaspora ever undertaken by any species across the globe. Traditionally, linguistic, genetic and archaeological evidence have been used to construct dispersal models of the Neolithic cultural package from mainland East Asia, through Island South East Asia, into Wallacea, Island Melanesia and finally into Near and Remote Oceania. In this paper, through the techniques of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and geometric morphometric analysis of molar teeth, we present evidence of a number of human-mediated dispersals of pig (Sus sp.) within Island South East Asia (ISEA) into Oceania. One is unequivocally associated with the Neolithic (Lapita) and later Polynesian migrations, and links modern and archaeological Javan, Sumatran, Wallacean, Island Melanesian and Oceanic pigs with mainland S.E. Asian Sus scrofa. Another links mainland East Asian pigs to western Micronesia, Taiwan and the Philippines. A final one supports an early human-mediated translocation of the endemic Sulawesi warty pig (Sus celebensis) to Flores and Timor. These results provide important new data with which to test and refine current models for human dispersal in the region.

(University of Auckland and Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology and Evolution)

Does aDNA provide answers or just create new questions? This paper will review the last 10 years of ancient DNA research in the Pacific focusing both on commensal animals (rats, dogs, pigs, and chickens) and recent human data. We will discuss the most up-to-date results and the resulting questions the data have highlighted. Specifically we will discuss issues such as multiple population origins, evidence of interaction and mobility and future applications for aDNA research in the Pacific.

A Lapita-associated human skeleton was discovered from the Naitabale site on the Moturiki island, Fiji in 2002. The burial was 150cm underground and just under the midden which included lots of Lapita pottery sherds. By means of the AMS radiocarbon dating analysis of several pieces of bone, its chronological age was estimated at 2577±26 years BP, 798 (793) 786 years BC, though still not yet published at the moment. It was found that at least as to the skull, the skeleton is the best preserved among the Lapita-associated human skeletal remains thus far found. The skeleton was gross-anatomically analysed in detail and processed a making-face reconstruction in Japan before being returned to Fiji. In the present paper, we closely describe the skeleton named "Mana", present the results of those analyses and briefly compare it with the human skeletons which were excavated at Lapita-associated sites in the South Pacific region. Mana was found to be a female skeleton aged at death more than some 40 years, to have been around 160 cm tall, to be moderately structured in the body, to be flat in the face, and to be semi-rocker shaped on the mandible. In conclusion we can preliminarily say that both her facial-cranium and neuro-cranium consist of Asiatic as well as Polynesian characters.

Commensal models have revealed much about Pacific prehistory in the past decade. The study of the mtDNA of ancient Pacific chickens contributes to our knowledge by allowing us to examine multiple introductions, their origins and relationships with Southeast Asian flocks. Preliminary data suggests there were two introductions of chicken to the Pacific and these are related to geographically distinct domestication centres in China and the Thailand / Philippine region. Ancient DNA data for Pacific and Southeast Asian chickens will be discussed within current frameworks developed from archaeology, linguistics, biological anthropology and other commensal studies.

The question of who the first people on Gotland were has long been debated. Lars Beckman found in his study on classic genetic markers in the modern population of Gotland (2000), that the people on the eastern side of Gotland had a large influence of Baltic genes. Unfortunately, the study of ancient human DNA is very problematic and to this day not a preferred way to go. However, the aDNA study of animals might shed some light to this question. In this study we examine mitochondrial DNA of the control region from hedgehogs from the east and the west coast of Gotland that are connected with Middle Neolithic settlements. The hedgehog seems to have been an important animal in Scandinavia during the Neolithic, as their bones have been recovered as artifacts in human graves, as well as, in the surrounding mass material, at several locations in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. It has been suggested that the people during the Neolithic, brought hedgehogs with them when they travelled either as gifts, pets, and / or food. Gotland is an ideal locale to study migration since it is an island in the middle of the Baltic Sea that never has been connected to any of the surrounding Scandinavian or European mainland. As well as, hedgehogs cannot physically have travelled there by themselves.

This study reviews the several dimensions of social and biological identity as revealed in craniometric and nonmetric data and the patterns of skull curation and modification in a series of villages along the north coast and the lower Sepik River of Papua New Guinea. Collections now at The Field Museum of Chicago and the Staatlichen Museum für Völkerkunde in Dresden, Germany were acquired from this area in the late 1800s and the first decades of the 1900s, and represent the coastal population of what was then German New Guinea. These collections have been used previously to represent Papua New Guinea in macro-scale, regional investigations of biodistance, but diversity has not been examined at this local, micro-scale. Here we address the question of how biological relatedness is affected by — or reflects — the tremendous linguistic diversity on the northern coast of this island continent. The complete dataset includes 40 measurements and variation in 33 nonmetric traits assessed in 135 adult crania, including both males and females (some raw data provided by Michael Pietrusewsky, PhD). The Mean Measure of Divergence statistic is utilized to examine combined-sex non-metric variation between the villages, while measurements are analyzed by sex using multivariate statistical analyses (e.g., discriminant function, Mahalanobis' D2) and a clustering program. Neither Austronesian / Non-Austronesian language divisions nor simple geographic proximity suffice to explain the biological patterns observed here, and we draw on ethnographic and historical data to interpret the relationships between particular villages. We also discuss evidence for social identity at individual and collective scales as revealed by the treatment of the dead. Skulls were curated and modified in a variety of modes, ranging from cleaning and painting with a red wash of clay at the western edge of the Sepik coast to the complete over-modeling of the face by Iatmul people on the Sepik River. The Iatmul portrait skulls represent obvious individuation, but study of the design motifs on skulls with incised designs on the frontal bones reveals both subtle individuation and the rendering of traditional inherited designs on the skulls of ancestors. The iconography of skull decoration is not unique but rather the design elements are common to a wide range of material culture in both painted and carved media, representing the incorporation of human remains into the realm of things made sacred at the hand of the master carver and painter. The designs and their execution provide another layer of cultural data added to the biological history already encompassed in the cranial morphology and life history of the individual.

(Centre de Recherche Archeologique sur la Polynesie [CIRAP], Universite de la Polynesie Francaise, Tahiti, Polynesie Francaise)

The Marquesas Archipelago has traditionally been divided into a northwestern and a southeastern group. The northern group includes the islands of Nuku Hiva, 'Ua Huka, and Ua Pou, and the southern group includes Hiva 'Oa, Tahuata and Fatu Hiva. The Marquesan language has been divided into two dialects which correspond with this archipelago division (Green, 1966), and has been supported by the work of Lavond s & Randall (1978) which found that the languages of the southern islands were more closely related to each other than either was to the northern islands. Ethnohistoric voyaging records indicated that there were northern and southern interaction zones but only the occasional voyage between. This study examines Marquesan cranial metric traits to evaluate the level of intra-archipelago heterogeneity and to determine if a northern / southern division is evident cranially. The data consist of 49 cranio-facial measurements of prehistoric Marquesans. Male and female data were pooled for the metric data following a Z-score standardization size adjustment technique. The data consisted of four island samples: Nuku Hiva (northwest) (n=103), 'Ua Huka (northwest) (n=30), Fatu Hiva (southeast) (n=29), and a combined Hiva 'Oa / Tahuata (southeast) (n=30). Of the 49 craniofacial measurements, 11 are utilized in an RMET analysis, providing unbiased D2 values of 0.083077 for Nuku Hiva-'Ua Huka, 0.068800 for Nuku Hiva - Fatu Hiva, 0.079318 for Nuku Hiva- Hiva 'Oa / Tahuata, 0.052701 for 'Ua Huka –Fatu Hiva, 0.042571 for 'Ua Huka - Hiva 'Oa / Tahuata, and 0.009082 for Fatu Hiva - Hiva 'Oa / Tahuata. The islands of the southern group were closer to each other than either was to the island of the northern group. However, the crania from 'Ua Huka, a member of the northwestern group, have a closer similarity to the islands of the southeastern group then they do to crania from the northwestern island of Nuku Hiva. These results indicate that there were cranial metric differences between the islands of the northwestern and southeastern Marquesas Islands, supporting the findings of previous research that documented the linguistic and cultural differences between those regions of the archipelago. However, the results indicate that 'Ua Huka, an island traditionally included in the northwestern Marquesas Islands, has an affinity to the southeastern Marquesas Islands, possibly due to its pivotal position as a waypoint in the Marquesas Island interaction sphere.

Many previous works have shown how genetic diversity and phylogeography of mtDNA contribute to the history of Polynesian settlement. They provided several hypotheses, such as a South-East Asiatic origin, a strong founder effect and a very weak contribution of Melanesia to the Polynesia peopling. Nevertheless, Polynesia is a very large area and, up to now, some parts have yet to be sampled. This is the case of the eastern part of French Polynesia (South Tuamotu and Gambier islands). We report here the results from the analyses of mtDNA (9 bp deletion, HVS1 and HVS2 polymorphisms) from extant people from Gambier islands and from ancient skeletons excavated in a currently uninhabited atoll in the Gambier islands (atoll of Temoe, 14th-17th centuries; radiocarbon dating). After genealogical study, we sampled 17 maternally unrelated (at the third generation) extant individuals, while paleogenetic studies concerned 7 samples whose extraction and amplification yielded aDNA sequences. We observed that most of the mtDNA haplotypes of the living sample's individuals belong to the major haplogroup found in Polynesia (haplogroup B4a1a1; Trejaut et al., 2005), except a Melanesian haplotype (haplogroup Q1) that was identified in 2 individuals. Similar results were returned by the ancient DNA analyses: 6 sequences are related to the Polynesian haplogroup B4a1a1, and one sequence is related to the Melanesian haplogroup Q1. The occurrence of haplogroup Q1 in the ancient sample may be an evidence of a non negligible Melanesian contribution to the settlement of eastern Polynesia. The haplotype diversity observed in both our extant and ancient Polynesian samples also suggests a greater than expected genetic diversity.

Most archaeological and linguistic evidence suggest a Polynesian origin of the population of Easter Island. This view has been supported by the identification of typical Polynesian mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) polymorphisms in some prehistoric skeletal remains. However, some evidence of an early South American contact also exist (the sweet potato, bottle gourd etc), but earlier genetic studies have not revealed traces of an early Amerindian contribution to the human gene pool on the island. This was also the case in some genetic studies we performed with serological methods in 1971, in blood samples collected from 69 reputedly non-admixed native Easter Islanders. More recently, molecular DNA typing has become possible. We therefore analyzed DNA from 48 of the previously collected Easter Islanders, typing them for mtDNA and Y chromosome markers as well as high resolution typing of the extremely polymorphic HLA genes. All individuals carried mtDNA types and HLA alleles previously found in Polynesia, and most of the men carried Y chromosome markers of Polynesian origin. A few individuals carried HLA alleles and / or Y chromosome markers of European origin, which probably represent traces of early European visitors to the island (ship crew members since Roggeveen's discovery in 1722). More interestingly, however, some individuals carried the HLA alleles A*0212 and B*3905, which have several fold higher frequencies in Amerindian populations than elsewhere in the world and is therefore considered typical Amerindian HLA alleles. The genealogy of some of the individuals carrying these Amerindian HLA alleles and their haplotypic backgrounds suggest an introduction into Easter Island in the early 1800s or earlier; i.e., prior to the 19th century Peruvian slave trades in Polynesia, which are assumed to have resulted in more recent Amerindian admixture in the area. Thus, our studies suggest an early Amerindian contribution to the Polynesian gene pool of Easter Island.

Previous work on the large fishbone assemblages from middens on Aitutaki, Southern Cook Islands indicates that over time the amount of fish consumed over-all declined, and the emphasis shifted from deeper water fish to inner-reef species. This pattern is seen on other islands in the Pacific, including the Marquesas and Rotuma, and would seem counter-intuitive for island groups who were most likely experiencing population growth and increased pressures on limited land resources. Stable isotope analysis allows us to examine this apparent shift in diet from an entirely different angle, providing us with a way to view the entire diet, including plant foods, something that has not been possible before. The two isotopes chosen for this study, 13C and 15N, are particularly suited to examining problems that centre around the amounts of marine and terrestrial protein in an individual's diet. In this case collagen from archaeological bone was analysed, and a suite of modern dietary sources from Aitutaki provided a locally-specific comparison for analysis. Stable isotope analysis also allows us to examine the diet of the two largest Polynesian domesticates, pigs and dogs, with an eye to using the information to supplement the temporally uneven human bone; a technique which has proven useful in other parts of the world with dog bone only. Preliminary results indicate that the fishbone evidence is correct — over time the diet became more focused on terrestrial foods and the amount of fish in the diet of humans, pigs and dogs decreased. Around the time of European contact this trend was reversed and marine foods increased importance. The isotope results also suggest that the amount of offshore fish did decrease over time and that more inshore fish was eaten. Both pig and dog show great promise as proxies for human bone, and changes in their diets parallel aspects of the changes seen in the human diet.

This paper discuss the subsistence and health condition of the Lapita peoples, analyzing the data of faunal remains and the result of stable isotope analysis and anatomical study of human skeletal remain ("Mana") at the Naitabale site, Moturiki, Fiji. Faunal data suggests that the people enjoyed marine resource from the reef in front of the site. Data of the stable isotope analysis suggest that Mana had a mixed marine-terrestrial diet. These results are consistent with the general understanding of the Lapita subsistence. The anatomical study of Mana reveals bad oral and dental condition, which may reflect a disturbance of nutrition. This evidence suggests that the Lapita peoples did not always enjoy "natural blessing" and sometimes suffered severe famine in a poor, unstable, and unfamiliar environment.

Dental microwear and stable isotopes analyses have been applied in order to bring information on dietary habits of ancient Easter Islanders. Both field of research have successfully been integrated since the end of the 1970's in food web reconstructions. The density, dimensions and orientation of dental microwear are a function of the type of food as well as their way of preparation On the vestibular surface of the teeth, the vertical and long striations would be caused by quickly chewed meat while the short horizontal and oblique striations would result from the crushing of harder (more abrasive) vegetal food. Vegetarians show also more striations than carnivorous. Nitrogen and carbon stable isotope signature of bone (or teeth) collagen may be used in dietary reconstruction because differences in isotopic composition between various classes of foods are reflected in the consumer tissues. Isotopic data can distinguish between broad categories of food (i.e. marine versus terrestrial, herbivorous versus carnivorous). We have studied individuals dating from the 13th to the 19th century (71 for dental microwear and 14 for stable isotopes) housed at the Museum Sebastian Englert (Easter Island) and at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (Belgium). Dental microwear was examined on the vestibular surface of the first and second molars with scanning electron microscopy at 178 X magnification. The number of striations, their length and their orientation were recorded in a circular area of 300 µm diameter using the software Microware 4.02 of P. Ungar. The isotopic analyses were carried out from 200-300mg of bone sampled with a drill. Collagen has been extracted by acidic demineralization followed by a step of contaminants removal. The isotopic compositions were measured by mass spectrometry. Easter Islanders display a small total number of striations and a high proportion of horizontal and horizontal-oblique short scratches. If one refers to studies carried out on subjects of known diet, these data indicate a low abrasive vegetable food prevalence. This result can be related to the dominance of sweet potato in their daily meals as it is stated by historical, ethnographical and archaeobotanical data. Furthermore, the microwear pattern of Easter Islanders presents the most similarities with that of the Cistercians of the Dunes abbey of Coxyde (Belgium, 12-15th century AD) where marine fish consumption is attested. Stable carbon isotopes show that marine products represented, according to individuals, between 30 and 50% of the Easter Islanders protein intake. Easter Islanders also display higher nitrogen isotope ratios than other Pacific islanders that could be explained by a higher intake of terrestrial animal proteins. Within our sample, we did not observe any sex or age-related differences in microwear pattern and stable isotopes. It indicates that these two variables would not determine a preferential access to the various foodstuffs. With regard to the social status, our study shows that the royal Miru clan can be distinguished from the other clans on the basis of its dental microwear. It is characterized by a lower number of striations and less short features (0-30 µm). A greater meat and / or fish consumption could be at the origin of this distinction.

Stable isotope data are used in this paper to assess human dietary patterns of prehistoric communities from Tutuila (American Samoa)

Human remains from three sites dated to three times periods: 11-13th, 15-17th, and 19-20th centuries AD, were analyzed. The earliest of these fall at the end of what has been called the Samoa Dark Ages, a time about which there is little information, but which is thought to have been formative to the later elaborated chiefdoms. The later burials are fully within elaborated chiefdom period. Carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes of bone collagen provide a record of protein consumption and the environment from which individuals draw their resources as well as their status along the trophic web. Stable isotopes were measured from bone collagen of 16 human remains (4 subadults and 12 adults): 8 individuals from the Fatu-ma-Futi site, 7 individuals from the Lauli'i site and one from the 'Ili'ili site. 13C values from Fatu-ma-Futi display a wider variability (-19.4 to -17.2 ‰ [ = 2.2 ‰]) than individuals from Lauli'i (-18.4 to 17.7 ‰ [ = 0.7 ‰]). Such a difference may suggest that the Fatu-ma-Futi individuals relied on more diversified resources. 15N values are much higher in the Lauli'i individuals (10.4 to 16.5 ‰) compared with the Fatu-ma-Futi individuals (9.1 to 14.3 ‰). A higher consumption of animal proteins at Lauli'i could explain these results. The adult from 'Ili'ili has 13C value of -17.3 ‰ and 15N of -10.5 ‰. There is no significant statistical difference in 15N and 13C values between sites (U-Test of Mann-Whitney, p > 0.05), but 13C values are significantly different (U-Test of Mann-Whitney, U = 2.5, p = 0.006) when the more represented chronological periods are compared. The present evidence suggests that the earlier individuals dated to the 11-13th century AD consumed more marine resources or C4 plants compared with individuals who lived around 450-350 years ago. It is also interesting to note that the individual from 'Ili'ili — dated provisionally to 1815-1933 cal AD — shows the highest d13C value suggesting a either a higher consumption of C4 plants or marine food. To conclude, isotopic evidence indicates that these communities probably consumed a mixed diet based on terrestrial and marine food, and there was with a transition from a higher dependence on marine items to a more terrestrial diet over time. Several possibilities are suggested by the results and these include: changes in community specialization; marine resource depression; disintensification of marine procurement; intensification of horticultural production; and cultural or social changes in resource allocation.

The international research team of the 1981 Easter Island Anthropological Expedition recovered a large number of prehistoric and protohistoric human skeletons from several well-excavated Rapa Nui sites. These came from both caves and ahu from throughout the island. In the years following the expedition's excavation, curation and initial study came further curation and much more osteological study involving an expansion of the team of osteologists as well as expanded samples of Rapa Nui skeletons from throughout the world. Even though numerous journal articles, book chapters, published conference proceedings, masters theses, and a doctoral dissertation have all emanated from this osteological work, a full synthesis of osteological data from all sources (metric, non-metric, pathology, etc.) has thus far not been attempted. This session is a first step in rectifying this situation. Contributions from the human osteology team members, past and present, have been solicited, relating to osteometrics, discrete trait analysis, paleopathology and cultural modifications of the skeleton. Through these approaches a much fuller picture is emerging of: 1) origins and migration, 2) disease and injury, 3) tribal endogamy and warfare, and 4) certain cultural practices.

In an initial study from 2003, regional samples of provenienced Easter Island crania were compared on the basis of thirty discrete cranial traits to test for statistically significant osteological variation between several tribal or clan groups described in the ethnographic record. This original study made use of discrete cranial trait data from 106 specimens curated and examined on Easter Island. These specimens were divided into five groups representative of supposed ancient Easter Island tribal or clan regions, and preliminary intraregional tests justified pooling males and females within specific regions for further interregional analyses. Interregional comparisons revealed statistically significant variation for only two of the thirty discrete cranial traits examined: parietal notch bone and frontal grooves. These differences were observed between three of the five prehistoric tribal regions. While the initial study suggests the possibility of some tribal endogamy on ancient Easter Island, the slight statistical regional variation indicates a population far more homogeneous than heterogeneous. The current study is an expansion of the original study using discrete cranial trait data from several additional specimens for a more robust data set. These additional specimens are provenienced Easter Island crania from collections housed in the National Museum of Natural History, Santiago, Chile.

This preliminary study investigates sexual dimorphism and pelvic variability in the Prehistoric Rapanui to test the efficacy of a new method of quantifying variation using an archaeological sample, and to test for suspected population differences in pelvic morphology. Six pelvic measurements were taken on a sample (n=46) of individuals housed at the Padre Sebastian Englert Museum in Rapa Nui, Chile. Males and females were first evaluated using summary statistics to determine differential size differences, then a stepwise discriminant function procedure was applied to determine the reliability of the method for determining sex. Comparisons were also made between the Rapanui and the Terry samples of North American blacks (n=80) and whites (n=80) to test for population differences in size and shape. For the Rapanui, 93.3% of males were correctly classified, and 93.8% of females were correctly classified. Comparisons indicated that there are statistically significant size differences between the samples. Whites were found to be significantly larger in all dimensions, followed by blacks, then the Rapanui. The Rapanui showed a strikingly small, yet highly dimorphic pelvic morphology. This investigation indicates that the method can be used to measure sex differences with high accuracy in the Rapanui sample. Additionally, this research demonstrates that population variability needs to be considered when applying traditional methods of sex determination using the os coxa. Future research utilizing this isolated skeletal sample and other geographically diverse samples may further our understanding of pelvic variability within and between populations and provide a new avenue of study.

Since the inception of the 1981 Easter Island Anthropological Expedition the physical anthropology goals of that international project, once a sufficient, well-documented skeletal sample was acquired, have been basically threefold: 1) a comprehensive description of the skeletal biology of the prehistoric and protohistoric Rapa Nui, 2) a phylogenetic assessment of relationships of the ancient population as compared to other Polynesians (and intra-island variability as well) through both craniometric and non-metric evaluations, and 3) a full description of prehistoric and contact period patterns of injury and disease as revealed through skeletal evidence. Steady progress has been made in all three of these areas, however, the first goal of our project, a comprehensive skeletal biology description, is probably the least fulfilled objective. It is the purpose of this study to rectify this by providing a full description of the skeletal biology of the ancient Easter Island people, and then to offer explanations for patterns that have emerged from our study. Clearly these isolated people at the most remote southeastern corner of Polynesia exhibit some characteristics that are quite common to other Polynesian groups, such as medium stature, robust skeletons, medium face form and large crania. Other distinctive features however, such as a dolichocranic head form and a rocker jaw frequency of below 50% are not common in Polynesia and require some form of explanation. This research has resulted in a thorough description of stature, robusticity and craniofacial characteristics to include palate and jaw morphology in addition to the usual assessments of nose form, face form and vault size and shape. We have also conducted detailed analyses of midfacial projection, discrete trait observations and femur morphology that produce a biological profile on the ancient Rapa Nui that is somewhat distinctive. Parallels in skeletal morphology noted earlier between the prehistoric Easter Islanders and certain paleo-American skeletons such as Spirit Cave and Kennewick Man have now been explored in greater depth. Our findings have important implications with regard to potential prehistoric migration routes, patterns of settlement and human biological relationships.

The origin, migration, evolution and interaction of Polynesian populations as a whole, as well as focused examination of specific islands or archipelagos (i.e., Rapanui [Easter Islanders], Marquesas Islands, etc.) have been the center of Pacific investigation for many years. Archaeological, linguistic and genetic / serological data have played instrumental roles towards unraveling the answers to these questions thus far, but physical anthropological investigations have been contributing significantly to the understanding of Polynesian prehistory. Over the years the author has conducted investigations into the origins and evolution of the Rapanui, the intra-archipelago craniometric variation of the Marquesas Islanders, and the biological relationship of cranial remains of Henderson Islanders, and during the course of these investigations has accumulated an extensive dataset of Polynesian craniometric data. This study will examine the prehistoric crania of Polynesian islands: Chatham Island; Cook Islands, Gambier Islands; Hawai'i - O'ahu; Marquesas Islands; New Zealand; Rapa Nui; Society Islands - Mo'orea, Tahiti, Tuamotu Archipelago, in an attempt to shed light on the craniometric variation of prehistoric Polynesians, as well as to assess their phylogenic relationships and island colonization history.

One of the most active areas of linguistic research in recent years is language contact — that is, what happens to languages upon encountering foreign tongues. The process reveals a wealth of information about language dynamics, the mechanics of linguistic change, social pressures on and priorities of smaller local languages, such as those in Pacific Islands, and their resultant fates. The effect of French on many East Polynesian languages, of Spanish on Rapanui, of English on Maori, and other similar situations provide valuable information not only about how languages change, but why and what this means in the larger context, particularly for vulnerable island societies. In a similar vein, the rongorongo script of Easter Island, now generally accepted to be the immediate product of such foreign contact, continues to reveal its internal mechanism and to allow further tentative readings.

Spanish language has played or continues to play a major role in three particular regions in the Asian-Pacific area: the Marianas, the Philippines and Rapa Nui (Easter Island). While the Marianas and the Philippines ceased to be a Spanish colony in 1898, Chile only began to rule over Rapa Nui — or Isla de Pascua — in 1888, and continues to do so today. The central aim of this presentation is a confrontation of the linguistic heritage of Spanish in these three regions, which can be described as both diverse and alike. In all three cases, one or more autochthonous languages has been or is being influenced by Spanish — to a varying degree, but along similar paths of contact-induced change. In all three cases, one or more local variety(ies) of Spanish existed or continue to exist, differing to a large extend from both European and Latin-American Spanish. Along the lines of a corpus-based analysis, we will argue that linguistic contact with Spanish in the Asian-Pacific area can be grasped in the shape of at least three different stages, portrayed here as traces, deals and presence.

The Reefislands, in the easternmost part of the Solomon Islands, is an area of long-standing language contact. The Polynesian Outlier Vaeakau-Taumako (also known as Pileni) is spoken by some 500 people in the smallest and most marginal of the islands, while in the Main Reefs the unclassified Äiwoo (Reefs) language has about 5-6,000 speakers. The two language communities are geographically very close together, and trade and intermarriage across the linguistic border have been common probably for centuries. Some interesting observations can be made concerning the effects of this contact situation. Firstly, Äiwoo shows a large number of VAT loanwords; on the other hand, we have not been able to identify more than a dozen or so obvious Äiwoo loanwords in VAT. In other words, borrowing appears to be much more common from the smaller, more marginal language into the larger, more dominant one, a sociolinguistically unusual situation. At the same time, the two languages share a number of quite complex and unusual structural properties, some of which may have spread from Äiwoo to VAT, or developed in parallel in both languages. A tentative explanation for this situation is that the VAT speakers attempt to protect their linguistic identity by avoiding as far as possible obvious lexical borrowings from their larger and economically more powerful neighbours. On the other hand, the levels of morphosyntax and discourse structure are less readily available to conscious manipulation, and so may be more susceptible to influence through contact. Interestingly, VAT shows a number of innovations in the direction of greater differentiation from Äiwoo, e.g., the realisation of a number of consonant phonemes as [h], a sound which is absent altogether in Äiwoo; a very large number of articles and quantifiers, also largely absent in Äiwoo; and the extremely frequent use of reduplication, which exists but is fairly rare in Äiwoo. It is tempting to analyse this situation as a case of esoterogeny, that is, contact-induced change motivated by the desire to keep a language clearly distinct from that of surrounding speech communities. Note that the changes in question concern readily identifiable linguistic markers such as the presence vs. absence of [h], the presence vs. absence of articles etc. Thus linguistic change may function as a means of "keeping one's distance" and maintaining a distinct linguistic identity in a language-contact situation.

In recent years, attention has been focused on the creole spoken in Hawaii known to residents as "Pidgin" but called "Hawaii Creole English" by linguists. The view taken by many-both linguists and residents-is that in Hawaii, residents speak either Pidgin or (North American) English, but little attention has been paid to the fact that the variant of English spoken by the majority of people raised in Hawaii, i.e. Hawaii Local English, differs from the English spoken on the North American continent. This paper describes this variant and contrasts it with, at times, Pidgin but mostly with an idealized North American English.

Phonology: palatalization of /t/ and /d/ before /r/, full vowels in unstressed syllables, absence of offglides and syllabic nasals, omission of postvocalic /r/, primary stress on the second element of compound nouns, primary stress on the /eyt/ syllable of words like estimator, 3-1 intonation in yes-no questions

Syntax: singular verb with plural subject, singular much with plural nouns, past perfect for past, yeah as a tag, you folks as a pronoun

Lexicon: rubbish for garbage / trash, package for bag, wagon for cart, certain Hawaiian words: lanai for balcony, haole for white person, mauka for inland; 'ohana for family, keiki for child(ren); expressions like talk story, chicken skin, shave ice

Names: use of full first names: Kenneth rather than Ken; insertion of glottal stop in names with geminate vowels: [nisi'i] for Nishii

Easter Island's rongoronogo script, surviving on twenty-six wooden artifacts, has attracted significant scientific interest since its discovery in the second half of 19th century. In the framework of a possible phonetic nature of the script, statistical analysis remains one of the most promising methods for comparative studies of rongorongo and surviving Rapanui lore. To perform such investigations it is necessary to use an improved glyph transliteration methodology that yields a numerical corpus for the spelling variants of rongorongo signs and matching sets of legends, songs, etc., that may be suitable for a comparative analysis. This paper is dedicated to the partial solution of the aforementioned questions. We have performed throughout a structural analysis of the rongorongo corpus, transliterated according to the suggested glyph element table. The obtained transcription was subjected to a recurrence plot analysis allowing to extract repetitive passages and to outline the "independent" continuous portions of the text. Numerous passages are shared between the inscribed artifacts, appearing in different contexts with minor spelling variations, which suggests they represent songs, charms or prayers. The estimated glyph element length of such passages correlates well with syllabic length of short kaikai songs (published in Campbell 1971, Blixen 1979), some of which were said to be used as charms or spells in the past. The sub-corpus of rongorongo passages suggestive of the songs was extracted and subjected to a statistical and structural analysis. The latter confirmed the allographic nature of some individual signs, supplied the justified basis for the improvement of glyph element catalog and transliteration method, and allowed to propose the tentative reading of several glyph elements.

For a decade and a half it has been generally accepted that most, but certainly not all, of Easter Island's rongorongo texts comprise simple, fused and / or compound logographic series of glyphic triads conveying Agent + Patient > Issue procreations. Such procreation triads constitute a cosmogony, a genre well-attested in East Polynesian oral tradition. In the rongorongo inscriptions, reading from left to right, glyph X (Agent, with phallus attached) copulates with glyph Y (Patient, no phallus) and the Issue is glyph Z. Philological evidence for this has been external, consisting of an identical X-Y-Z structure in a chant attested in 1886 to be an authentic rongorongo text. Now, the rongorongo "female marker"—three diagonal lines to the left of an anthropomorph's head—on glyphs that are almost exclusively in Patient (Y, no phallus) position provides statistically significant internal evidence for procreation triads as well. (Rongorongo's corpus of approximately 12,000 glyphs notably absents the frequent "female glyph" in the phallus-bearing Agent position, with two rare exceptions.) Further internal evidence for procreation triads lies in pre-missionary Easter Island's only other gender distinction: the predominantly Agent (X) position of the moato'a "cock" glyph contrasts conspicuously with the predominantly Patient (Y) position of the 'uha "hen" glyph. The evidence presented here follows rongorongo's longest and possibly oldest inscription, that incised on the celebrated "Santiago Staff" (RR 10).

Heritage and World Heritage is an international field where interests in politics, commerce, indigenous community relations, scientific research, representations of the past, and creative performance are joined. The World Heritage programme focuses international attention on the need to maintain and restore meaningful places that refer in one way or the other to the past. This Stockholm University / EIF session invites papers addressing the complexity of the World Heritage phenomenon. We would welcome papers discussing Heritage as an international phenomenon, and / or with specific examples from the Pacific. Pacific Island nations are significantly under-represented in the overall number of World Heritage sites, particularly cultural sites. This conference session should thus act as a point of focus and shared understandings for both Pacific and European-based scholars and indigenous Pacific Islands people.

This review of potential World Heritage cultural landscapes is focussed on three themes: origins and discovery, wetland horticulture and areas which represent the origin of the modern political structures of the Pacific. The World Heritage system defines cultural landscapes to be the "combined works of nature and man". Landscapes can be "designed" or "organically evolved", "continuing", or "relict". The review is meant to explore more widely than the tentative lists which have now been filed for most Pacific Island countries. With the exception of 'associative landscapes' most Pacific cultural landscapes are organically evolved relict ones but sometimes with strong associative elements, e.g., Taputapuatea or Bikini Atoll. Other landscapes identified include Rapa Nui, Rapa, 'Opunohu valley, Mangaia, Tumaotu Archipelago and the Line Islands (seascapes), Mangaia, North Taranaki, Sigatoka valley, Reef Santa Cruz Is, Tikopia, Bellona and Rennell, and Babeldaob.

What happens when Pacific cultural heritage is World Heritage listed? As the World Heritage Committee seek to ensure the "credibility" of the World Heritage List, I argue the importance of not simply reflecting on "conservation outcomes", but examining methods of practice. In this paper I explore what happens once a site has been designated as World Heritage of "universal" significance. Recounting the recent history of Tongariro National Park (New Zealand), I discuss the consequences of World Heritage designation and the inter-relations that constitute the World Heritage system of government. Since Tongariro was designated "World Heritage", the place has become bound within an international system of government and is at once local and "global". I draw upon ethnographic fieldwork and research that has tracked between the different places where the World Heritage institution is enacted, including the National Park, the administrative World Heritage Centre, the Pacific UNESCO office, and World Heritage Committee sessions. Tongariro is a key reference site for other potential Pacific nominations to the World Heritage List, as it was the first site to be listed as a "cultural landscape". Furthermore, it is an "associative cultural landscape" where the relationship that Maori people, Ngati Tuwharetoa and Ngati Rangi, have with the Tongariro landscape has been recognised as of "outstanding universal value". I discuss the effects of listing "cultural associations" and examine how World Heritage management and traditional management coincide, particularly when tested by a controversial management debate….

Current trends towards greater corporate social responsibility provide opportunities for archaeologists and heritage managers to engage with industry and multilateral development agencies such as the World Bank to develop globally acceptable but locally appropriate models of practice. Major multilateral lenders signed up to the Equator Principles for responsible social and environmental impact management in development. The World Bank's cultural heritage safeguard policy is often used as a proxy for such principles in the heritage field, and there are of course various UNESCO conventions which are also applicable. All of these covenants and policies are too abstract to translate usefully to local situations on the ground. What is needed is methodologically-sound approach to translating the approaches they advocate into procedures which also encompass varying local realities of professional practice.

Experts to the World Heritage Committee have long acknowledged the significance of undertaking serious amendments to the Operational Guidelines to establish a representative, balanced and credible World Heritage List. Adopting a new section involved with the Global Strategy, which has been one of the key amendments carried out to the Guidelines of 2005, represents a response to the previous demands. Article 55, which prefaces the new section, depends on encouraging the preparation and submission of Tentative Lists in achieving the objectives of the Global Strategy. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the potential role that the submission of Tentative Lists might play in resolving the representativity gaps. The study approached the issue by means of an empirical study. Developing and analyzing two groups of databases, involved with the experiences of inscribing properties and submitting Tentative Lists, was the key tool adopted to conduct the empirical study. The findings revealed the very limited potential influences of submitting Tentative Lists. They also indicated that the prosperous experiences in submitting Tentative Lists have been associated with the over-represented States Parties. The results suggest re-considering the maximum interval allowed before re-submitting Tentative Lists.

Hintang is a group of megalithic sites in the mountainous Hua Phan province of northeast Laos. The French colonial archaeologist Madeleine Colani was the first to write the extraordinary Hintang sites into the official prehistory, and her report has remained a rather unproblematized source of knowledge about Hintang until our days. In the postcolonial nation building by the communist regime of the Lao PDR, Hintang has been omitted from the official story of the past, because it is not representing the past of the dominating ethnic group Lao. Today, there is a major development of tourism, and particularly ecotourism, in Laos. Hintang is a target site for ecotourism development, and Madeleine Colani's story is now recycled and communicated to tourists. Cultural tourism is a major income source for most countries in Southeast Asia, and ecotourism is an attempt to create a sustainable and responsible tourism industry. Nevertheless are the consequences of the ecotourists' consumption of such unreflected archaeological stories, for both the local community and the tourists themselves, hardly investigated. The paper focuses on an analysis of the production and consumption of archaeological text in relation to the ecotourism phenomenon, exemplified by the Hintang case.

In the forested eastern reaches of Lautem District, the Government of Timor Leste seeks to establish the country's first National Park – the Nino Conis Santana National Park. The proposed Park has been identified as possessing significant biodiversity and other natural heritage values and outstanding cultural heritage values. The region is also home to some 30,000 Fataluku speakers. This paper explores ways in which the resident Fataluku can maintain their rights to use the land and become involved in the management of the National Park. It examines successful models derived from elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region and proposes a systematic, traditional owner-driven investigation of cultural heritage values and landscape use. It aims to improve the understanding of past and potential local use and management of natural and cultural resources in one of the remaining tracts of continuous lowland tropical and monsoon forest on the island of Timor. This proposal aligns with the priority development areas identified by the Government of Timor Leste, especially nature-based tourism; the role of traditional knowledge; and community management and use of the region's environment.

Knowledge of the exact function of certain pieces of carved wood from ancient Polynesia (prestige insignia, religious objects) is sometimes revealed by ethnohistorical documents, as is the place of various representations (zoomorphs, anthropomorphs...) in mythology. But the function of these artefacts also requires the observation of the discrete traces left by their usage. Moreover, the choice of material used — raw material, pigments, deposits — teaches as much about the symbolism of these materials as about their accessibility. The study of styles, together

with absolute dates and the history of the collections, enables one to define insular identities, and establish connections. Each of these themes could be the subject of a paper during this session.

Until recently the three earliest Easter Island figures in Kunstkamera were thought to be from the first Russian over the world voyages in 19th century. The main document to support this statement was the inventory of the collection 736 which is commonly considered to be transmitted as a whole in 1828 from the Museum of the State Admiralty Department representing the acquisitions of Russian circumnavigators. One of the entries of this inventory says: "Three small idols (Easter Island)". In 1990 D. Attenborough put forward the hypothesis that two figures were initially brought from Easter Island to Tahiti by the second Cook expedition (regarding their unbelievable similarity to the items in Admiral Isaac Smith's album) and then, many years later, in 1820 they were purchased by Captain Bellingshausen expedition. A.L. Kaeppler absolutely denied that these items would have any relation to Cook's voyages. According to her opinion, these items originated from Captain Lisyanski visit in 1804. The point is that the inventory in question dates only 1903. Besides, it is well known that collection number 736 running into 303 objects is nothing but a mixture of some collections of so called "Admiralty Museum" and Kunstkamera before 1828. Fortunately, there is an original document which constitutes evidence of the transmission of items from the "Admiralty Museum" in 1828. Its existence have never been kept a secret. This document is named "Checklist of the Curiosities transferred from the Museum of the former State Admiralty Department to the Imperial Academy of Sciences". There is no any mention about three Rapa Nui figures in this document. On the other hand, in the records of proceedings of the Academy of Sciences we can find the reference to 1809: "“ØØ de Waxell envoya pour le MuseŽ Øcademique le objets suivans quÕil a apportŽs avec lui de Londres: É 9¡)Trois idoles des ”les de Falkland, OtahaitŽ & SandwichÉÓ. Therefore, it seems reasonable to conclude that three Easter Island idols from 736 collection were given by Russian engineer L.Waxel to the Imperial Academy of Sciences in 1809. Practically, such a conclusion may be equivalent to the statement about their Cook's voyages provenance.

Material for this paper was gathered on Rapa Nui fifteen years after the island's master carvers had produced Maria, Madre de Rapa Nui from the trunk of a miro Tahiti (Melia azederach). Her birth occurred during the fall of 1970, the turbulent election year of Salvador Allende to the presidency of Chile. At that time rumors of divisive activities among the islanders had upset a nervous mainland, and the Catholic Church was asked to help. Archival reports about the week's evangelical event in Chile's Templo de Maipu varied considerably from those supplied by several of the participating artisans with whom I spoke. This episode illustrates once again how difficult it is for citizens of the West to communicate with people from pre-industrialized societies. Most of the old master carvers no longer are with us. The new generation of Rapa Nui carvers has been exposed to modern tools, and, by 2002, St. Michael's and St. Francis' painted eyes had been newly varnished along with the rest of their bodies. Nevertheless, as long as the islanders recall the birth of their Rapa Nui Virgin, she will continue to spread her mana.

The botanical identification of 198 wood carvings from Easter Island was carried out. These objects, mainly collected during the 19th century, are preserved in private French collections and museums in France (Natural History Museum of La Rochelle, Musee de l'Hospital Maritime in Rochefort, Musee Calvet of Avignon, the Louvre and Quay Branly museums of Paris), England (British Museum), Belgium (Museum of Art and History in Brussels), Germany (Museum of Ethnography in Cologne), Switzerland (Museum of Ethnography of Neuchatel and Barber Muller Museum of Geneva), Italy (Congregation of Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in Rome), Norway (Museum of Ethnography of the University of Oslo) and Russia (Peter the Great Museum in St Petersburg). These analyses show on the one hand that Sophora toromiro and Thespesia populnea were formerly used mostly by the island's sculptors, and on the other hand that certain types of carving (kau rongorongo, tahonga, rapa…) are exclusively carved in one of these two woods. The choice of these raw materials is not accidental; these two trees occupied a very important place in the symbolic universe of Easter Island.

Carving remains an important activity in the Marquesas Islands today, in part because throughout the archipelago, the sale of carved objects provides a significant source of income for many families. Carved objects are produced in a wide variety of materials, including wood, stone, bone, and coconut. Wood remains the most common material, especially mi'o (oceanic rosewood, Thespesia populnea), temanu (Calophyllum inophyllum), and tou (Cordia subcordata). Wood carvers can be found on all of the six inhabited Marquesan islands, but especially on the islands of Nuku Hiva, Ua Huka, and Fatuiva. Based on interviews conducted in October and November 2006, this paper will focus on five or six artists living and working on these islands. Through their words and work, the paper will explore the range of objects being made today. In particular, it will discuss the distinction the artists themselves make between "traditional" carving (seen in objects such as bowls, human figures tiki, war clubs, etc.) and "creations" — objects still distinctively Marquesan in style, but in non-traditional formats (such as tables, wall panels, etc.). It will also discuss the factors that influence both style and object type, especially the role of the art market, of local carving competitions, and the enduring impact of the work of Karl von den Steinen and Willowdean Handy.

Kite Aerial Photography (KAP) can be used to great advantage in archaeology. KAP is a relatively low tech application for taking aerial photographs, which can be used to survey an area, to describe an area to someone who is not familiar with the exact terrain, and to assist in locating, mapping, describing, or counting features under study. This presentation will show methods of using KAP, which can vary from quite simple to very complex. On the simple end, there is a method of using KAP with an automatic camera that can be programmed to take pictures at certain intervals. On the complex end, the camera is operated by remote control and the view from the camera can even be monitored by a screen on the ground. With the current use of digital photography the photographs can be taken and viewed on a same day basis.

Historically, archaeologists have used 2 Dimensional (2D) surveying and mapping technology to inventory, map and monitor archeological sites on Rapa Nui; this survey technique has proved both quick and efficient as numerous sites can be surveyed and mapped in short periods of time. However, to effectively monitor the erosion of the land and deterioration of archeological sites requires the assistance of 3 Dimensional (3D) models; the island's topography and archaeological sites have been impacted by natural elements, urban development, agricultural practices, and the growth of tourism. By utilizing Global Positioning System (GPS) equipment and Geographic Information System (GIS) software, 3D models of Rapa Nui's landscape and archaeological sites can be created and archived allowing local experts to observe change over time and associated impacts. 3D modeling further provides visual clues that 2D maps cannot produce; a 3D model of an ahu and surrounding terrain, for example, will allow for the examination of erosion, profiles, cross sections, hydrology, slope and elevation analysis. With an increasing population coupled with the rapid growth of the tourism industry and accelerated land development, Rapa Nui's already fragile environment and archaeological sites must be monitored, regulated and controlled. Adopting 3D mapping technologies will facilitate this, as well aid in the protection and preservation of Rapa Nui's historial landscape for future generations.

The construction and early use phase of Ahu Nau Nau have been re-dated by nine charcoal and rat bone samples. The new datings in comparison with earlier data suggests that the ahu was constructed around 650-550 BP. It is also suggested that a settlement dated to c. 950-900 BP preceded the ahu building phase. A new question in the light of recent research might be raised: Is the earliest settlement on Rapa Nui found at Anakena or should we look somewhere else?