New Evidence from the East Polynesian Gateway: Substantive and Methodological Results from Aitutaki, Southern Cook Islands
Open accessAbstract
East Polynesia was the geographic terminus of prehistoric human expansion across the globe and the southern Cook Islands, the first archipelago west of Samoa, a gateway to this region. Fourteen new radiocarbon dates from one of the oldest human settlements in this archipelago, the Ureia site (AIT-10) on Aitutaki Island, now indicate occupation from cal AD 1225–1430 (1σ), nearly 300 yr later than previously suggested. Although now among the most securely dated central East Polynesian sites, the new age estimate for Ureia places it outside the settlement period of either the long or short chronology models. The new dates have, however, led to a comfortable fit with the Ureia biological evidence, which suggests not a virgin landscape, but a highly a modified fauna and flora. The results also provide the first systematic demonstration of inbuilt age in tropical Pacific trees, a finding that may explain widely divergent 14 C results from several early East Polynesian sites and has implications for the dating of both island colonization and subsequent intra-island dispersals.
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Class 1 dates included samples on short-lived plant remains and terrestrial avian eggshell, all of which have been shown to produce consistent and reliable ages in the Pacific relative to the target event.
“Class 1 dates included samples on short-lived plant remains (e.g., twig charcoal or wood, bark, seeds, leaves) and terrestrial avian eggshell, all of which have been shown to produce consistent and reliable ages in the Pacific relative to the target event, i.e., human activity (4, 6, 7, 32).”
From High-precision radiocarbon dating shows recent and rapid initial human colonization of East Polynesia (2011) · cites this paper as [7]
The Conclusions (page unavailable) recommend preferentially dating demonstrably short-lived plant materials, including nutshells, drupes, and branch wood. The Results report more consistent ages for coconut endocarp than for longer-lived wood. Our copy does not establish that terrestrial avian eggshell produces reliable ages, nor does it assess every plant material listed in the citing sentence. (LLM, conf=0.86)
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- Authors
- Allen, M. S., & Wallace, R.
- Affiliations
- University of Auckland (NZ)
- Corresponding author
- Allen, Melinda S
- ORCID
- Allen, Melinda S
- Venue
- Radiocarbon
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2007
- Volume
- 49
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 1163-1179
- ISSN
- 0033-8222 (ISSN-L)
- 1945-5755
- OpenAlex
- W1482656581
- Cited by
- 80
- References
- 47
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 51.38
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Radiocarbon (publishedVersion)
- UA Campus Repository (The University of Arizona) (acceptedVersion)
- ResearchSpace (University of Auckland) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Geography, Planning and Development › Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Geology and Paleoclimatology Research
- Keywords
- East Polynesia, Aitutaki, radiocarbon dating, island colonization
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