Dating the late prehistoric dispersal of Polynesians to New Zealand using the commensal Pacific rat
Open accessAbstract
The pristine island ecosystems of East Polynesia were among the last places on Earth settled by prehistoric people, and their colonization triggered a devastating transformation. Overhunting contributed to widespread faunal extinctions and the decline of marine megafauna, fires destroyed lowland forests, and the introduction of the omnivorous Pacific rat ( Rattus exulans ) led to a new wave of predation on the biota. East Polynesian islands preserve exceptionally detailed records of the initial prehistoric impacts on highly vulnerable ecosystems, but nearly all such studies are clouded by persistent controversies over the timing of initial human colonization, which has resulted in proposed settlement chronologies varying from ≈200 B.C. to 1000 A.D. or younger. Such differences underpin radically divergent interpretations of human dispersal from West Polynesia and of ecological and social transformation in East Polynesia and ultimately obfuscate the timing and patterns of this process. Using New Zealand as an example, we provide a reliable approach for accurately dating initial human colonization on Pacific islands by radiocarbon dating the arrival of the Pacific rat. Radiocarbon dates on distinctive rat-gnawed seeds and rat bones show that the Pacific rat was introduced to both main islands of New Zealand ≈1280 A.D., a millennium later than previously assumed. This matches with the earliest-dated archaeological sites, human-induced faunal extinctions, and deforestation, implying there was no long period of invisibility in either the archaeological or palaeoecological records.
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New Zealand's short colonization chronology is confirmed, with an EAEM-LAEM range of A.D. ∼1230-1282.
“New Zealand's well-established short colonization chronology (11), which was further shortened and refined by dates from nonarchaeological sites on short-lived woody seed cases gnawed by the Polynesian-introduced Rattus exulans and compared with terrestrial avian eggshell from an early human cemetery (4, 15), and the short colonization chronology for Rapa Nui (6), are both confirmed here (EAEM–LAE”
From High-precision radiocarbon dating shows recent and rapid initial human colonization of East Polynesia (2011) · cites this paper as [4]
The Conclusions (page unavailable) say the results agree with, but shorten by about a century, New Zealand’s short prehistory model and place initial colonization at about A.D. 1280. The paper does not give the attributed EAEM–LAEM range of approximately A.D. 1230–1282. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredClass 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 [4]
The paper describes AMS dating of rat-gnawed woody seeds and calls it a reliable approach to detecting initial rat presence (Conclusions; page not supplied). It also describes moa-eggshell dates from a securely dated New Zealand archaeological site (Abstract; page not supplied). It does not establish that all the listed short-lived plant remains and terrestrial avian eggshell consistently yield reliable ages across the Pacific relative to human activity. (LLM, conf=0.84)
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Wilmshurst, J. M., Anderson, A. J., Higham, T. F. G., & Worthy, T. H.
- Affiliations
- Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research (NZ)
- Australian National University (AU)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- The University of Adelaide (AU)
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2008-06-03
- Volume
- 105
- Issue
- 22
- Pages
- 7676-7680
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC2409139
- OpenAlex
- W1994172734
- Cited by
- 541
- References
- 52
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 24 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 38 · 2020: 28 · 2019: 31 · 2018: 33 · 2017: 36 · 2016: 38 · 2015: 35 · 2014: 40 · 2013: 39 · 2012: 26
- FWCI
- 214.57
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Adelaide Research & Scholarship (AR&S) (University of Adelaide) (submittedVersion)
- ANU Open Research (Australian National University) (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 › Environmental Science › Ecology › Animal Ecology and Behavior Studies
- Keywords
- Polynesian colonization, Pacific rat, Rattus exulans, New Zealand, East Polynesia, radiocarbon dating, deforestation, seed predation
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Emigration and Immigration, Fossils, Humans, New Zealand, Polynesia, Rats, Inbred Strains, Ecosystem, History, Ancient, Rats
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