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Cited by 37Pacific and Southeast Asian StudiesArchaeology and ancient environmental studiesGlobal Maritime and Colonial Histories

The Mangarevan Sequence and Dating of the Geographic Expansion into Southeast Polynesia

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Green, Roger Curtis, Weisler, Marshall I·2002·Asian Perspectives
DOI 10.1353/asi.2003.0006
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Abstract

A recently published archaeological sequence supported by information from six sites excavated in the Mangarevan group in 1959 is summarized in the context of additional data and current interpretations of the prehistory of southeastern Polynesia. The known part of the Mangareva sequence covers the period from ca. a.d. 1200 to the time of early nineteenth-century contact with Europeans, with its datingen hanced by four new radiocarbon age determinations plus four previous ones, all on samples collected in 1959. More recent information from archaeological investigations on nearby Pitcairn and Henderson islands, showing they formed part of a long-term interaction sphere with Mangareva, indicate that while the early part of the Mangareva sequence from ca. a.d. 800–1200 remains undocumented, buried cultural deposits for this interval probably exist within Rikitea village on the main island of Mangareva. An a.d. 700–800 settlement for the Mangareva group is consistent with a similar age and origin for the first inhabitants of Easter Island, as aspects of the thirteenthcentury assemblages from both places are comparable. A similar age is also supported by several dates for an initial colonization of Henderson Island in this period. Recent linguistic reworkingof the early subgroupingof Eastern Polynesian suggests Easter Island, Original Mangarevan, and probably the extinct Polynesian languages of Henderson and Pitcairn were the first in the region, placing the age of that subgroup around a.d. 700–800. A major secondary contact with Marquesan speakers who may have settled in Mangareva at a.d. 1100–1300, seems to have been the basis for changing it into a Marquesic language, of a form then taken to Rapa. The archaeology, biological relationships, and linguistic history of the region now provides a robust and consistent outline for the geographic expansion into Southeast Polynesia.

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  • The results shorten the age for initial colonization in East Polynesia by up to 2,000 y, depending on various claims asserted for earlier chronologies.

    “Collectively, these results, based on only the most reliable samples, provide a substantially revised pattern of colonization chronology for East Polynesia, which shortens the age for initial colonization in the region by up to 2,000 y, depending on various claims asserted for earlier chronologies (3, 9, 10).”

    From High-precision radiocarbon dating shows recent and rapid initial human colonization of East Polynesia (2011) · cites this paper as [10]

    The Conclusions place initial expansion into Southeast Polynesia at A.D. 600–800, and Local Implications says Hawaiian colonization was not as early as once thought. Those passages support a later chronology, but they do not establish that this paper's results shorten the age of initial colonization across East Polynesia by up to 2,000 years. (LLM, conf=0.84)

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Research works printed but not linked: 5

  1. FISCHER, S. R. 2000 Preliminary evidence for Proto Austral, excluding Rapan, in Leo Pasifika: Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Oceanic Linguistics: 100-111, ed.
  2. MASSE, W. B., AND H. D. TUGGLE 1998 The date of Hawaiian colonization, in Easter Island in Pacific Context South Seas, Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Easter Island and East Polynesia: 229-235, ed.
  3. ROLETT, B. V. 1989 Hanamiai: Changing Subsistence and Ecology in the Prehistory of Tahuata (Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia). PhD. diss., Yale University, New Haven, CT. Ann Arbor: University Microfilms International. 1992 Faunal extinctions and depletions linked with prehistory and environmental change in the Marquesas Islands (French Polynesia). Journal if the Polynesial1 Society 101: 86- 94. 1998 Hanamiai: Prehistoric Colonization and Cultural Change in the Marquesas Islands (East Poly- nesia). New Haven, CT: Yale University Publications in Anthropology 82.
  4. WALDREN, S., M. I. WElSLER, J. G. HATHER, AND D. MORROW 1999 The Non-native Plant Species of Henderson Island, Sottth-central Pacific Ocean. Atoll Research Bulletin 463. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.
  5. WElSLER, M. 1., AND Robert C. GREEN 2001 Holistic approaches to interaction studies: A Polynesian example, in Australasian Con- nections and New Directions: Proceedings of the 7'" Australasian Conference, ed. M. Jones and P. Sheppard. Research in Anthropology and Linguistics Series 5: 413-453. Auckland, New Zealand: University of Auckland. n.d. Faunal assemblages and fishing gear from Mangareva excavations spanning the period between 1200 and 1840 A.D. Mai1Uscript, November, 1999.

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Authors
Green, R. C., & Weisler, M. I.
Affiliations
University of Auckland (NZ)
ORCID
Weisler, Marshall I
Venue
Asian Perspectives
Publisher
Project MUSE
Published
2002-09
Volume
41
Issue
2
Pages
213-241
ISSN
  • 0066-8435 (ISSN-L)
  • 1535-8283
DOI
10.1353/asi.2003.0006
OpenAlex
W2124627034
Cited by
37
References
28
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 3 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 2
FWCI
5.75
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Asian perspectives (publishedVersion)
  • Project Muse (Johns Hopkins University) (submittedVersion)
  • ScholarSpace (University of Hawaii at Manoa) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • American Museum of Natural History
  • University of Otago
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Geography, Planning and Development › Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
  • Social Sciences › Anthropology › Global Maritime and Colonial Histories
Keywords
Mangareva, prehistoric settlement, Easter Island, Henderson Island, Pitcairn Island, radiocarbon dating, Polynesian colonization, Rapa

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