Work

The Chronology of Coastal Morphogenesis and Human Settlement on Aitutaki, Southern Cook Islands, Polynesia

Year: 1994

Type: article

Abstract: Twenty-seven 14C determinations from Aitutaki, southern Cook Islands inform on human settlement and Holocene coastal processes. I examine sedimentary, radiometric and archaeological data from Aitutaki with reference to regional evidence for a minor Holocene sea-level regression, which are in general agreement. Related processes of shoreline progradation and aggradation created near-shore environments conducive to human habitation, directly evidenced by ca. AD 900–1200. Nevertheless, biotic materials associated with this early cultural stratum suggest human colonization prior to this time. Archaeological preservation and recovery also may have been affected by changing sea level and related sedimentary processes.

Source: Radiocarbon

DOI: 10.1017/s0033822200014338

Author: Melinda S. Allen

Institution: Bernice P. Bishop Museum

Language: English

Topic: Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies

Subfield: Geography, Planning and Development

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: bronze

Funders: National Science Foundation, Wenner-Gren Foundation, Washington State University, University of Washington

Awards: Extinction and Biogeography of Insular Vertebrates, Dissertation Research: The Role of the Southern Cooks in East Polynesian Colonization and Differentiation