Investigating Pre-European Interaction Across Tonga and Sāmoa Through Ceramic Geochemistry : Results and Implications for the Hawaiki Model
Year: 2022
Type: dissertation
Abstract: The Lapita migrations into Remote Oceania formed the genesis of human history in Tonga and Sāmoa. The subsequent emergence of the Polynesian cultural complex and its origins have been the subject of anthropological focus more than half a century. The pre-eminent ‘Hawaiki’ model, developed by Patrick V. Kirch and Roger C. Green (2001), posits that the Polynesian cultural complex emerged from an ancestral Polynesian culture developed in Tonga and Sāmoa after approximately 2500 BP, 300 years after their settlement. Integral for this emergence in both Tonga and Sāmoa is interaction between these two regions to facilitate the mutual development of this ancestral Polynesian culture. However, through the use of lithic sourcing, recent archaeological studies have demonstrated a distinct lack of interaction between these two regions during the Lapita and Polynesian Plainware period. The abundant ceramic assemblages dating to this period provide the opportunity to further investigate interaction between these two regions during this important time. Geochemical and petrographic analyses were undertaken on three ceramic assemblages from Tonga (Tongatapu, Ha’apai and Niuatoputapu) and one from American Sāmoa (Ofu Olosega, Manu’a Islands). The results demonstrated no evidence of ceramic transfer between Tonga or Sāmoa, indicating a lack of population interaction between the two regions. The results of this research contribute to the growing body of evidence challenging the required interaction spheres of the Hawaiki model, suggesting, at the very least, a re-appraisal of the geographic bounds employed by the model.
Author: Gallagher, Leo Patrick
Language: English
Subfield: Anthropology
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7038682964