Archaeology 5620 Pacific Islands Archaeology Spring 2011 MW 2:00-3:20 pm

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1 Archaeology 5620 Pacific Islands Archaeology Spring 2011 MW 2:00-3:20 pm Lisa Nagaoka ENV 210C Office hours: MW 10:00-11:00 am, or by appointment. Phone number: Course Description and Goals This is a regional archaeology course that covers the prehistory of Oceania, which includes the culture regions of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. We will examine the major issues in Oceanic prehistory, such as colonization, environmental impact, trade and exchange, and social complexity. By the end of this course students will be able to: Describe the different types of island environments and explain their role in cultural development. Explain the issues in identifying the origins and timing of colonization. Describe and evaluate how Pacific archaeologists study human impact on the environment, trade/exchange, and social complexity and explain their impacts on culture change. Readings 35% Exams & Quiz 45% Paper 20% Course Structure and Grading Weekly Structure The first three weeks of the course will be lecture-based. I will provide information on the environment of Pacific Islands that will be important for understanding the cultural development that occurs in the region. Starting in Week 4, the course structure will shift to a seminar format. This means that to fully understand the topic and thus do well on the exams, you will need to participate in class by asking questions and contributing to discussion on the weekly topic. The bulk of the class will be spent addressing important research topics in Pacific Island prehistory. Each week there will be a new topic and an associated essay that you should be able to answer based on the lectures and the readings. I will lecture or show films that will provide the background to the topic of the week. You will read several articles on the topic to round out your knowledge. In class, you will work in small groups to discuss any lingering questions you have on the readings and to develop an outline for that week s essay topic. Readings The readings provide background information and examples that complement the lectures. The textbook provides a basic overview, while the articles contain examples or alternative explanations. A set of questions will be handed out for each week s readings. The questions are designed to focus your attention on important aspects of the readings, and to prepare you for discussion in class.

2 2 The reading questions are due on Wednesday in class. You must bring a hard copy to class so that you can discuss the readings and the topic essay in small groups. The reading questions will be graded on a plus (+), check ( ), minus (-) system. High marks will be received if you answer the questions fully prior to class. You will get the most out of the readings if you read them at least twice. The first reading should be done before class on Monday to familiarize yourself with the topic. Skim through the articles looking for passages relevant to reading questions and the essay. Also note terms or concepts that you do not understand. The second reading should be done for comprehension. Bring any remaining questions you have about the readings to class on Thursday when we discuss the topic and work on developing the essay. The articles are available on Blackboard and Dropbox. Quizzes and Exams There are four exams and one quiz. The quiz is a map quiz where you will be given a blank map and required to identify the island or island groups marked. The exams are essays. The first exam consists of short answer essays and covers the environmental information presented in the first few lectures of class. For the next three exams, I will randomly choose one of the essay questions associated with each week s topics. You will be given 50 minutes to write your essay. I expect that the exam essays will be wellorganized and thorough since you had time to prepare for the question. Paper In the paper, you will apply all the concepts and topics covered in the class to one of the following island groups: Hawaii, New Zealand, Easter Island. Willis library has a decent collection of books on the Pacific Islands. But I can supplement from my personal library. I highly recommend researching how the topics apply to your island as we proceed through the course. Class Absences ATTENDANCE IS MANDATORY. For every unexcused absence, you will lose 2% from your final grade. After 5 unexcused absences you will receive a WF and be dropped from the class. If you have a legitimate excuse for missing class, please notify me ahead of time so we can make alternative arrangements if necessary. I am easily accessible via . If you miss class, you are responsible for obtaining the notes from other students. Late Assignments No late assignments will be accepted. Extra Credit It is the policy of the Department of Geography not to allow extra credit assignments. Extra credit is defined as any form of additional class related work that is not specified on the course syllabus as a component in determining the final grade for a class. Thus, there are no extra assignments that you can do to raise your grade. This is different from bonus points, which can be awarded on existing assignments or exams. The Department of Geography, in cooperation with the Office of Disability Accommodation, complies with the American with Disabilities Act in making reasonable accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. Please present your written accommodation request by the end of the second week of class.

3 Reading Schedule 3 Week Topics Reading 1: Jan 19 Introduction Kirch, Introduction & Chapter 1 History of Research 2: Jan Pacific Island Environments W: Map Quiz Kirch, Chapter 2, pp Menard : Jan 31- Feb 2 Island Biogeography Lomolino et al Giovas 2006 Stoddart : Feb 7-9 Migration and Colonization in the Pacific: Linguistic, Biological Data W: Environment Exam on Wks 2-3 Gibbons 2001 Green 1997 Matisoo-Smith and Robins 2004 Terrell, Hunt, & Gosden : Feb Pleistocene Sahul & Old Melanesia Kirch, Chapter 3 Allen 1996 Spriggs 1993a, pp Spriggs 1993b 6: Feb Lapita Colonization Kirch, Chapter 4 Kirch 1997 Spriggs : Feb 28-Mar 2 Melanesia: Post-Lapita Occupation W: Exam on Wks 4-6 Kirch, Chapter 5 Spriggs 1993a, pp : Mar 7-9 Polynesian Voyaging Finney 1996 Irwin 1993 Ward, Webb, and Levison : Mar Polynesian Colonization Kirch, Chapter 7 Kirch and Ellison 1994 Spriggs and Anderson : Mar Micronesia Kirch, Chapter 6 W: Exam on Wks : Apr 4-6 Human Impact on Island Environments Anderson 2002 Athens et al Spennemann 1989 Steadman : Apr Subsistence Change and Intensification Kirch Chapter 9, pp Kirch 1984 Kirch 1994, Chapters 1 and 13 Kelly : Apr Rise of Social Complexity Kirch, Chapter 8 Aswani and Graves : Apr Trade and Exchange Allen and Johnson 1997 Green and Kirch 1997 Weisler : May 2-4 W: Exam on Wks 11-14

4 4 Readings Textbook Kirch, Patrick V On the Road of the Winds. University of California, Berkeley. Articles Allen, J The Pre-Austronesian settlement of Island Melanesia: Implications for Laptia archaeology. In Prehistoric Settlement of the Pacific, edited by W. H. Goodenough, pp Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 86, pt 5. American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia. Allen, M. S. and K. T. M. Johnson 1997 Tracking ancient patterns of interaction: Recent geochemical studies in the Southern Cook Islands. In, Prehistoric Long-Distance Interaction in Oceania: An Interdisciplinary Approach, edited by. M. Weisler, pp New Zealand Archaeological Association Monograph 21. New Zealand Archaeological Association, Wellington. A nderson, A Faunal collapse, landscape change and settlement history in Remote Oceania. World Archaeology 33(3): Aswani, S. and M. W. Graves 1998 The Tongan maritime expansion: A case in the evolutionary ecology of social complexity. Asian Perspectives 37(2): Athens, J. S., H. David Tuggle, J. V. Ward and David J. Welch 2002 Avifaunal extinctions, vegetation change, and Polynesian impacts in prehistoric Hawai'i.. Archaeology in Oceania 37: Cox, C. B., I. N. Healey, and P. D. Moore 1976 Chapter 5: Life on islands. In, Biogeography: An Ecological and Evolutionary Approach, 2 nd ed., pp John Wiley and Sons, NY. Finney, B Colonizing an island world. In Prehistoric Settlement of the Pacific, edited by W. H. Goodenough, pp Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 86, pt 5. American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia. Gibbons, A The peopling of the Pacific. Science 291: Giovas, C. M No pig atoll: Island biogeography and the extirpation of a Polynesian domesticate. Asian Perspectives 45: Green, R. C Linguistic, biological, and cultural origins of the initial inhabitants of Remote Oceania. New Zealand Journal of Archaeology 17:5-27. Green, R. C. and P. V. Kirch 1997 Lapita exchange systems and their Polynesian transformations: Seeking explanatory models. In Prehistoric Long-Distance Interaction in Oceania: An Interdisciplinary Approach, edited by M. Weisler, pp

5 New Zealand Archaeological Association Mongraph 21. New Zealand Archaeological Association, Wellington, NZ. 5 Irwin, G Voyaging. In A Community of Culture: The People and Prehistory of the Pacific, edited by M. Spriggs, D. E. Yen, W. Ambrose, R. Jones, A. Thorne and A. Andrews, pp Department of Prehistory, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. Kelly, Marion 1989 Dynamics of production intensification in precontact Hawaii. In, What's New: A Closer Look at the Process of Innovation, edited by S. E. van der Leeuw and R. Torrence, pp Unwin Hyman, London. Kirch, P. V Development and intensification of production. In The Evolution of the Polynesian Chiefdoms, pp Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK The Wet and the Dry: Irrigation and Agricultural Intensification in Polynesia. University of Chicago, Chicago Lapita pottery and the "Community of Culture". In The Lapita Peoples, pp Blackwell, Cambridge, MA. Kirch, P. V. and J. Ellison 1994 Palaeoenvironmental evidence for human colonization of remote Oceanic islands. Antiquity 68: Menard, H. W Plate tectonics and islands. In I, pp Scientific American Books, NY. Spennemann, D. H. R Effects of human predation and changing environment on some mollusc species on Tongatapu, Tonga. In The Walking Larder, edited by J. Clutton-Brock, pp Unwin Hyman, London. Spriggs, M. 1993a Island Melanesia: The last 10,000 years. In A Community of Culture: The People and Prehistory of the Pacifi, edited by M. Spriggs, D. E. Yen, W. Ambrose, R. Jones, A. Thorne and A. Andrews, pp Department of Prehistory, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, Canberra. 1993b Pleistocene agriculture in the Pacific: Why not? In Sahul in Review, edited by M. A. Smith, M. Spriggs and B. Fankhauser, pp Occasional Papers in Prehistory No. 24. Department of Prehistory, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, Canberra. Springs, M The Lapita culture and Austronesian prehistory in Oceania. In, The Austronesians: Historical and Comparative Perspectives, edited by P. Bellwood, J. J. Fox, and D. Tryon, pp RSPAS, ANU, Canberra. Spriggs, M. and A. Anderson 1993 Late colonization of East Polynesia. Antiquity 67: Steadman, D. W Extinctions of Polynesian birds: Reciprocal Impacts of birds and people. In Historical Ecology in the Pacific, edited by P. V. Kirch and T. L. Hunt, pp Yale University Press, New Haven, CT. Stoddart, D. R.

6 1992 Biogeography of the tropical Pacific. Pacific Science 46: Terrell, J. E., T. L. Hunt and C. Gosden 1997 The Dimensions of Social Life in the Pacific. Current Anthropology 8(2): Ward, R. G., J. W. Webb and M. Levison 1973 The settlement of the Polynesian Outliers: A computer simulation. Journal of the Polynesian Society 82: Weisler, M Introduction. In Prehistoric Long-Distance Interaction in Oceania: An Interdisciplinary Approach, edited by M. Weisler, pp New Zealand Archaeological Association Mongraph 21. New Zealand Archaeological Association, Wellington, NZ.

Pacific Islands Archaeology

Anthropology 323 (Fall 2017): Pacific Islands Archaeology INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Seth Quintus LECTURE: TR 1:30-2:45 PM, KUY 309 OFFICE: 201 Dean Hall EMAIL: squintus@hawaii.edu OFFICE HOURS: M 1:00-4:00 P.M.