David A. Sear
Human settlement of East Polynesia earlier, incremental, and coincident with prolonged South Pacific drought
Sear, David A.; Allen, Melinda S.; Hassall, Jonathan D.; Maloney, Ashley E.; Langdon, Peter G.; Morrison, Alex E.; Henderson, Andrew C.G.; Mackay, Helen; Croudace, Ian W.; Clarke, Charlotte; Sachs, Julian P.; Macdonald, Georgiana; Chiverrell, Richard C.; Leng, Melanie J.; Cisneros-Dozal, L.M.; Fonville, Thierry; Pearson, Emma
Authors
Melinda S. Allen
Jonathan D. Hassall
Ashley E. Maloney
Peter G. Langdon
Alex E. Morrison
Andrew C.G. Henderson
Dr Helen Mackay helen.mackay@durham.ac.uk
Assistant Professor
Ian W. Croudace
Charlotte Clarke
Julian P. Sachs
Georgiana Macdonald
Richard C. Chiverrell
Melanie J. Leng
L.M. Cisneros-Dozal
Thierry Fonville
Emma Pearson
Abstract
The timing of human colonization of East Polynesia, a vast area lying between Hawai‘i, Rapa Nui, and New Zealand, is much debated and the underlying causes of this great migration have been enigmatic. Our study generates evidence for human dispersal into eastern Polynesia from islands to the west from around AD 900 and contemporaneous paleoclimate data from the likely source region. Lake cores from Atiu, Southern Cook Islands (SCIs) register evidence of pig and/or human occupation on a virgin landscape at this time, followed by changes in lake carbon around AD 1000 and significant anthropogenic disturbance from c. AD 1100. The broader paleoclimate context of these early voyages of exploration are derived from the Atiu lake core and complemented by additional lake cores from Samoa (directly west) and Vanuatu (southwest) and published hydroclimate proxies from the Society Islands (northeast) and Kiribati (north). Algal lipid and leaf wax biomarkers allow for comparisons of changing hydroclimate conditions across the region before, during, and after human arrival in the SCIs. The evidence indicates a prolonged drought in the likely western source region for these colonists, lasting c. 200 to 400 y, contemporaneous with the phasing of human dispersal into the Pacific. We propose that drying climate, coupled with documented social pressures and societal developments, instigated initial eastward exploration, resulting in SCI landfall(s) and return voyaging, with colonization a century or two later. This incremental settlement process likely involved the accumulation of critical maritime knowledge over several generations.
Citation
Sear, D. A., Allen, M. S., Hassall, J. D., Maloney, A. E., Langdon, P. G., Morrison, A. E., Henderson, A. C., Mackay, H., Croudace, I. W., Clarke, C., Sachs, J. P., Macdonald, G., Chiverrell, R. C., Leng, M. J., Cisneros-Dozal, L., Fonville, T., & Pearson, E. (2020). Human settlement of East Polynesia earlier, incremental, and coincident with prolonged South Pacific drought. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(16), 8813-8819. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1920975117
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Online Publication Date | Apr 6, 2020 |
Publication Date | Apr 21, 2020 |
Deposit Date | Oct 29, 2020 |
Publicly Available Date | Oct 22, 2021 |
Journal | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |
Print ISSN | 0027-8424 |
Electronic ISSN | 1091-6490 |
Publisher | National Academy of Sciences |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 117 |
Issue | 16 |
Pages | 8813-8819 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1920975117 |
Public URL | https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1288288 |
Files
Published Journal Article
(1 Mb)
PDF
Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Copyright Statement
Copyright © 2020 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.
This open access article is distributed under Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CC BY).
You might also like
Biomarker proxies for reconstructing Quaternary climate and environmental change
(2023)
Journal Article
New integrated molecular approaches for understanding lake settlements in NW Europe
(2022)
Journal Article
Vulnerability of the North Water ecosystem to climate change
(2021)
Journal Article
Downloadable Citations
About Durham Research Online (DRO)
Administrator e-mail: dro.admin@durham.ac.uk
This application uses the following open-source libraries:
SheetJS Community Edition
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
PDF.js
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
Font Awesome
SIL OFL 1.1 (http://scripts.sil.org/OFL)
MIT License (http://opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.html)
CC BY 3.0 ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
Powered by Worktribe © 2025
Advanced Search