Welcome to the Pan-Pacific zoo

I had a few articles to read about the Pan-Pacific zoo since humans did not show up alone with their canoes. I'm trying to turn it into something funny here because I HATE rats, I have some limited sympathy for pigs and none at all for chickens but i love dogs..so, humans brought their stock of plant materials as well but I keep that green part for later since agriculture in general and in the Pacific in particular fascinates me and it deserves an entire blog. Let's keep the zoo-circus going for now and focus on our four-legged friends (oops, the chicken is bipedal but never mind…) : I had to read these things about rats and pigs bones (yes, I did it….) and how they can give us some insights about human colonization in the region.

I briefly summarize the facts here for my brain’ sake and your information. Let’s begin with the ugliest one for this morning, our friend the RAT, who probably invited itself to the party, by the way. It was an occasional snack or even worse, a regular source of extra-protein (gloups…) for people. Its lovely nickname is Rattus exulans and even sexier, ‘iore in Tahitian, kiore in Maori, ‘iole in Hawaiian, etc… Before I start, the sources :

Wilmshurst, J. M., Higham, T. 2004. Using rat-gnawed seeds to independently date the arrival of Pacific rats and humans in New Zealand. The Holocene 14:801-806. And http://www.wikipedia.com/, type rattus exulans + Pacific It is the 3rd most widespread specie of rat on the planet after the brown and the black rat. Rattus exulans was either introduced on purpose by humans or again, invited itself onboard.

Maybe one day, I should share the story about how the proud descendents of R.E invited themselves into MY kitchen in Tahiti and how they became a source of joy for my doggy and a pure nightmare for us. Then, you’ll understand better my chronic reluctance to these little crawling things.

Anyway, R.E cannot swim very far and since it came along with humans, it is an interesting factor helping to track human colonization on the region. Apparently, R.E. is omnivorous and has a good appetite, given the damages that it did on the environment in the region.

What I was reading is a controversy about the arrival of rat in New Zealand. Someone suggested (Sutton, 1987) that R.E showed up very early, around A.D. 0-150, but recent studies on gnawed seeds proved it wrong. The idea was that R.E. and his friends landed in Aotearoa once upon a time early in the 1st millennium A.D. with the “1st” humans walking on this land. These guys did not stay long and/or perished/left and never came back while R.E. and friends stayed and partied for a few more centuries until humans came back (when the cats are gone…le chat parti, les souris dansent…).

It seems that the story was quite different. The infamous seeds studied bear special marks that are made only by R.E. lovely teeth. Samples were taken from 3 coastal sites, ideal locations for 1st landings and settlements and dated.

The results match with more recent results about early settlement in Aotearoa : 13th century !!

It means that Rattus exulans, friends and family very probably came on the same va’a with humans and had to share the new land with them, which they did pretty well given the long survival of these horrible little things. Last detail before I close the chapter, the interest of this particular study with seeds is that rat bones make problems for dating purposes. The reasons are not completely well understood but it has to do, partly, with their diet.

Next time, it will be the Pacific babes’ turn to run the show. After the lecture part, I’ll have an interesting story to share about pigs, karma and marae in Tahiti or how a descendent of Sus scrofa had an amazing social promotion on the most sacred part of a marae somewhere in Paea at the end of the 20th century. Ok, I start to disgress, time to go, nana..

Background to Pacific Archaeology

A good introduction to the topic from Pat Kirch (University of Berkeley)...

Maps and pictures III Society islands

3/ Society Islands, this is the best looking map i found so far for the Society Islands (from Snails Vs. snails, a webpage dedicated to landsnails from Tahiti and the Societies)

Map by S.V. Medaris for The Why Files, copyright University of Wisconsin Board of Regents

Maps and pictures II Polynesian triangle

2/ the Polynesian triangle, bounded by Hawaii, Aotearoa and Rapanui

(map from the Polynesian Voyaging Society)

Maps and pictures I Oceania

A few maps and pictures..

1/ the Pacific region

(from Worldatlas.com)

a few words about Pacific archaeology

hi everybody, a few words about myself before i start : my full name is Mickaelle-Hinanui Cauchois, i'm archaeologist, i'm from Tahiti, actually no, from Moorea, i live in Honolulu now, i'm doing my PhD in anthropology at UH Manoa and i'm working on my comps (comprehensive exam for the neophytes) which is the main reason why i decided to create that blog.

je m'explique (oh yeah, when i get tired, my brain gets lazy so i tend to speak more french), let me go straight to the point before i disgress (Marcel Proust being my favorite writer, when you hear disgression, be afraid...very afraid) : i created that blog because i didn't find any specific about Pacific archaeology, it's as simple as that (if someone did one already, he/she has the right to email me that i was wrong, oops, sorry).

I love what i'm doing and since i'm sick of responding to the same question with the same boring answer : Pacific archaeology, i thought that maybe there must be a way

1/ to transcend the craziness of the comps

2/ to talk about that damn Pacific archaeology in a more entertaining way for now, i have dozens of articles/books to read for that exam and they just make me sick, not their content, just the fact of having to swallow them one by one like Spam cans or uncooked corned-beef (punu pua'atoro in tahitian for the pan-pacific gourmets).

i love punu pua'atoro and Spam (euh, well, it depends which one...) but let's face it : if they are not cooked properly, they are just gross.

Same thing with that never-ending blabla about archaeology of the Pacific ; when you read article after article after book, you get lost in translation and on the way, you feel like you're navigating with too many maps (which feels like no map at all at the end of the day..). these readings are just like Spam and punu pua'atoro, when they are not swallowed properly, they become very boring.

now, let's move from the kitchen to the wall for a little bit of geography. i certainly won't lecture you about the geography of the region (thank you google.com), just define the "boundaries" of what we define by Pacific archaeology : it is supposed to encompass the archaeology of Melanesia/Micronesia/Polynesia , however i have to confess that i am much more focusing on "polynesian" archaeology even if i'm interested in the entire area.

If i find something interesting that relates the story of why our Pacific region was divided into these three entities by Dumont D'Urville in 1835 (if my memory is good), i promise that i'll post it.

Chronologically speaking, it goes from whenever the ancestors of my ancestors entered the Pacific area (around B.P. 50,000 for the oldest ones until the contact with Europeans (end of 18th century for most of Polynesia) and slightly after.

However, my broad interests (time and space) are more concentrated on the span between the "end" of the Lapita expansion in Western Polynesia (Samoa/Tonga area around B.C 1500/1300) and the colonization of Eastern Polynesia (still highly controversial even if it is getting better), especially the central part of it : Society Islands, Tuamotus, Marquesas, etc...you name it : what is today French Polynesia.

What happened within the Polynesian triangle is fascinating, especially when one knows that there much more questions than answers so far.

for the purpose of that blog, i'll try to gather some informations about what's going on (articles/news/gossips..) and to share some ideas about what i'm reading for my comps and how it relates to the big questions/controversies of Pacific archaeology.

ok, i have to go for now, if you haven't fallen asleep yet, good for you and see you later, nana..

ps : i know, i need to put some pictures and maps, soon.....