Direct evidence of the environmental impact of human colonization and subsequent human adaptational responses to new environments is extremely rare anywhere in the world. New Zealand was the last Polynesian island group to be settled by humans, who arrived around the end of the 13th century AD. Little is known about the nature of human adaptation and mobility during the initial phase of colonization. We report the results of the isotopic analysis (carbon, nitrogen and strontium) of the oldest prehistoric skeletons discovered in New Zealand to assess diet and migration patterns. The isotope data show that the culturally distinctive burials, Group 1, had similar diets and childhood origins, supporting the assertion that this group was distinct from Group 2/3 and may have been part of the initial colonizing population at the site. The Group 2/3 individuals displayed highly variable diets and likely lived in different regions of the country before their burial at Wairau Bar, supporting the archaeological evidence that people were highly mobile in New Zealand since the initial phase of human settlement.
This paper is focused on the archaeology of Massim exchange and the development of the Kula Ring. It establishes an ethnographic baseline for the European contact period, and summarises fieldwork in the southern Massim. It provides a first description of the prehistoric pottery sequence and draws together previous information from the northern Massim and the Mailu area into a study of the archaeological origins of the Kula Ring. In the last centuries of prehistory the Massim became isolated from the PNG mainland by warfare and, at the same time, islands of the Massim became more connected. The geographical configuration of the Kula was influenced by seasonal winds and the sailing performance of nagega canoes. Some islands were advantaged in their location, but others lay upwind from the Kula islands and outside the Ring. Among the Kula islands, exchanges resolved into a gyre and concepts of Kula magic and ritual spread across the open borders of adjacent communities. In late prehistory the small southern island of Tubetube became a dominant centre when it established a direct connection with the trade in industrial stone from Woodlark Island. Finally, when the Massim was pacified by the colonial government the ethnographic Kula was free to sail, and sea lanes to the mainland opened again.
RÉSUMÉCet article se concentre sur l'archéologie de l'échange Massim et le développement du Kula Ring. Ilétablit une ligne de base ethnographique pour la période de contact européenne, et résume le travail de terrain dans le sud Massim. Il fournit une première description de la séquence de poterie préhistorique et rassemble des informations antérieures provenant de la région nord de Massim et de la région de Mailu dans uneétude des origines archéologiques du Kula Ring. Dans les derniers siècles de la préhistoire, les Massim se sont isolés de la partie continentale de la PNG par la guerre et, en même temps, lesîles des Massim se sont rapprochées. La configuration géographique du Kula aété influencée par les vents saisonniers et les performances de navigation des pirogues nagega. Certainesîleś etaient favoriséesà leur emplacement, mais d'autres se trouvaient en amont desîles Kula età l'extérieur du Ring. Parmi lesîles de Kula, leséchanges se sont résolus en un gyre et les concepts de la magie et du rituel de Kula se sont répartisà travers les frontières ouvertes des communautés adjacentes.À la fin de la préhistoire, la petiteîle du sud de Tubetube devint un centre dominant lorsqu'elleétablit un lien direct avec le commerce de la pierre industrielle de l'île Woodlark. Finalement, lorsque le Massim fut pacifié par le gouvernement colonial, l'ethnographique Kula fut libre de naviguer et les voies maritimes pour le continent s'ouvrirentà nouveau.
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