Bird, mammal and reptile remains

Worthy, Trevor H.; Clark, Geoffrey

doi:10.22459/ta31.12.2009.10

Cited by 15 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Claims for the presence of pig in Lapita sites in Fiji and Tonga are in several instances based on incorrect identifications. At the Yanuca site (VL 16/81), a bone identified as a pig femur is a turtle/tortoise humerus (Worthy & Clark : 254); at Bourewa, a pig bone estimated to date to 900 BC is, in fact, a human cervical vertebra (http://WikiEducator.org/images/2/2a/Pig_bone_Bourewa_excavations.JPG); and in Tonga, examination by Clark and Hawkins of bone from the To.1 shell midden showed that turtle and human remains have been misidentified as pig (Poulsen : 243‐244). It is plausible, therefore, that pig may have been a late Lapita or post‐Lapita introduction to Fiji–West Polynesia, as Best (: 544) hypothesised.…”

Section: Introduction Of Pigs To Palaumentioning

confidence: 99%

Distribution and extirpation of pigs in Pacific Islands: a case study from Palau

Clark

Petchey

Hawkins

et al. 2013

Archaeology in Oceania

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Neolithic arrival in the Pacific involved, as in other parts of the world, the translocation of domesticated plants and animals by pottery-making cultures in prehistory. Globally uncommon, though, was the abandonment of pottery on some islands and the extirpation of the pig (Sus scrofa/verrucosus) and dog (Canis familiaris) -the two largest mammalian quadrupeds introduced to Oceania -from the subsistence and cultural systems. This paper examines the extirpation of pigs from the Palau Islands as a case study to understand why an important domesticate has such an uneven prehistoric distribution. When suids are fed agricultural produce required to sustain the human population, it has been proposed that competition and extirpation will result, especially on small islands with limited arable land. However, pigs are considered problem animals in many environments because of the damage they cause to horticultural production, particularly the effects of free-range pigs on gardens and plantations. It is suggested that extirpation and low-level animal keeping are a response to the threat that pigs pose to plant food yields and social relations.

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Section: Introduction Of Pigs To Palaumentioning

confidence: 99%

Distribution and extirpation of pigs in Pacific Islands: a case study from Palau

Clark

Petchey

Hawkins

et al. 2013

Archaeology in Oceania

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“…These include only single post-cranial bones from Yanuca off Viti Levu and Naigani just off the northeast coast of that island (SI Text). However, it must be noted that Fijian Lapita sites are generally poorly preserved and bereft of abundant terrestrial vertebrate remains12. Our examinations show that these bones, which were previously misidentified in the case of Yanuca (Supplementary Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 74%

Ancient tortoise hunting in the southwest Pacific

Hawkins

Worthy

Bedford

et al. 2016

Sci Rep

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We report the unprecedented Lapita exploitation and subsequent extinction of large megafauna tortoises (?Meiolania damelipi) on tropical islands during the late Holocene over a 281,000 km2 region of the southwest Pacific spanning from the Vanuatu archipelago to Viti Levu in Fiji. Zooarchaeological analyses have identified seven early archaeological sites with the remains of this distinctive hornless tortoise, unlike the Gondwanan horned meiolaniid radiation to the southwest. These large tortoise radiations in the Pacific may have contributed to the rapid dispersal of early mobile Neolithic hunters throughout southwest Melanesia and on to western Polynesia. Subsequent rapid extinctions of these terrestrial herbivorous megafauna are likely to have led to significant changes in ecosystems that help explain changes in current archaeological patterns from Post-Lapita contexts in the region.

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“…The same applies to Tonga (see below). Chicken bones are present but scarce in Lapita sites in Fiji (Worthy and Clark 2009). …”

Section: Domesticated Animalsmentioning

confidence: 99%