Colonisation and/or Cultural Contacts: A Discussion of the Western Micronesian Case

Abstract

Archaeology, linguistic and genetic studies have demonstrated that the history of human dispersals into Micronesia was complex. The initial population movements into Micronesia involved the western island groups. Recent studies seem to have confirmed that the Mariana Islands were settled as early as 3500 BP, possibly from the Philippine Archipelago. Although no hard evidence has been found from Palau equivalent to this early date, it is possible that the western Micronesian islands were also colonised from Island Southeast Asia, before the rest of the Micronesian islands were settled around 2,000 years ago from Melanesia. This paper examines the next step following the initial settlements in Micronesia, based on the archaeological findings from Fais in the Central Caroline Islands. Continuous cultural contact between Fais and Yap from the initial colonisation period was confirmed by excavated Yapese potsherds and stones, as well as black rat (Rattus rattus) remains. In addition, extensive cultural contacts between Fais Islanders and a number of islands within and beyond Micronesia were also detected. For resource-limited coral islanders, the significance of having frequent interactions with other islands can be seen as one of their survival strategies. However, it is not a simple process to understand the background anthropological phenomena that explain how an exotic material was transferred from one island to another. Was it associated with a migrating population? Was it transported through exchange? Or was it created on the island using an exchange of knowledge? A complex interaction history will be demonstrated for this small raised coral island.

Artifact geochemistry demonstrates long-distance voyaging in the Polynesian Outliers

“…Because sporadic two-way voyages and contacts between the Polynesian atoll of Luangiua (Ontong Java) and Kapingamarangi have been documented for late pre-European times (20,85,86), we hypothesize that transfer between New Britain and Kapingamarangi may have occurred down the line. Cultural contacts between the Caroline Islands and several archipelagos of the southwest Pacific have been suggested to account for the distribution of several technological features, such as Terebridae and Mitridae shell adzes and backstrap loom, which are archeologically and ethnographically attested in the Polynesian Outliers and in several islands of the Caroline, the Admiralties, the Solomon, Santa Cruz, and Vanuatu (15,(87)(88)(89).…”