Commensals/Domesticates on Rapa Nui: What Can Their Phylogeographic Patterns Tell Us About the Discovery and Settlement of the Island?

Thomson, Vicki A.; Herrera, Michael; Austin, Jeremy J.

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-91127-0_3

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Four hypotheses have been suggested to explain this fact: long-distance seed dispersal, back-and-forth traveling to America, the American origin of the first Rapa Nui settlers, and the arrival of American people between Polynesian colonization and European contact (Figure 6). After analyzing the multidisciplinary evidence supporting each of these hypotheses, Rull [58] concluded that all options remain open, which has been supported by more recent investigations [59][60][61][62][63]. According to the Long-Distance Dispersal hypothesis (LDD), sweet potato seeds could have arrived in Polynesian islands (or directly to Rapa Nui) by birds, winds or rafting, and then transported by humans to Rapa Nui.…”

Section: Rapa Nuimentioning

confidence: 98%

Human Settlement and Landscape Anthropization of Remote Oceanic Islands: A Comparison between Rapa Nui (Pacific Ocean) and the Azores (Atlantic Ocean)

Rull

2023

Plants

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The flora and vegetation of oceanic islands have been deeply affected by human settlement and further landscape modifications during prehistoric and historical times. The study of these transformations is of interest not only for understanding how current island biotas and ecological communities have been shaped but also for informing biodiversity and ecosystem conservation. This paper compares two oceanic insular entities of disparate geographical, environmental, biological, historical and cultural characteristics—Rapa Nui (Pacific Ocean) and the Azores Islands (Atlantic Ocean)—in terms of human settlement and further landscape anthropization. The similarities and differences between these islands/archipelagos are discussed considering their permanent colonization, the possibility of earlier settlements, the removal of the original forests and the further landscape transformations leading to either full floristic/vegetational degradation (Rapa Nui) or major replacement (Azores). This comparison uses evidence from varied disciplines, notably paleoecology, archaeology, anthropology and history, to obtain a holistic view of the development of the respective socioecological systems from a human ecodynamic perspective. The most relevant issues still to be resolved are identified and some prospects for future research are suggested. The cases of Rapa Nui and Azores Islands may help set a conceptual basis for ocean-wide global comparisons among oceanic islands/archipelagos.

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