Pacific Islands Ichthyoarchaeology: Implications for the Development of Prehistoric Fishing Studies and Global Sustainability

Abstract

The Pacific Islands-consisting of culturally diverse Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia-is the ideal region to investigate the development of prehistoric fishing studies, as nowhere else on Earth is there such environmental contrasts among island types and their marine environments. We review the ichthyoarchaeological literature for the Pacific and assess developments in recovery methods, reference collections, taxonomic identifications, quantification, taphonomy and site-formation processes, ethnoarchaeology, approaches to diet and subsistence reconstructions, sustainability, and the importance of applied zooarchaeology for fisheries management and conservation. Ichthyoarchaeologists are beginning to work more closely with resource managers, fisheries biologists, policy makers, and indigenous communities to produce holistic studies of conservation management, resource sustainability, and assessments of human impacts on marine ecosystems over centuries to millennial time scales.

Pre‐contact fish choice and foraging efficiency at Tula, American Sāmoa

“…maximum lengths may better approximate past fish populations prior to the advent of commercial fishing), though this requires testing. We are in agreement with other researchers that direct measurements of elements is preferable (see Lambrides & Weisler for a regional synthesis; see also Giovas et al . for a recent case study).…”

“…Additionally, per the requirements of FEMA, the Tula artefact and midden collection was repatriated to the traditional landowners in 2012 and is no longer available for analyses. Consequently, we are aware that our analysis may not be sensitive enough to capture more subtle trends in the dataset, and a future research avenue will include recovery of a comparable assemblage from Tula and subsequent analysis using an up‐to‐date identification protocol (following Lambrides & Weisler ).…”

Anthropological Archaeology in 2016: Cooperation and Collaborations in Archaeological Research and Practice

“…Increasingly, archaeologists are engaging in future‐orientated discourses that situate the study of long‐term, human‐environmental interactions and ancient management and mismanagement practices as critical for assessing future resource sustainability and conservation‐management practices (Barton et al. ; Chase and Chase ; Lambrides and Weisler ; Morrison ; Pikirayi et al. ; Rick et al.…”

Reconstructing prehistoric fishing zones in Palau, Micronesia using fish remains: A blind test of inter‐analyst correspondence

“…This difficulty has long been recognised for the Pacific, as well as other areas (Butler ; Fitzpatrick et al . ; Lambrides & Weisler ; Olmo ; Ono ; Reitz ; Wake ), and is particularly problematic for tropical and subtropical regions where fish families tend to be especially rich in genera and species. In this paper, we investigate the impact of identification level on the reconstruction of specific fishing environments using an archaeofish assemblage from the Chelechol ra Orrak site (c.3000–0 calBP) in Palau's Rock Islands, Micronesia.…”

“…Rather, we take up one of the key issues highlighted by Anderson (2013a) in his discussion, namely the difficulty posed by higher-level taxonomic identifications (family and above) for the reconstruction of fishing zones based on taxonomic analogy. This difficulty has long been recognised for the Pacific, as well as other areas (Butler 1994;Fitzpatrick et al 2011;Lambrides & Weisler 2016;Olmo 2013;Ono 2010;Reitz 2004;Wake 2004), and is particularly problematic for tropical and subtropical regions where fish families tend to be especially rich in genera and species. In this paper, we investigate the impact of identification level on the reconstruction of specific fishing environments using an archaeofish assemblage from the Chelechol ra Orrak site (c.3000-0 calBP) in Palau's Rock Islands, Micronesia.…”