Roasting breadfruit in the Pacific: A combined plant macroremain and phytolith analysis from Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia

Abstract

In eastern Micronesia, breadfruit is an important staple crop and has probably been part of the diet since initial settlement. This paper uses combined macroremains and phytolith analysis to identify breadfruit production from a historical feature on Temwen Island, Pohnpei, Micronesia. Charred breadfruit exocarp material was recovered, indicating breadfruit roasting. Phytolith analysis from this feature does not provide direct evidence of breadfruit, but does reveal other taxa that are not present in flotation samples, demonstrating the utility of analysing multiple lines of botanical data. Thus, this project presents new botanical evidence for breadfruit and a method for approaching a more comprehensive study of cooking practices.

Archaeobotanical Approaches in the Study of Food Production in Remote Oceania

“…Many archaeobotanical studies in the region use multiple types of plant remains to study past food production (e.g., Horrocks et al 2003Horrocks et al , 2015Horrocks and Rechtman 2009;Levin 2016;Tromp and Dudgeon 2015;Ussher 2015). As every class of archaeobotanical remains has its own limitations, a multi-proxy approach provides a more complete picture of food production in the past.…”

A Partial Chronological Sequence of Human Habitation for Pingelap Atoll (Pohnpei State, Federated States of Micronesia)

“…These monumental sites include Nan Madol (e.g., Athens 1980Athens , 1990Ayres 1993;Ayres and Scheller 2003;Ayres et al 2009Ayres et al , 2015Seikel 2011Seikel , 2016McCoy and Athens 2012;Ayres and Seikel 2014;McCoy et al 2015McCoy et al , 2016 and Lelu on Kosrae (e.g., Cordy 1982Cordy , 1985Cordy , 1993Ueki 1984;Richards et al 2015). However, smaller archaeological sites, representing the lives of non-elites, have also attracted some interest (e.g., Ayres and Mauricio 1999;Haun 1984;Mauricio 1993;Levin 2015Levin , 2016Levin , 2018Poteate et al 2016;. These sites are important to understanding settlement and subsistence patterns and how humans engaged with their environments, as well as how the wider community was integrated into and interacted with highly stratified socio-political regimes.…”