Colonisation of the Mariana Islands : affinities and differences with ISEA and Pacific cultures in the 1st millennium BC

Abstract

This thesis examines prehistoric human dispersals from Island Southeast Asia (ISEA) to the Pacific at {u0303}4000-3000 BP by focusing on the colonisation of the Mariana Islands. The Marianas are located in the Pacific Ocean more than 2000 km from ISEA and the distant archipelago contains well-preserved archaeological sites dating to the colonisation era that result from one of the very first migrations into Remote Oceania. Ceramics, particularly the distribution of red-slipped and surface marked pottery, have played a central role in archaeological models used to track the Neolithic migration of Austronesian speaking people from Taiwan to eastern ISEA. In addition to movements in ISEA, Austronesian colonisation also spread to Western Micronesia and the Bismarck Archipelago, which was the origin point of Lapita settlers who colonised islands as far east as Samoa. The most common explanation for this extensive and rapid dispersal (that included the first settlement of Remote Oceanic islands) is that it was stimulated by the introduction and spread of an agricultural economy that created demographic growth and human expansion. In the last two decades, multi-disciplinary data from archaeology, historical linguistics and genetics has frequently been used to expand our knowledge of Neolithic movement in the Indo-Pacific. However, the excavation and analysis of the oldest archaeological sites is essential to produce a fine-grained picture of human mobility and migration in the region. The archaeological site of Unai Bapot on Saipan in the Marianas was excavated by the author and colleagues to obtain a large sample of early material culture to better understand Austronesian expansion and human colonisation. Analysis of the archaeological remains concentrated on the ceramics and establishing the age of the site's oldest cultural deposits with radiocarbon. Given the important role that prehistoric ceramics have in human dispersal models it is surprising that there have been few detailed attempts to examine pottery relationships within the broader region. A new archaeometric method involving the thin-section study of pot sherds impregnated with a fluorescence agent was used to establish whether Bapot pottery vessels were made by coiling or the paddle and anvil technique. The study of ceramic manufacturing technique was extended to four Neolithic assemblages spanning a large part of the Austronesian range (Taiwan, Philippines, Palau, Bismarck Archipelago). In addition, vessel attributes from nine Neolithic ceramic assemblages in ISEA were recorded (form/decorative technique/decorative design/temper). By comparing ceramic production and stylistic data it is possible to better articulate the similarities and differences among the ceramic assemblages and to test hypotheses about the affinities of Neolithic colonists with a possible migration source. Results do not offer strong support for the orthodox model of Austronesian expansion and significant inter-assemblage variation in the pottery assemblages studied indicate a more complicated and less unified movement than is often thought. While there is currently no ISEA assemblage that can be identified as the source of the oldest Bapot pottery there are regional similarities in manufacture/temper/vessel form/decoration that point to eastern Indonesia-northern New Guinea as a key area where human movement into Remote Oceania first began. Show more