An early sophisticated East Polynesian voyaging canoe discovered on New Zealand's coast

Johns, Dilys; Irwin, Geoffrey; Sung, Yun K.

doi:10.1073/pnas.1408491111

Cited by 27 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 13 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…High-mobility voyaging followed by decreased interaction is reflected in regional ethno-histories (Henry 1928;Hiroa 1938), and widespread cultural sharing followed by greater intra-archipelago homogeneity fits expectations of later isolation and social interaction on smaller geographical scales (e.g. Allen 2014;Johns et al 2014;Weisler et al 2016). However, it is significant that many of the strongest relationships revealed here are between islands of different archipelagos (see Figures 3a & 3b).…”

supporting

confidence: 68%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Fishhook variability and cultural transmission in East Polynesia

O’Connor

White

Hunt

2016

Archaeology in Oceania

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The colonisation of East Polynesia unfolded as a rapid dispersal by culturally related groups on a massive geographical scale. In settling distant oceanic islands, populations developed new technology in response to local environments, but also shared selectively neutral aspects of artefact design. Building on the work of Sinoto and Allen, we examine proximal endpoint line‐attachment‐devices (LADs) in fishhook assemblages from East Polynesia to address issues of interaction and cultural sharing among island communities. We construct relational networks using artefact classes and employ a series of non‐parametric randomisation tests to directly evaluate the influence of geographical distribution on assemblage similarity in a time‐averaged dataset. The results support a model of cultural transmission through social interaction largely irrespective of geographical distance. Our results show the degree of cultural relatedness among various fishhook assemblages, and we consider some implications for human migrations in East Polynesia.

show abstract

supporting

confidence: 68%

“…Furthermore, a congruent settlement chronology for island groups as widely dispersed as Hawaiʻi, New Zealand, and Rapa Nui suggests a strengthened and contemporaneous relationship among initial occupying populations throughout the region, as evidenced in recent discoveries (e.g. Johns et al 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Fishhook variability and cultural transmission in East Polynesia

O’Connor

White

Hunt

2016

Archaeology in Oceania

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…As Anderson (2004) noted, boats are not passive platforms that guarantee connections to other places or people. A number of papers on seafaring capabilities, including many published in Anderson et al's (2010) volume entitled The Global Origins and Development of Seafaring, Broodbank's (2006) analysis of the Mediterranean, Fitzpatrick's (2013) review of the Caribbean, and a remarkably well-preserved canoe fragment from New Zealand (Johns et al 2014), have advanced our understanding of seafaring around the world. Concurrently, the use of computer simulations and modeling has expanded our ability to examine and test the variables that led to the prehistoric colonization of various islands and archipelagos (e.g., Callaghan 2008;Di Piazza et al 2014;Montenegro et al 2013).…”

Section: Development Of Specialized Maritime Technologies and Capabilmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent Progress, Trends, and Developments in Island and Coastal Archaeology

Fitzpatrick

Rick

Erlandson

2015

The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In the first issue of the Journal of Island & Coastal Archaeology published 10 years ago, Erlandson and Fitzpatrick (2006) outlined eight topics which demonstrated why island and coastal archaeology were relevant to understanding a host of issues related to human cultural and biological evolution across time and space. Here, we evaluate recent trends and developments in island and coastal archaeology and discuss how research over the last decade has changed and continued to illuminate the antiquity of maritime adaptations, human dispersals, historical ecology, and many other issues on a global scale. With rising seas and marine erosion threatening island and coastal archaeological sites around the world, archaeologists face urgent challenges in the coming decades as we continue to promote research and conservation of the global island and coastal archaeological record.There are times when the ocean is not the ocean-not blue, not even water, but some violent explosion of energy and danger: ferocity on a scale only gods can summon. It hurls itself at the island, sending spray

show abstract

“…Until now, our main sources of information about sailing canoes have included historical linguistics (Pawley and Pawley 1994), archaeological evidence of canoe remains (Irwin 2004, Johns et al 2014, Sinoto 1979 and prehistoric interisland trade (McAlister et al 2013). There is a rich historical literature from early European sailors, who sometimes spoke and sailed with Polynesians (Haddon andHornell 1997, Salmond 2005).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Pacific colonisation and canoe performance: Experiments in the science of sailing

Irwin

Flay

2015

jps

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The voyaging canoe was the primary artefact of Oceanic colonisation, but scarcity of direct evidence has led to uncertainty and debate about canoe sailing performance. In this paper we employ methods of aerodynamic and hydrodynamic analysis of sailing routinely used in naval architecture and yacht design, but rarely applied to questions of prehistory-so far. We discuss the history of Pacific sails and compare the performance of three different kinds of canoe hull representing simple and more developed forms, and we consider the implications for colonisation and later inter-island contact in Remote Oceania. Recent reviews of Lapita chronology suggest the initial settlement of Remote Oceania was not much before 1000 BC (Sheppard et al. 2015), and Tonga was reached not much more than a century later (Burley et al. 2012). After the long pause in West Polynesia the vast area of East Polynesia was settled between AD 900 and AD 1300 (Allen 2014, Dye 2015, Jacomb et al. 2014, Wilmshurst et al. 2011). Clearly canoes were able to transport founder populations to widely-scattered islands. In the case of New Zealand, modern Mäori trace their origins to several named canoes, genetic evidence indicates the founding population was substantial (Penney et al. 2002), and ancient DNA shows diversity of ancestral Mäori origins (Knapp et al. 2012). Debates about Pacific voyaging are perennial. Fifty years ago Andrew Sharp (1957, 1963) was sceptical about the ability of traditional navigators to find their way at sea and, more especially, to find their way back over long distances with sailing directions for others to follow. To Sharp the obvious answer was island settlement by one-way voyages and accidental discoveries. Interestingly, navigational ability is no longer in contention after the ethnographic and experimental work of scholars and sailors (

show abstract

An early sophisticated East Polynesian voyaging canoe discovered on New Zealand's coast

Cited by 27 publications

References 13 publications

Fishhook variability and cultural transmission in East Polynesia

Fishhook variability and cultural transmission in East Polynesia

Recent Progress, Trends, and Developments in Island and Coastal Archaeology

Pacific colonisation and canoe performance: Experiments in the science of sailing

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About