Cultivating an Ecological and Social Balance: Elite Demands and Commoner Knowledge in Ancient Ma‘ohi Agriculture, Society Islands

Lepofsky, Dana; Kahn, Jennifer G.

doi:10.1111/j.1548-1433.2011.01333.x

Cited by 56 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…In the case of shellfish, Hackenberger (1988, 1989) posit that overexploitation led to the development of harvest controls, but they do not recognize the possibility of enhancement strategies. The lack of recognition of the breadth of management strategies is in part due to the fact that the archaeological record, because it is largely an amalgamation of certain kinds of events, does not often provide evidence of the subtle management practices that may mimic natural processes (e.g., transplanting fish eggs) or that are conducted by individuals (Lepofsky and Kahn 2011).…”

Section: Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Indigenous marine resource management on the Northwest Coast of North America

2013

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There is increasing recognition among anthropologists that indigenous peoples of the Northwest Coast actively managed their terrestrial and marine resources and ecosystems. Such management practices ensured the ongoing productivity of valued resources and were embedded in a complex web of socio-economic interactions. Using ethnographic and archaeological data, this paper synthesizes the ecological and cultural aspects of marine management systems of coastal First Nations. We divide our discussion into four aspects of traditional management systems: harvesting methods, enhancement strategies, tenure systems, and worldview and social relations. The ethnographic data, including memories of living knowledge holders, tend to provide windows into daily actions and the more intangible aspects of management; the archaeological record provides insights into the more tangible aspects and how management systems developed through time and space. This review demonstrates not only the breadth of Northwest Coast marine management but also the value of integrating different kinds of knowledge and data to more fully document the whole of these ancient management systems.

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Section: Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Indigenous marine resource management on the Northwest Coast of North America

2013

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“…Society Islands Lepofsky (1994) was the first to carry out a systematic archaeological study into Ma'ohi agricultural practices, mapping and excavating sites on Mo'orea and Rai'atea ( Fig. 1).…”

Section: Previous Agricultural and Domestic Production Studies In Thementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Subsequent ethnohistoric and archaeological research has illustrated that Europeans failed to recognize the extensive multi-storied cropping systems (aboriculture) that the Ma'ohi cultivated (Hamilton and Kahn 2007;Lepofsky 2003). Subsequent ethnohistoric and archaeological research has illustrated that Europeans failed to recognize the extensive multi-storied cropping systems (aboriculture) that the Ma'ohi cultivated (Hamilton and Kahn 2007;Lepofsky 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Agriculture, Domestic Production, and Site Function: Microfossil Analyses and Late Prehistoric Landscapes of the Society Islands1

2014

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Bronx, NY 10458-5126 U.S.A.pratiques culturales pré-Contact, 2) l'agriculture et l'utilisation des plantes, 3) la production domestique et la consommation, dont les pratiques de cuisine et la conservation du surplus de nourriture, 4) la fonction des sites et la spécialisation des activités, tels que documentés par les sources ethnohistoriques. Outre les taxons d'herbacées, "sedges" et palmiers, vingt taxons d'espèces utiles ont été identifiés. Les phytolithes de feuilles de bananiers mis au jour dans les sondages réalisés sur des sites d'habitat apportent des preuves de leur utilisation pour le stockage de nourriture et pour la technique de fermentation du fruit de l'arbre à pain. Enfin, nous élaborons un modèle du potentiel économique lié à l'utilisation des espèces Pandanus, Casuarina, Weinmannia et mûrier à papier, basé sur les études de micro-fossiles et les sources ethnohistoriques. Si l'intérêt des analyses de micro-fossiles pour la reconstitution des paysages anciens, des interactions homme-environnement et des pratiques culturales n'est plus à démontrer, elles sont également pertinentes pour documenter les transformations socioéconomiques à l'échelle locale et communautaire.

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“…From a chronological standpoint, priests' houses, and their association with aggregate temple complexes in the Society Islands, develop during the late Expansion to Classic periods (AD 1500 and onwards) . This period is characterized by dense populations and formalized status hierarchies that have evolved over a c. 500 year time period (Lepofsky and Kahn, 2011). A major shift in the role Ma'ohi chiefly elites and occupational specialists such as priests is signaled by the development of aggregate temple sites with specialized ritual structures and the formalized association of ritual practitioners with such massive, and isolated, ceremonial complexes (Kahn and Kirch, 2014).…”

Section: The Advent Of Ritual Specialists and Ideological And Socioecmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying residences of ritual practitioners in the archaeological record as a proxy for social complexity

Kahn

2015

Journal of Anthropological Archaeology

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a b s t r a c tDedicated ritual specialists often had indispensable roles in ancient religions and significant impacts on political histories. Few studies have developed methodologies for recovering direct evidence for ritual practitioners in the archaeological record. I argue that the study of religious practitioners must take a holistic micro-scale approach, documenting not only the places where ritual paraphernalia (sacra) were stored, but places where priests and their assistants lived and practiced intimate and communal rituals. I begin with a discussion of ethnohistoric and ethnographic data to model what priests did in ancient societies, and what the material correlates of their dwellings and activities might look like. I then present archaeological data from two late prehistoric house sites identified as priest dwellings from East Polynesian. Utilizing multiple lines of evidence, including portable artifacts, botanical specimens, site architecture, and site distribution patterns, I argue that there is close complementarity between the eth nohistoric-ethnographic model and the archaeological remains. That priests' houses houses are often situated within corporate ritual centers speaks to the import of such sites and their associated ceremonial activities in the strategic use ideology to institutionalize social hierarchies and political status, a pattern seen in many other ranked societies in Polynesia and other case studies world-wide.

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Cultivating an Ecological and Social Balance: Elite Demands and Commoner Knowledge in Ancient Ma‘ohi Agriculture, Society Islands

Cited by 56 publications

References 44 publications

Indigenous marine resource management on the Northwest Coast of North America

Indigenous marine resource management on the Northwest Coast of North America

Agriculture, Domestic Production, and Site Function: Microfossil Analyses and Late Prehistoric Landscapes of the Society Islands1

Identifying residences of ritual practitioners in the archaeological record as a proxy for social complexity

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