More bird bones from Polynesian archaeological sites on Henderson Island, Pitcairn group, South Pacific

Schubel, Susan E.; Steadman, David W.

doi:10.5479/si.00775630.325.1

Cited by 22 publications

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“…This would seem to provide a prima facie case that their extinction can be attributed directly to human activity (cf. Steadman & Olson 1985;Schubel & Steadman 1989;Wragg & Weisler 1994;Wragg 1995).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of early Polynesian occupation on the land snail fauna of Henderson Island, Pitcairn group (South Pacific)

Preece

1998

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B

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Henderson Island, an uninhabited raised coral atoll in the Pitcairn group, has recently been designated a World Heritage Site because of its unique and relatively undisturbed ecosystem. The island is believed to have been uplifted and subaerially exposed during the last 275 kyr. This therefore provides the maximum age for the terrestrial biota that includes several endemic taxa. Henderson today supports 16 strictly terrestrial species of snails, about half of which are endemic. Analyses of sediments beneath Polynesian occupation horizons dated between the 11th and 17th centuries AD, have yielded 11 species of land snail present in the modern fauna, together with at least six (and possibly as many as eight) further species that no longer occur on the island. These extinct taxa are illustrated and formal descriptions provided for five ( Pleuropoma hendersoni , Orobophana carinacosta , Minidonta macromphalus , Philonesia pyramidalis , P. weisleri ); a sixth, known only from broken shells, appears to belong to the genus Hiona . The two remaining taxa are ‘tornatellinids’ that have not been recognized among the modern fauna. Radiocarbon dates from bones of associated extinct land birds confirm their occurrence on Henderson before the first signs of Polynesian settlement. The extinction of these taxa seems to coincide with the Polynesian occupation and evidence for large-scale burning, at least around parts of the plateau margin, suggests that their demise can be linked with habitat destruction. At least three species, Gastrocopta pediculus , Lamellidea oblonga and Pupisoma orcula , first appear in Polynesian occupation horizons. Their status as prehistoric introductions is therefore confirmed but G. pediculus no longer lives on Henderson. Pacificella variabilis , Tornatellides oblongus parvulus and Elasmias sp., all previously thought to have been other prehistoric introductions to Henderson, were recovered from pre-Polynesian levels and are therefore native.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of early Polynesian occupation on the land snail fauna of Henderson Island, Pitcairn group (South Pacific)

Preece

1998

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B

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“…Because the indigenous forest still growing on the rugged makatea probably has existed through most of prehistory, predation by humans and rats may have been more important than forest clearing in the second phase of land-bird depletion on Mangaia. This may be the case on other Polynesian islands dominated by makatea limestone, such as Henderson Island (29), where forest clearance for agriculture was impractical, and predation alone might account for prehistoric losses of birds.…”

Section: Extinction Of Birdsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prehistoric extinction of birds on Mangaia, Cook Islands, Polynesia.

Steadman

Kirch

1990

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…Bones of G. erythroptera have been recorded from archaeological sites on Mangaia and Atiu (Cook Islands), indicating further that the current range of G. erythroptera is a human-induced subset of its natural range, which once probably included all of the Tuamotu, Society, and Cook island groups (Steadman, 1989a1, and perhaps the Austral Islands as well. From Henderson Island in the remote Pitcairn Group, there is now archaeological evidence (a single tarsometatarsus) of the former occurrence of a species of Gallicolumba larger than, but closely related to, G. erythroptera (Schubel and Steadman, 1989;Steadman, 1992).…”

Section: Remarks Heteroscelus Incanus Is a Very Common Migrant Shorementioning

confidence: 99%

“…and Hawaii (Olson and James, 1982a, 1982bJames et al, 1987). Among the prehistoric East Polynesian avifaunas, those from Mangaia (Cook Islands) and Henderson Island (Pitcairn Group) have been described in detail (Steadman, 1985;1987;Steadman and Olson, 1986;Schubel and Steadman, 1989;. Those from the Society and Marquesas Islands have been summarized more briefly (Steadman, 1989a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extinction and biogeography of birds on huahine, society islands, French polynesia

Steadman

Pahlavan

1992

Geoarchaeology

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This study is based upon the identification of336 bird bones from the Fa'ahia archaeological site, Huahine, French Polynesia. The bones represent birds that were killed for their flesh, feathers, or bones by prehistoric Polynesians. The radiocarbon ages of excavated strata a t Fa'ahia range from about 1140 2 90 to 770 2 90 yr B.P. The bird bones represent 15 species of resident seabirds, 15 species of resident landbirds, four migrant species, and one introduced species. The only extinct seabird is a gull, Larus new species, although locally extirpated seabirds are P u f f n u s pacificus, Puffinus natiuztatis, P u f f n u s

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More bird bones from Polynesian archaeological sites on Henderson Island, Pitcairn group, South Pacific

Cited by 22 publications

References 0 publications

Impact of early Polynesian occupation on the land snail fauna of Henderson Island, Pitcairn group (South Pacific)

Impact of early Polynesian occupation on the land snail fauna of Henderson Island, Pitcairn group (South Pacific)

Prehistoric extinction of birds on Mangaia, Cook Islands, Polynesia.

Extinction and biogeography of birds on huahine, society islands, French polynesia

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