Sāmoan artefact provenance reveals limited artefact transfer within and beyond the archipelago

Cochrane, Ethan E.; Rieth, Timothy M.

doi:10.1002/arco.5090

Cited by 12 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…In addition, our results reflect a small growth period beginning at 100 generations ago (3,000 y ago) and then, a low N e that persisted for about 70 generations (2,100 y) thereafter. This is consistent with archaeological findings supporting a Lapita founding event (9, 10, 51) and a small early population size (12)(13)(14). However, if there was a complete population replacement, then the N e history before 30 to 35 generations ago (900 to 1,050 y ago) represents the new incoming population's history of that time period and not the history of the original Lapita population (10,46).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

“…To prune all SNPs, we used the PLINK linkage disequilibrium pruning algorithm command of -indep-pairwise 50 5 0.1, which uses a window of 50 SNPs with an r 2 greater than 0.1 and an SNP step of 5 (54). Since we use both the linkage disequilibrium (LD) pruned and nonpruned data in a variety of analyses, we used The Lapita pottery sherd is copied from a similar sherd found at the Mulifanua archaeological site (14). The triangular shape of the human icons is modeled after rock art pictographs in Polynesia (e.g., Tonga and Hawaii), although no anthropomorphic rock art is known for Samoa.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This has informed an ongoing debate among archeologists about early Samoan population size. Some hypothesize that the sparse early archaeological record reflects small and isolated human groups (12)(13)(14). However, others hypothesize that abundant early archaeological sites have been destroyed or displaced by relative island subsidence and terrigenous deposition (15,16) and that these sites would indicate a large early population, or at least a comparable population size to other colonizing populations in Remote Oceania (17).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Evolutionary history of modern Samoans

Harris

Kessler

Shetty

et al. 2020

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

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Archaeological studies estimate the initial settlement of Samoa at 2,750 to 2,880 y ago and identify only limited settlement and human modification to the landscape until about 1,000 to 1,500 y ago. At this point, a complex history of migration is thought to have begun with the arrival of people sharing ancestry with Near Oceanic groups (i.e., Austronesian-speaking and Papuan-speaking groups), and was then followed by the arrival of non-Oceanic groups during European colonialism. However, the specifics of this peopling are not entirely clear from the archaeological and anthropological records, and is therefore a focus of continued debate. To shed additional light on the Samoan population history that this peopling reflects, we employ a population genetic approach to analyze 1,197 Samoan high-coverage whole genomes. We identify population splits between the major Samoan islands and detect asymmetrical gene flow to the capital city. We also find an extreme bottleneck until about 1,000 y ago, which is followed by distinct expansions across the islands and subsequent bottlenecks consistent with European colonization. These results provide for an increased understanding of Samoan population history and the dynamics that inform it, and also demonstrate how rapid demographic processes can shape modern genomes.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evolutionary history of modern Samoans

Harris

Kessler

Shetty

et al. 2020

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

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“…9), to obtain prestigious commodities from distant islands for elites (10), and for integrating far-flung communities under a centralized authority, such as the Tongan maritime state (11). Some, however, have opined that postcolonization voyaging and artifact transfer in East Polynesia were minimal (7,12).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Cook Island artifact geochemistry demonstrates spatial and temporal extent of pre-European interarchipelago voyaging in East Polynesia

Weisler

Bolhar

et al. 2016

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

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The Cook Islands are considered the “gateway” for human colonization of East Polynesia, the final chapter of Oceanic settlement and the last major region occupied on Earth. Indeed, East Polynesia witnessed the culmination of the greatest maritime migration in human history. Perennial debates have critiqued whether Oceanic settlement was purposeful or accidental, the timing and pathways of colonization, and the nature and extent of postcolonization voyaging—essential for small founding groups securing a lifeline between parent and daughter communities. Centering on the well-dated Tangatatau rockshelter, Mangaia, Southern Cook Islands, we charted the temporal duration and geographic spread of exotic stone adze materials—essential woodworking tools found throughout Polynesia— imported for more than 300 y beginning in the early AD 1300s. Using a technique requiring only 200 mg of sample for the geochemical analysis of trace elements and isotopes of fine-grained basalt adzes, we assigned all artifacts to an island or archipelago of origin. Adze material was identified from the chiefly complex on the Austral Islands, from the major adze quarry complex on Tutuila (Samoa), and from the Marquesas Islands more than 2,400 km distant. This interaction is the only dated example of down-the-line exchange in central East Polynesia where intermediate groups transferred commodities attesting to the interconnectedness and complexity of social relations fostered during postsettlement voyaging. For the Cook Islands, this exchange may have lasted into the 1600s, at least a century later than other East Polynesian archipelagos, suggesting that interarchipelago interaction contributed to the later development of social hierarchies.

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“…The high volume of stone being brought to the heart of the Tongan state was unprecedented and the geographic span of adzes speaks to the fact that this social shift was not exclusive to the Sāmoa-Tonga-Fiji exchanges noted in oral tradition, but was far reaching. In the case of Sāmoa, Cochrane and Reith [112] (p. 6), observe, "... lithic artefacts were transferred rarely and in very small proportions within Sāmoa or beyond the archipelago for the first 1500 years of prehistory. Beginning about 1200 calBP, intra-archipelago transfers of basalts increase slightly in frequency and in distance, and after another 300-400 years, basalts from Sāmoa, particularly Tutuila, are transferred across the central and south-west Pacific, although they never comprise more than about 10% of a lithic assemblage, except at Lapaha, Tonga".…”

Section: Archaeologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Dispersal, Isolation, and Interaction in the Islands of Polynesia: A Critical Review of Archaeological and Genetic Evidence

Horsburgh

McCoy

2017

Diversity

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Integration of archaeology, modern genetics, and ancient DNA holds promise for the reconstruction of the human past. We examine the advances in research on the indigenous peoples of Polynesia to determine: (1) what do archaeological and genetic data (ancient and modern DNA) tell us about the origins of Polynesians; and, (2) what evidence is there for long-distance travel and contacts between Polynesians and indigenous populations of the Americas? We note that the general dispersal pattern of founding human populations in the remote islands of the Pacific and long-distance interaction spheres continue to reflect well-established models. New research suggests that the formation of an Ancestral Polynesia Culture in Western Polynesia may have involved differential patterns of dispersal followed by significant later migrations. It has also been suggested that the pause between the settlement of Western and Eastern Polynesia was centuries longer than currently thought, followed by a remarkably rapid pulse of island colonization. Long-distance travel between islands of the Pacific is currently best documented through the sourcing of artifacts, while the discovery of admixture of Native American DNA within the genome of the people from Easter Island (Rapa Nui) is strong new evidence for sustained contacts between Polynesia and the Americas.

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Sāmoan artefact provenance reveals limited artefact transfer within and beyond the archipelago

Cited by 12 publications

References 29 publications

Evolutionary history of modern Samoans

Evolutionary history of modern Samoans

Cook Island artifact geochemistry demonstrates spatial and temporal extent of pre-European interarchipelago voyaging in East Polynesia

Dispersal, Isolation, and Interaction in the Islands of Polynesia: A Critical Review of Archaeological and Genetic Evidence

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