The rat and the octopus: initial human colonization and the prehistoric introduction of domestic animals to Remote Oceania

Anderson, Atholl

doi:10.1007/s10530-008-9403-2

Cited by 87 publications

(78 citation statements)

References 73 publications

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“…The colonization of islands was a feature of H. sapiens expansion from the Late Pleistocene onwards but accelerated significantly in the Holocene as maritime technological advances enabled humans to reach increasingly remote oceanic islands (80). Evidence from global island-focused research programs suggests that ancient humans had major impacts on island ecosystems that often lacked the resilience of continental biomes (81,82).…”

Section: Four Key Phases Of Anthropogenic Transformationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ecological consequences of human niche construction: Examining long-term anthropogenic shaping of global species distributions

Boivin

Zeder

Fuller

et al. 2016

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

676

490

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The exhibition of increasingly intensive and complex niche construction behaviors through time is a key feature of human evolution, culminating in the advanced capacity for ecosystem engineering exhibited by Homo sapiens. A crucial outcome of such behaviors has been the dramatic reshaping of the global biosphere, a transformation whose early origins are increasingly apparent from cumulative archaeological and paleoecological datasets. Such data suggest that, by the Late Pleistocene, humans had begun to engage in activities that have led to alterations in the distributions of a vast array of species across most, if not all, taxonomic groups. Changes to biodiversity have included extinctions, extirpations, and shifts in species composition, diversity, and community structure. We outline key examples of these changes, highlighting findings from the study of new datasets, like ancient DNA (aDNA), stable isotopes, and microfossils, as well as the application of new statistical and computational methods to datasets that have accumulated significantly in recent decades. We focus on four major phases that witnessed broad anthropogenic alterations to biodiversity-the Late Pleistocene global human expansion, the Neolithic spread of agriculture, the era of island colonization, and the emergence of early urbanized societies and commercial networks. Archaeological evidence documents millennia of anthropogenic transformations that have created novel ecosystems around the world. This record has implications for ecological and evolutionary research, conservation strategies, and the maintenance of ecosystem services, pointing to a significant need for broader cross-disciplinary engagement between archaeology and the biological and environmental sciences.biodiversity | extinctions | invasive species | novel ecosystems | Anthropocene The reshaping of global biodiversity is one of the most significant impacts humans have had on Earth's ecosystems. As our planet experiences its sixth "mass extinction event" (1), the effect of anthropogenic landscape modification, habitat fragmentation, overexploitation, and species invasions could not be more apparent (2, 3). These transformations are linked largely to the industrial economies, burgeoning populations, and dense transport networks of contemporary human societies. Accordingly, the humanmediated alteration of species distributions has been characterized as a modern phenomenon with limited, and largely insignificant, historical antecedents. This conventional understanding fails to account for several decades of archaeological, paleoecological, and genetic research that reveal a long and widespread history of human transformation of global biodiversity (4-6). The evolutionary trajectory of Homo sapiens has seen growing capacities for advanced cognition and demographic and geographic expansion, along with an exponential increase in the scope and impact of human niche constructing activities (7) that have culminated in fundamental changes to planetary ecosystems.Drawing upon findings from ...

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Section: Four Key Phases Of Anthropogenic Transformationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…New chronometric data are revealing the rapidity with which prehistoric extinctions sometimes unfolded (80). New Zealand saw numerous vertebrate extinctions after Polynesian arrival (e.g., refs.…”

Section: (A) Wheat (Triticum Spp) (B) Sorghum (Sorghum Bicolor) (Cmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological consequences of human niche construction: Examining long-term anthropogenic shaping of global species distributions

Boivin

Zeder

Fuller

et al. 2016

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

676

490

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“…In less than 500 years after the first arrivals in the pristine islands, food resources used by humans appear to have largely changed. Consumption of wild terrestrial and marine foods decreased and the agricultural component of the diet increased (Davidson et al, 2002;Kirch, 2002;Anderson, 2009;Sheppard, 2011). A declining midHolocene sea level and human-induced landscape alteration including deforestation and faunal extinctions have been identified as potential driving forces that -coupled with an increasing emphasis on the products of horticulture-caused significant dietary change between the beginning and the end of the Lapita period (Clark and Anderson, 2009;Cochrane et al, 2011;Sheppard, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi-isotopic analysis of first Polynesian diet (Talasiu, Tongatapu, Kingdom of Tonga)

Herrscher¹,

Fenner²,

Valentin³

et al. 2018

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

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A B S T R A C TBoth archaeological and isotopic data document dietary changes over the first five centuries of Western Pacific island settlement, a time period beginning with the Lapita expansion about 3000 years ago. This change is marked by a decrease in marine food intake and an increase in vegetal food intake occurring in the Late Lapita/ immediately post-Lapita populations. The recent discovery of human burials at Talasiu (~2700-2600 cal. BP) in the Kingdom of Tonga opens new opportunities to assess this matter. We characterize the nature of the food items consumed by the Talasiu humans (n = 21) using collagen and apatite carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios. We conducted an intra-Pacific comparison to examine the use of marine resources and the contribution of horticultural products and to look at the homogeneity of dietary practices within the Tongan group. Isotope results indicate a mixed diet of terrestrial and marine resources including a differential contribution of more specific marine foods (e.g., non-reef fish/inshore fish and shellfish). The Talasiu dietary pattern appears closer to that of the early Lapita population of Teouma than to other Late Lapita populations suggesting a different pattern of dietary change at the eastern end of the Lapita distribution. The slower rate of change may be due to the small size of both the island and the population, and also the additional potential role of social or cultural factors.

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“…Anderson (2003Anderson ( , 2009a, conversely, has argued that the distribution of oceanic crops and domestic animals is very patchy across Remote Oceania, especially in the more remote islands, and that this is a function of the increasing difficulty of transportation eastward and southward. As a result, some islands had no access, or limited access, to agriculture, and others in which it was well established by the historical era had probably created such landscapes by long-term accumulation of taxa rather than during initial colonisation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Palaeobotany and the early development of agriculture on Rapa Island

Prebble¹,

Anderson²

2012

Taking the High Ground (Terra Australis 37): The Archaeology of Rapa, a Fortified Island in Remote East Polynesia

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The rat and the octopus: initial human colonization and the prehistoric introduction of domestic animals to Remote Oceania

Abstract: Remote

Cited by 87 publications

References 73 publications

Ecological consequences of human niche construction: Examining long-term anthropogenic shaping of global species distributions

Ecological consequences of human niche construction: Examining long-term anthropogenic shaping of global species distributions

Multi-isotopic analysis of first Polynesian diet (Talasiu, Tongatapu, Kingdom of Tonga)

Palaeobotany and the early development of agriculture on Rapa Island

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