Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T10:08:35.279Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Early human burials in the western Pacific: evidence for c.3000 year old occupation on Palau

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Scott M. Fitzpatrick
Scott M. Fitzpatrick*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695 USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The author reports the oldest human skeletal assemblage found so far in the pacific Islands: at the site of Chalechol Ra Orrak on Palau, Micronesia.

Keywords

MicronesiaPalauburials
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 77 , Issue 298 , December 2003 , pp. 719 - 731
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Ambrose, S. H., Butler, B. M., Hanson, D. B., Hunter-Anderson, R. L. & Krueger, H. W.. 1997. Stable isotopic analysis of human diet in the Marianas archipelago, western Pacific. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 104: 343–361.Google Scholar
Athens, J. S. & Ward, J.. 1995. Paleoenvironment of the Orote Peninsula, Guam. Micronesica 28: 205–23.Google Scholar
Athens, J. S. & Ward, J.. 1999. Archaeological data recovery for the compact road, Babeldaob Island, Republic of Palau. Historic preservation investigations phase II. Volume IV: The holocenepaleoenvironment of Palau. International Archaeological Research Institute, Inc.Google Scholar
Beardsley, F. R. 1998. Sngali Ridge, Belau: Burials, spirit walks, and painted pottery. Paper presented at the 16th Congress of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association, Melaka, Malaysia, July 1–7 1998.Google Scholar
Blaiyok, V. 1993. Archaeological Survey of Airai State, Republic of Palau. Manuscript submitted to the Division of Cultural Affairs, Koror, Palau.Google Scholar
Craib, J. 1999. Colonisation of the Mariana Islands: New evidence and implications for human movements in the western Pacific in Galipaud, J. C. and Lilley, I. (ed.), Le pacifique de 5000 à 2000 avant le présent. Suppléments à l’histoire d’une colonization. The Pacific from 5000 to 2000 B.P Colonisation and Transformation. Actes du colloque Vanuatu, 31 Juillet—6 Aout 1996: 477–485. Paris: Editions de l’ORSTROM. Collection Colloques et séminaries.Google Scholar
Dodson, J. & Intoh, M.. 1999. Prehistory and paleoecology of Yap, Federated States of Micronesia. Quaternary International 59: 17–26.Google Scholar
Fitzpatrick, S. M. 2001. Archaeological investigation of omis Cave: a Yapese stone money quarry in Palau. Archaeology in Oceania 36: 153–162.Google Scholar
Fitzpatrick, S. M. 2002. AMS dating of human bone from Palau: New evidence for a pre-2000 B.P. settlement. —Radiocarbon 44(1): 217–221 Google Scholar
Fitzpatrick, S. M. 2003. Stones of the Butterfly: An Archaeological Investigation of Yapese Stone Money Quarries in Palau, western Caroline Islands, Micronesia. PhD dissertation, Department of Anthropology, university of oregon.Google Scholar
Fitzpatrick, S. M. & Boyle, J.. 2003. The antiquity of pearl shell (Pinctada sp.) burial artifacts from Palau, western Micronesia. Radiocarbon 44(3): 1–9.Google Scholar
Fitzpatrick, S. M., Nelson, G. C. & Reeves, R.. n.d. The prehistoric chewing of betel nut (Areca catechu) in western Micronesia. People and culture in Oceania.Google Scholar
Gifford, E. W. & Gifford, D. S. 1959. Archaeological excavations in Yap. Anthropological Records 18: 149–224. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Guilderson, T. P., Schrag, D. P., Goddard, E., Kashgarian, M., Wellington, G. M. & Linsley, B. K.. 2000. Southwest subtropical Pacific surface water radiocarbon in a high-resolution coral record. Radiocarbon 42: 249–256.Google Scholar
Hideshima, S., Matsumoto, E., Abe, O., & Kitigawa, H.. 2001. Northwest Pacific marine reservoir correction estimated from annually banded coral from Ishigaki Island, southern Japan. Radiocarbon 43: 473–476.Google Scholar
Hunter-Anderson, R. A review of traditional Micronesian high island horticulture in Belau, Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei, and Kosrae. Micronesica 24: 1–56.Google Scholar
Hunter-Anderson, R. A review of traditional Micronesian high island horticulture in Belau, Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei, and Kosrae. 1983. Yapese settlement patterns: an ethnoarchaeological approach. Pacific Studies Institute, Agana, Guam.Google Scholar
Intoh, M. 1997. Human dispersals into Micronesia. Anthropological Science 105: 15–28.Google Scholar
Irwin, G.. 1992. The prehistoric exploration and colonisation of the Pacific. Cambridge: Cambridge university Press.Google Scholar
Kennett, D. J., Ingram, B. L., Erlandson, J. M. & Walker, P.. 1997. Evidence for temporal fluctuations in marine radiocarbon reservoir ages in the santa Barbara Channel, southern California. Journal of Archaeological Science 24: 1051–1059.Google Scholar
Kirch, P. V., Swindler, D.R & Turner, C. G. II. 1989. Human skeletal remains and dental remains from Lapita sites (1600–500 B.C.) in the Mussau Islands, Melanesia. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 79: 63–76.Google Scholar
Kurashina, H. & Clayshulte, R. N.. 1983. Site formation processes and cultural sequence at Tarague, Guam. Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association 4: 114–122.Google Scholar
Kurashina, H., Moore, D., Kataoka, O., Clayshulte, R. & Ray, E.. 1984. Prehistoric and protohistoric cultural occurrences at Tarague, Guam. Asian Perspectives 24: 57–68.Google Scholar
Kuzmin, Y.V, Burr, G. S. & Jull, A. J. T.. 2001. Radiocarbon reservoir correction ages in the Peter the Great Gulf, Sea of Japan, and eastern coast of the Kunashir, southern Kuriles (northwestern Pacific). Radiocarbon 43: 477–481.Google Scholar
Liston, J., Kaschko, M. W. & Welch, D. J.. 1998a. Archaeological inventory survey for the capital relocation project, Melekeok, Republic of Palau. Honolulu: International Archaeological Research institute.Google Scholar
Liston, J., Tuggle, H. D., Mangieri, T. M., Kaschko, M. W. & Desilets, M.. 1998b. Archaeological data recovery for the compact road, Babeldaob Island, Republic of Palau. Historic Preservation Investigations Phase II. Volume I: Fieldwork Reports. Honolulu: International Archaeological Research institute.Google Scholar
Liston, J., Mangieri, T. M., Grant, D., Kaschko, M. W. & Tuggle, H. D.. 1998c. Archaeological data recovery for the compact road, Babeldaob Island, Republic of Palau. Historic Preservation Investigations Phase II. Volume II: Fieldwork Reports. Honolulu: International Archaeological Research Institute.Google Scholar
Masse, W. B., Snyder, D. & Gumerman, G. J.. 1984. Prehistoric and historic settlement in the Palau Islands, Micronesia. New Zealand Journal of Archaeology 6: 107–127.Google Scholar
Nelson, G. & Fitzpatrick, S. M.. n.d. Osteological analysis of humans remains from the Chelechol ra Orrak site, Palau, Micronesia. submitted for publication.Google Scholar
Osborne, D. 1979 Archaeological test excavations in the Palau Islands, 1968–69. Micronesica, supplement 1.Google Scholar
Phelan, M. B. 1999. A R correction value for Samoa from known-age marine shells. Radiocarbon 41: 99–101.Google Scholar
Petchey, F. & Higham, T.. 2000. Bone diagenesis and radiocarbon dating of fish bones at the Shag River Mouth site, New Zealand. Journal of Archaeological Science 27: 135–150.Google Scholar
Pietrusewsky, M. 1996. The physical anthropology of Polynesia: a review of some cranial and skeletal studies in Davidson, J. M., Irwin, G., Leach, B. F., Pawley, A., & Brown, D. (ed.), Oceanic Culture History: Essays in Honour of Roger Green: 343–353. New Zealand Journal of Archaeology Special Publication Google Scholar
Pregill, G. K. & Steadman, D. W.. 2000. Fossil vertebrates from Palau, Micronesia: a resource assessment. Micronesica 33: 137–152.Google Scholar
Rieth, T. M. & Liston, J.. 2001. Archaeological data recovery at Ngermereues Ridge, Ngesaol, Koror, Republic of Palau. Honolulu: International Archaeological Research Institute.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M. & P. Reimer. 1993. Extended 14C database and revised CALIB 3.0 14C age calibration program. Radiocarbon 35: 215–230.Google Scholar
Takayama, J. 1982. Archaeological research in Micronesia during the past decade. Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association 3: 95–114.Google Scholar
Taylor, R. E. 1987. Radiocarbon dating: an archaeological perspective. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Turner, C. G. 1990. Origin and affinity of the people of Guam: a dental anthropological assessment. Micronesica supplement 2: 403–416.Google Scholar
Van Klinken, G. J. & Mook, W. E.. 1990. Preparative high-performance liquid chromatographic separation of individual amino acids derived from fossil bone collagen. Radiocarbon 32: 155–164.Google Scholar
Weisler, M. I. 1999. The antiquity of aroid pit agriculture and significance of buried A horizons on Pacific atolls. Geoarchaeology 14: 621–54.Google Scholar
Weisler, M. I. 2000. Burial artifacts from the Marshall Islands: description, dating, and evidence for extra-archipelago contacts. Micronesica 33(1/2):111–136.Google Scholar
Wickler, S. K., Welch, D. J.., Tomonari-Tuggle, M. J., Liston, J. & Tuggle, H. D.. 1998. Intensive archaeological survey for the Palau compact road, Babeldaob Island, Palau. Historic Preservation Investigations Phase I. Volume I. Scope, Background, Results, Excavation, and Recommendations. Honolulu: International Archaeological Research Institute.Google Scholar
Wickler, S. 2001. The colonization of western Micronesia and early settlement in Palau in Lee, G. (ed.) Pacific 2000 Conference Proceedings: 185–96. Los Osos: Easter Island Foundation.Google Scholar
Yoneda, M., Hiroto, M., Uchida, M., Uzawa, K., Tanaka, A., Shibata, Y. & Morita, M.. 2001. Marine radiocarbon reservoir effect in the western north Pacific observed in archaeological fauna. Radiocarbon 43: 465–471.Google Scholar