Scott Fitzpatrick

Recent excavation at Ucheliungs Cave in Palau has provided new evidence in the debate concerning the colonisation of the Palauan archipelago. An abundance of faunal material and the presence of transported artefacts contradict a previous interpretation that the site represents an early burial cave containing purported small-bodied humans. New radiocarbon dates suggest long-term use of the cave for both mortuary activity and small-scale marine foraging that may slightly precede the accepted date for the earliest human occupation of Palau. The results of this research here discount earlier claims for insular dwarfism among the earliest inhabitants of these islands.

In the face of environmental uncertainty due to anthropogenic climate change, islands are at the front lines of global change, threatened by sea level rise, habitat alteration, extinctions and declining biodiversity. Islands also stand at the forefront of scientific study for understanding the deep history of human ecodynamics and to build sustainable future systems. We summarize the long history of human interactions with Polynesian, Mediterranean, Californian and Caribbean island ecosystems, documenting the effects of various waves of human settlement and socioeconomic systems, from hunter–gatherer–fishers, to agriculturalists, to globalized colonial interests. We identify degradation of island environments resulting from human activities, as well as cases of human management of resources to enhance productivity and create more sustainable systems. These case studies suggest that within a general global pattern of progressive island degradation, there was no single trajectory of human impact, but rather complex effects based on variable island physiographies, human subsistence strategies, population densities , technologies, sociopolitical organization and decision-making.

Archaeologists routinely reconstruct the types of marine environments fished by past human societies in order to understand economic systems, foraging behaviour, maritime technology and seafaring abilities. These reconstructions are based on ecological data provided by archaeofish identifications, but can be problematic where coarse-grained designations, such as inshore or pelagic, are used, or the influence of fish behaviour and life history traits on movement between habitats is overlooked. In tropical waters, intra-family diversity complicates habitat reconstruction by precluding lower-level taxonomic identifications that provide precise habitat information (e.g. surge channels, dropoffs). Consequently, a single generalised habitat may be imposed on fishes that could be caught in multiple environments, thereby eroding the reliability of fishing zone reconstructions. This study employs the archaeofish assemblage from Chelechol ra Orrak (c. 3000–0 BP), Palau to examine the analytical impact of these variables on fishing habitat reconstruction based on a blind assessment of taxon-derived environmental data by two analysts. We assesses how analysts' variable decision protocols for the handling of imprecise environmental data impact resulting habitat exploitation profiles. Our results address the issue of spatial resolution in habitat information gleaned from fish assemblages like Orrak's, with important implications for the interpretation of foraging practices and maritime adaptations. R ´ ESUMÉ Très souvent les archéologues reconstituent les types de milieux marins pêchés par les sociétés humaines du passé pour comprendre les systèmeséconomiques, le comportement alimentaire, la technologie maritime et les capacités maritimes. Ces reconstructions sont basées sur des donnéesécologiques fournis par les identifications des poissons archéologiques, mais cela peutêtre problématique lors des désignations générales, tels que les eauxcôtì eres ou pélagiques sont utilisés, ou l'influence du comportement des poissons et les caractéristiques de l'histoire de la vie en mouvement entre les habitats sont ignorés. Dans les eaux tropicales, la diversité intrafamiliale complique la reconstruction de l'habitat en excluant le niveau inférieur des identifications taxonomiques qui fournissent des informations plus précises de l'habitat (i.e. les canaux de surtension, des tombants). Par conséquent, un seul habitat généralisé peutêtre imposée sur des poissons qui pourraientêtre pris dans multiples milieux, affaiblissant ainsi la fiabilité des reconstructions de la zone de pêche. Cetté etude utilise l'agglomérat des poissons archéologiques de Chelechol ra Orrak (environ 3000–0 AP), Palau pour examiner l'impact analytique de ces variables de la reconstruction de l'habitat de la pêche, basée sur uné evaluation aveugle des données environnementales taxon-dérivées par deux analystes. Nousévaluons comment les variables, décision-protocoles des analystes dans le traitement des données environnementales imprécises impactent les résultats des profils de l'exploitation de l'habitat. Nos résultats portent sur la question de la résolution spatiale de l'information de l'habitat, extraitè a partir de l'amas de poissons comme l'Orrak, avec des implications importantes pour l'interprétation des pratiques de recherche de nourriture et des adaptations maritimes. Mots Clés: ˆ Iles Carolines, reconstruction paléoenvironnementale, archéo-ichtyologiques, archéozoologie, pêche des poissons pélagiques, pêche sur le récif

The prehistoric colonization of islands in Remote Oceania that began ∼3400 B.P. represents what was arguably the most expansive and ambitious maritime dispersal of humans across any of the world’s seas or oceans. Though archaeological evidence has provided a relatively clear picture of when many of the major island groups were colonized, there is still considerable debate as to where these settlers originated from and their strategies/trajectories used to reach habitable land that other datasets (genetic, linguistic) are also still trying to resolve. To address these issues, we have harnessed the power of high-resolution climatic and oceanographic datasets in multiple seafaring simulation platforms to examine major pulses of colonization in the region. Our analysis, which takes into consideration currents, land distribution, wind
periodicity, the influence of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events, and “shortest-hop” trajectories, demonstrate that (i) seasonal and semiannual climatic changes were highly influential in structuring ancient Pacific voyaging; (ii) western Micronesia was likely settled from somewhere around the Maluku (Molucca) Islands; (iii) Samoa was the most probable staging area for the colonization of East Polynesia; and (iv) although there are major differences in success rates depending on time of year and the occurrence of ENSO events, settlement of Hawai’i and New Zealand is possible from the Marquesas or Society Islands, the same being the case for settlement of Easter Island from Mangareva or the Marquesas.

To identify oxygen isotope (δ 18 O) values and associated sea-surface temperature (SST) in the northern Caribbean , 82 δ 18 O values from 3 modern and 11 prehistoric Donax denticulatus shells were sampled. First, we conducted X-ray diffraction (XRD) on several modern shells to confirm aragonite composition. After identifying the biomineralogical composition of the shell, we applied several δ 18 O-to-SST conversion equations and selected the most appropriate formula based on pairing modern isotopic data with SST during the time of collection. We then converted prehistoric isotopic values to SST estimates to reconstruct paleo-SST for nearshore waters off the island of Nevis in the northern Lesser Antilles. Our results indicate that prehistoric isotopic signatures are slightly more depleted than modern signatures, with estimated SST similar to modern conditions for the region. Our study demonstrates the potential for Donax denticulatus to serve as a reliable proxy for recording ambient SST and reconstructing local paleoecology of nearshore environments, important for examining a host of issues related to prehistoric settlement and island adaptations.

Across the world’s seas and oceans, archaeological research focused on islands has generally privileged those that are larger in size. Explanations for this phenomenon range from the (mis)perception by scholars that prehistoric peoples were more attracted to the presumed
greater number and diversity of resources typically available on larger islands, to the ephemeral aspect of archaeological evidence on smaller
land areas. These are coupled with logistical and infrastructure issues
that often limit access to labor, equipment, and transportation to
conduct field activities (e.g., remote atolls in the Pacific). A growing
body of research demonstrates, however, that ancient peoples regularly
and readily occupied and/or accessed many smaller islands for both
terrestrial and marine resources. In some cases, within an archipelago,
evidence shows an earlier occupation on smaller islands versus larger
ones, or an attraction to the former given unique or seasonal resource
availability and/or defensive capabilities. We describe cases from
several areas of the world that highlight the importance of relatively
small islands (∼1–500 km2) for understanding human adaptations
in what many have considered to be among the most marginal of
environments.

The discovery of human burials in Palau, Micronesia have often centered on traditional village sites with stone architecture dating post - AD 1200. Although the placing of the deceased in caves has been noted in the past, especially within the limestone Rock Islands, only recently have these sites been investigated in any detail. We present new data from a cemetery on Orrak Island, one of the largest and earliest burial sites in the Pacific Islands dating to ~ 900 BC. Surface reconnaissance in the smaller limestone islands suggests that cave burials were probably a frequent cultural practice in early Palauan prehistory.

Recent efforts to reconstruct the anthropogenic paleozoogeography of introduced Neotropical mammals in the West Indies provide new analytical foundations for evaluating island and continental human interaction, exchange, colonization, and animal management. Key questions in these investigations concern the timing, source, population viability, and environmental impact of continental faunal translocations in the pre-Columbian insular Caribbean. To investigate these issues we analyzed 87 Sr/ 86 Sr, 206 Pb/ 204 Pb, 207 Pb/ 204 Pb, and 208 Pb/ 204 Pb isotope ratios from environmental samples and agouti (Dasy-procta sp.) and opossum (Didelphis cf. marsupialis) remains from Ceramic Age (500 BC e AD 1500) archaeological deposits on the islands of Nevis, Carriacou, and Mustique in the Lesser Antilles. This study was undertaken to assess the suitability of agouti and opossum tooth enamel for isotopic analysis, characterize local bioavailable Sr and Pb isotope ratios, and distinguish possible local and non-local agouti and opossum individuals. We demonstrate large intra-island variability in bioavailable Sr across multiple islands giving rise to potential equifinality in identifying taxa of non-local origin. We argue, consequently, for the necessity of comprehensive environmental sampling at the island scale to better define the range and mean of bioavailable Sr for a given locale. Our results further show that Pb isotope analysis of sampled taxa is problematized to varying degrees by modern anthropogenic lead contamination , even for well-preserved 'clean' tooth enamel from intact archaeological specimens and raise questions about the utility of this method for evaluating past animal translocations and the use of small mammals for establishing local bioavailable Pb. Despite these results, Sr data are sound and, in combination with vetted Pb ratios, indicate that agouti and opossum were established as living populations on Carriacou and Nevis as early as ca. AD 600/800, and possibly earlier. These results establish baseline data for evaluating exchange networks involving living animals or their parts, potential captive management of agouti and opossum, and the ecological impact of exotic species during the Pre-Columbian era in the West Indies.

Sometime after A.D. 500, Ceramic Age populations traveling by canoe introduced domestic guinea pig (Cavia porcellus) from the mainland of South America to the Greater and Lesser Antilles as well as to the southern ABC (Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao) islands. Pre-Columbian archeological specimens of guinea pig have been found on 18 sites on nine islands where disarticulated remains occur as food refuse. To identify the geographic origin of these animals, we extracted and analyzed ancient mitochondrial DNA of individual archeological guinea pigs (C. porcellus) from three sites. Two individuals each are from the sites of Finca Valencia and Tibes on Puerto Rico and one individual is from the Grand Bay site on Carriacou in the Lesser Antilles. The archeological contexts of the guinea pigs and the chronometric dates of these sites along with the genetic analysis lead us to hypothesize that guinea pigs were introduced initially to Puerto Rico from the modern-day region of Colombia. The genetic data, the first published on a pre-Columbian domestic animal from the Caribbean, allow us to infer direct human movement between the Caribbean Antilles and northwestern South America. These preliminary genetic data are parsimonious with archeological information regarding migration, exchange, and inter-island interaction that took place in the West Indies beginning approximately A.D. 600. These interactions contributed to the post-A.D. 500 cultural heterogeneity found in the Caribbean.

Prior investigation at the Chelechol ra Orrak site (3000/1700–0 BP) in Palau’s Rock Islands revealed a decline in fishing and increased reliance on small-bodied, inshore and littoral molluscs, commensurate with evidence for declining foraging efficiency and prey switching that signal potential resource depression. Yet, standard markers for ‘overfishing’, such as diet-breadth expansion, increased taxonomic richness, and a switch to exploitation of offshore waters, are lacking at the site, undermining the case for anthropogenic resource (exploitation) depression as a cause of the observed patterning. Broad scale climate change similarly fails to account for these shifts. To investigate these conflicting patterns we performed a mean/median size analysis of two parrotfish (Scaridae) taxa, Scarus and Chlorurus, among the most commonly recovered fish at the site. Results indicate that Scarus size remains unchanged through 1500 years of exploitation, while Chlorurus become larger, substantiating previous findings for sustainable
resource use at Orrak. With these results in mind, we critically evaluate prey size change as a metric for anthropogenic exploitation depression, noting that size diminution, in particular, may arise epiphenomenally due to multiple causes unrelated to human predation pressure. Results have broader implications for the detection and attribution of resource depression in studies of human paleoecology.

In this research we examined the isotopic signatures of sequential growth increments from 10 modern and 11 archaeological Atactodea striata shells (21 shells with a total number of 112 samples). Modern shells and record- ed sea surface temperature measurements (SSTs) were used to evaluate the geochemistry of A. striata as a suit- able candidate for recording ambient SST. Pairing oxygen isotopes and recorded SST of modern samples with x- ray diffraction (XRD) allows the identification of the biomineralogical composition of A. striata and provides the necessary information to select the most appropriate carbonate temperature equation to convert oxygen isotope values to estimated SST. This SST conversion was then applied to isotopic data from 11 shells recovered from a ~1700 year old component at the Chelechol ra Orrak site in Palau, Micronesia. We discuss the biomineralogical composition of A. striata, modern and prehistoric sea-surface temperature variation, and the importance of using modern shellfish analogues in conjunction with archaeological samples for paleoenvironmental recon- structions. Isotope values from modern A. striata, when converted using Grossman and Kus' (1986) temperature conversion equation, was found to be similar to measured SST. Estimated SST from archaeological shells showed that the mean SST at 1700 cal. BP were similar to modern values, but SST ranges may have been slightly greater.

Questions of how people colonized islands and the linkages they forged with other groups have long been pervasive in the archaeological study of island societies. Through continued investigation it is clear that humans transported a variety of goods (artifacts, animals, plants, etc.) and knowledge to and from islands—sometimes across vast distances. Yet, although there was often a high degree of interaction between many island groups, others remained partially or in a few cases completely isolated from the outside world. The extent of ...

The Chelechol ra Orrak site is one of the largest and oldest cemetery sites in the Pacific Islands. Dating back to at least 2800 BP, the site contains the remains of descendant Palauan populations that may represent individuals who lived within 20-25 generations of the archipelago’s first colonists dating back to between ca. 3300-3000 BP. This paper builds on pilot work at Chelechol ra Orrak and explores facets of paleodiet through stable isotope analysis of carbon and nitrogen. To date, twenty individuals have been assayed, and nineteen provide data with good collagen yields. Bone collagen results for stable carbon isotope ratios average -15.9‰ and for stable nitrogen isotope ratios 11.0‰. Bone apatite results for stable carbon isotope ratios average -8.7‰ and apatite-collagen spacing averages 7.2‰. Overall the data are consistent with a marine-based diet supplemented by terrestrial foods, as evidenced by enriched carbon and nitrogen values. Enriched values for bone apatite suggest potential consumption of dietary carbohydrates that may include sugar cane and/or seaweed. When compared to other contemporary groups in the Pacific, the Chelechol ra Orrak samples are broadly similar to early colonizing Lapita populations in Vanuatu and Fiji, which also reflect a marine based supplemented by some terrestrial resources. This paper focuses on the newly expanded dataset and integrates life history data for this population towards a better understanding of the range of dietary diversity at the site.