Asian Perspectives, 1998 - Volume 37, Number 1 (Spring)
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Asian Perspectives is the leading peer-reviewed archaeological journal devoted to the prehistory of Asia and the Pacific region. In addition to archaeology, it features articles and book reviews on ethnoarchaeology, palaeoanthropology, physical anthropology, and ethnography of interest and use to the prehistorian. International specialists contribute regional reports summarizing current research and fieldwork, and present topical reports of significant sites. Occasional special issues focus on single topics.
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Recent Submissions
Item Review of Historical Ecology in the Pacific Islands: Prehistoric Environmental and Landscape Change, by P. V. Kirch and T. L. Hunt (eds.); People of the Great Ocean: Aspects of Human Biology of the Early Pacific, by Philip Houghton; Arts of Vanuatu, by Joel Bonnemaison, Christian Kaufmann, Kirk Huffman, and Darrel Tryon (eds.); Archaeological Investigations on Easter Island, Maunga Tari: An Upland Agricultural Complex, by Christopher Stevenson; Prehistoric Japan: New Perspectives on Insular East Asia, by Keiji Imamura; Subsistence and Environment: The Botanical Evidence. The Biological Remains (Part II), by G. B. Thompson; Volume IV of the Excavation of Khok Phanom Di, A Prehistoric Site in Central Thailand; Angkor Wat: Time, Space, and Kingship, by Eleanor Mannikka.(University of Hawai'i Press (Honolulu), 1998) Moniz, Jadelyn J.; Brace, C Loring; Lindstrom, Lamont; Martinsson-Wallin, Helene; Aikens, C. Melvin; D'Andrea, A Catherine; Miksic, John N.Item The Microblade Tradition in China: Regional Chronologies and Significance in the Transition to Neolithic(University of Hawai'i Press (Honolulu), 1998) Lu, Lie DanAlthough research on the microblade tradition in China dates back more than fifty years, there are still questions of classification, regional sequences, and chronology to be solved. The relevant archaeological data from China are summarized and the chronological sequences of the microblade tradition in different regions are analyzed. It is proposed that the time span of this tradition varied from region to region, and that it was associated with different non-microblade lithic assemblages in different areas. The florescence of the microblade tradition occurred close to the end of the Pleistocene, after which it declined in central China contemporary with the emergence of agriculture. The microblade tradition therefore serves as a technological correlate of the transition from Paleolithic to Neolithic in central China. KEYWORDS: China, microblade tradition, regional and chronological sequence, lithic tradition.Item Flaked Glass Tools from the Andaman Islands and Australia(University of Hawai'i Press (Honolulu), 1998) Cooper, Zarine; Bowdler, SandraFlaked glass artifacts from archaeological contexts in the Andaman Islands and several widely separated regions of Australia are described. The general problems in the identification of these kinds of artifacts are reviewed. They are considered also in the light of nineteenth century ethnohistoric records from both areas describing their use and manufacture. Similarities in their mode of manufacture are attributed to the deployment of the fundamental processes involved in flaking (knapping) behavior when similar new materials are available. KEYWORDS: hunter-gatherer technology, flaked glass, knapping, Andaman Islands, Australia.Item Spatial Similarities and Change in Hawaiian Architecture: The Expression of Ritual Offering and Kapu in Luakini Heiau, Residential Complexes, and Houses(University of Hawai'i Press (Honolulu), 1998) Ladefoged, Thegn N.Pre-Contact Hawaiian architecture reflected the cultural beliefs associated with ritual offering and adherence to the kapu system. Similarities in morphology and the use of space were evident in a range of architectural phenomena, from luakini heiau, to residential complexes, to houses. Interaction between Hawaiian and European cultures in the early nineteenth century began to de-emphasize the importance of spatial segregation associated with kapu. Architectural structures and the activities that took place in them began to undergo a fundamental change. These changes destroyed the structural parallels that had once occurred between religious and residential architecture. KEYWORDS: Hawaiian archaeology and ethnohistory, architecture, structural anthropology.Item Natural and Constructed Defenses in Fijian Fortifications(University of Hawai'i Press (Honolulu), 1998) Field, Julie S.Rugged landscapes play a significant role in the evolution of behavioral strategies aimed at subsistence and defense. This study presents geographic information system (GIS) analyses based on prehistoric fortifications in Fiji. Utilizing variables such as the distribution of arable land, the presence/absence of defensive features, and the natural defenses inherent in topography, i.e., the accessibility of forts and their commanding views of the landscape, correlations are revealed that are indicative of the costs and benefits of fort location and construction. These in turn yield insights into the origins and frequencies of a variety of defensive and subsistence strategies, and also indicate the degree to which geography plays a role in competitive societies. KEYWORDS: fortifications, geography, GIS, competition, agricultural investment.Item Geomorphic and Archaeological Landscapes of the Sigatoka Dune Site, Viti Levu, Fiji: Interdisciplinary Investigations(University of Hawai'i Press (Honolulu), 1998) Dickinson, William R.; Burley, David V.; Nunn, Patrick D.; Anderson, Atholl; Hope, Geoffrey; De Biran, Antoine; Burke, Christine; Matararaba, SepetiUnderstanding the geomorphic setting of the Sigatoka dune field on the south coast of Viti Levu in Fiji is critical for interpreting the associated archaeological site, with culture levels dating back to 3000 years ago. The dune field lies along the seaward fringe of the Holocene delta of the Sigatoka River, which drains interior highlands astride the boundary between the wet windward and dry leeward climatic zones of Viti Levu. Sand brought down to the shoreline by the Sigatoka River is transported longshore westward by surf along the delta front and blown inland oblique to the shore by the prevailing trade winds. Three successive culture levels, dating to approximately 900-400 B.C., A.D. 100-400, and A.D. 1300-1500, respectively, occur in three discrete paleosol horizons that are buried near the present beach face under younger dune sand. Our geomorphic analysis of the Sigatoka delta plain arid its environs reveals a complex Holocene history of progradation and aggradation, shifting distributaries, sea-level change, subsidence owing to sediment compaction, and enhancement of dune development through time. The oldest two of the three paleosols that have yielded artifacts evidently formed on a low-lying backbeach coastal flat, located behind a beach-dune berm-crest ridge of low relief, with only the youngest of the three paleosols representing a temporarily stabilized surface within a growing dune field. Enhanced dune growth may have been fostered by augmented sediment delivery to the coast as a result of wholesale inland deforestation associated with population movement into the interior highlands of the Sigatoka drainage basin. KEYWORDS: coastal dunes, deltas, Fiji, geoarchaeology, Lapita, Sigatoka, Viti Levu.Item 37:1 Table of Contents - Asian Perspectives(University of Hawai'i Press (Honolulu), 1998)