Sites and settlement in Hane Valley, Marquesas

Abstract

This study is the first attempt in the Marquesas to survey all the sites within a localized area, to form a typology of these sites, and to reconstruct the settlement pattern; the immediate goals beyond these are in this instance very limited. One aim was to try to connect the inland settlement with the very early occupation of the coast. This has been only partially successful because no vertical time depth scale has yet been established for the inland structures. Another aim was to trace a continuity between the past settlement and present settlement. This was found to be difficult because of a radical breakdown in Marquesan culture following European contact.