Dryland Horticulture in Maupiti: An Ethnoarchaeological Study

Abstract

Maupiti (Society Islands, French Polynesia) is a small high island where dry and nonmechanized horticulture is still practiced. These practices can be seen in small orchard-gardens on the coastal plain and on mountainsides. Dryland cultures can seldom be organized in larger fields in the mountain, where staple species such as taro and bananas can be mixed among fallow. A quasi-exhaustive archaeological survey has been made in Maupiti and no evidence of prehistoric horticultural remains were found. This lack of archaeological remains and the presence of several dryland orchard-gardens were the beginning of a study whose main purpose was to try to understand how dryland horticulture should appear in the archaeological record. KEYWORDS: horticulture, Maupiti, Society Islands, French Polynesia, ethnoarchaeology, agriculture, dryland horticulture, burning.