Analysis of Plant Microfossils in Archaeological Deposits from Two Remote Archipelagos: The Marshall Islands, Eastern Micronesia, and the Pitcairn Group, Southeast Polynesia.

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dc.contributor.author Horrocks, Mark en_US
dc.contributor.author Weisler, Marshall I. en_US
dc.date.accessioned 2012-05-08T22:00:58Z
dc.date.available 2012-05-08T22:00:58Z
dc.date.issued 2006-04 en_US
dc.description v. ill. 23 cm. en_US
dc.description Quarterly en_US
dc.description.abstract Pollen and starch residue analyses were conducted on 24 sediment samples from archaeological sites on Maloelap and Ebon Atolls in the Marshall Islands, eastern Micronesia, and Henderson and Pitcairn Islands in the Pitcairn Group, Southeast Polynesia. The sampled islands, two of which are ‘‘mystery islands’’ (Henderson and Pitcairn), previously occupied and abandoned before European contact, comprise three types of Pacific islands: low coral atolls, raised atolls, and volcanic islands. Pollen, starch grains, calcium oxylate crystals, and xylem cells of introduced non-Colocasia Araceae (aroids) were identified in the Marshalls and Henderson (ca. 1,900 yr B.P. and 1,200 yr B.P. at the earliest, respectively). The data provide direct evidence of prehistoric horticulture in those islands and initial fossil pollen sequences from Pitcairn Island. Combined with previous studies, the data also indicate a horticultural system on Henderson comprising both field and tree crops, with seven different cultigens, including at least two species of the Araceae. Starch grains and xylem cells of Ipomoea sp., possibly introduced I. batatas, were identified in Pitcairn Island deposits dated to the last few centuries before European contact in 1790. en_US
dc.format.extent 20 p. en_US
dc.identifier.citation Horrocks M, Weisler MI. Analysis of Plant Microfossils in Archaeological Deposits from Two Remote Archipelagos: The Marshall Islands, Eastern Micronesia, and the Pitcairn Group, Southeast Polynesia. Pac Sci 60(2): 261-280. en_US
dc.identifier.issn 0030-8870 en_US
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/10125/22564
dc.language.iso en-US en_US
dc.publisher Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press en_US
dc.relation.ispartofseries vol. 60, no.2 en_US
dc.subject.lcsh Natural history--Periodicals. en_US
dc.subject.lcsh Science--Periodicals en_US
dc.subject.lcsh Natural history--Pacific Area--Periodicals. en_US
dc.title Analysis of Plant Microfossils in Archaeological Deposits from Two Remote Archipelagos: The Marshall Islands, Eastern Micronesia, and the Pitcairn Group, Southeast Polynesia. en_US
dc.type Article en_US
dc.type.dcmi Text en_US
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Pacific Science, Volume 60, Numbers 2, 2006