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The Growth and Collapse of Pacific Island Societies: Archaeological and Demographic Perspectives

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In their accounts of exploration, early European voyagers in the Pacific frequently described the teeming populations they encountered on island after island. Yet missionary censuses and later nineteenth-century records often indicate much smaller populations on Pacific Islands, leading many scholars to debunk the explorers' figures as romantic exaggerations. Recently, the debate over the indigenous populations of the Pacific has intensified, and this book addresses the problem from new perspectives. Were there major population collapses on Pacific Islands following first contact with the West? If so, what were the actual population numbers for islands such as Hawai`i, Tahiti, or New Caledonia? Is it possible to develop new methods for tracking the long-term histories of island populations? These and related questions are at the heart of this new book, which draws together cutting-edge research by archaeologists, ethnographers, and demographers.

Rather than rehash old data and arguments about the validity of explorers' or missionaries' accounts, the contributors to this volume offer a series of case studies grounded in new empirical data derived from original archaeological fieldwork and from archival historical research. Various methods are advanced for estimating local and regional population sizes as well as tracing the long-term trajectories of population change in island societies. These approaches include the application of precontact household and settlement archaeology and estimates of agricultural production. Case studies are presented for the Hawaiian Islands, Mo`orea, the Marquesas, Tonga, Samoa, the Tokelau Islands, New Caledonia, Aneityum (Vanuatu), and Kosrae. They show the capacity of island populations to grow rapidly in the environmental conditions of Remote Oceania and to achieve high population densities. Such levels were closely associated with social, political, and economic transformations. Following contact with the West and the introduction of diseases for which island populations typically had little or no resistance, populations often collapsed, with major consequences for their societies.

As the contributors demonstrate, the long-term demographic histories of Pacific Islands are of fundamental importance for understanding how island societies grew, developed, came into equilibrium or disequilibrium with their environments, and ultimately responded to the new challenges of contact with the West. This volume offers a fresh look at a critical topic in Pacific studies. It will be of interest to scholars in the fields of anthropology, archaeology, history, ethnic studies, demography, and sociology.

Author(s): Patrick Vinton Kirch, Jean-Louis Rallu
Series: Anthropology
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Year: 2007

Language: English
Pages: 409

Contents
......Page 6
List of Tables......Page 8
1.1 Hypothesized demographic correlates of early and late populations on Polynesia......Page 28
2.1 Death rate in epidemic years......Page 43
2.2 Natural growth rate by islands and valleys in the Marquesas......Page 45
2.3 Population density in the Society and Cook Islands in the nineteenth century......Page 48
5.3 The distribution of platform/pavement/terrace features in relation to makai and mauka zones......Page 99
5.7 The distribution of platform/pavement/terrace features in relation to expansion and intensification zones.......Page 101
5.8 The distribution of domestic features in relation to areas developed during the different phases......Page 102
6.2 Estimated population of Kipapa-Naka'ohu by 100-year intervals......Page 118
6.3 Estimated population densities for Kipapa-Naka'ohu by 100-year intervals......Page 119
7.1 Wai'anae District, O'ahu: Population estimates for European contact.......Page 135
7.2 Populations of 'Ewa Ahupua'a in 1831 and 1835.......Page 137
7.3 Hamakua Moku, Hawai'i Island: Population figures by parish or district......Page 141
7.4 Hamakua Moku, Hawai'i Island: Estimates of average ahupua'a population......Page 142
8.1 Survey of the available and most relevant ethnohistoric sources for Ma'ohi population......Page 148
8.2 Function of space in 'Opunohu Valley excavated houses.......Page 157
8.3 Comparison of habitation-based estimates of valley population at contact.......Page 160
8.4 Some subsistence cultivars in the Ma'ohi production system......Page 164
8.5 Staple starch productivity of arboriculture systems.......Page 166
8.6 Potential productivity of surveyed terraces......Page 167
8.7 Available land for cultivation by soil/slope category......Page 168
8.8 Reconstruction of subsistence cultivation system for 'Opunohu Valley and Mo'orea.......Page 169
8.9 Potential productivity of 'Opunohu Valley and Mo'orea.......Page 171
9.1 Stone structures identified in the Hokatu Valley survey......Page 186
9.2 Low estimation of population......Page 188
9.4 Low estimation of population according to the method of M. Kellum-Ottaino......Page 189
9.5 High estimation of population according to the method of M.Kellum-Ottino.......Page 190
10.1 Census data for different island groups in Tonga based on numbers given in Maude (1965), Wood (1943), Walsh (1970), and Thayman (1978)......Page 198
10.2 Acres of arable land per person for each of the main island groups in Tonga......Page 202
10.3 Projected Late Prehistoric population estimate based on 2 acres of arable land per person, with downward adjustments for Vava'u......Page 203
10.4 Lapita site size by island group in Tonga......Page 207
11.2 Population of Western Samoa in 1844 according to the LMS missionary Mills......Page 226
11.3 Census estimates and population decline in Samoa, 1840-1853.......Page 228
11.4 Estimates of Samoan population size by island, 1840-1853.......Page 229
11.5 Cultivated land requirements in American Samoa, 1840......Page 232
11.6 Individual cultivated land requirements in prehistoric Samoa......Page 234
12.1 Tokelau: Vital landscape characteristics.......Page 254
12.2 Atafu: "Generations" and sibships......Page 259
12.3 Atafu: Dwellings and population per dwelling......Page 262
12.4 Tokelau: Calculations of modern ethnographic dwelling size and associated population numbers.......Page 266
13.2 Comparison of multiple population growth rates for selected time intervals, single colonizing voyage.......Page 287
13.3 Comparison of multiple population growth rates for selected time intervals, three colonizing voyage (20 people at AD 1, 20 people at AD 50, and 20 people at AD 100)......Page 288
14.1 Northern Aneityum: Land area and land use in 1830......Page 310
14.2 Garden labor and productivity on Aneityum in 1830......Page 314
14.3 Aneityumese age and sex structure models......Page 317
14.4 Population of Aneityum in 1830......Page 319
14.5 Population densities for Aneityum in 1830 using various measures.......Page 320
List of Figures......Page 12
2.1 Adjustment of archaeological data for Hawai'i......Page 38
2.2 Tahiti's population 1767-1781: Various retrodictions and a simulation......Page 47
3.2 Contours of the expectation of life at birth eo for a range of values of A and B......Page 58
3.3 Expected life e10 at age 10 for a range of values of A and B......Page 60
3.4 An outline of the main components for the CENTURY model of soil dynamics......Page 61
3.5 Increasing harvest intensity where water is limiting does not affect equilibrium plant production......Page 62
3.6 The equilibrium amoung of mineral nitrogen and of organic nitrogen decrease linearlly with increasing harvest fraction......Page 63
3.8 Decreases in availability of the limiting nutrient drive proportional decreases in equilibrium production with increasing harvest intensity......Page 64
3.10 Production responses to water limitation in a nitrogen-limited system at two levels of rainfall......Page 65
4.1 Hommon's "site-population growth sequences" for leeward Hawai'i Island.......Page 73
4.2 Cordy's time-specific population estimates for eight North Kona ahupua'a, from AD 1400 to 1780......Page 75
4.3 Site frequency histogram for west Hawai'i......Page 76
4.4 The Dye-Komori model of Hawaiian population growth......Page 79
5.1 The Kohala peninsula showing the extent of the dryland field system and the surveyed archaeological remains......Page 89
5.2 The location of the detailed study area (DSA) within the Kohala field system.......Page 91
5.3 The mauka and makai zones within the DSA......Page 92
5.4 The domestic features within the DSA......Page 93
5.5 The building association groups of agricultural walls and trails......Page 94
5.6 Zones of initial agricultural development within the DSA......Page 95
5.7 Paths of agricultural development within the DSA......Page 96
5.8 Areas of expansion and intensification within the DSA.......Page 97
5.9 Alternative population trends within the DSA......Page 103
5.10 Population growth and agricultural development in the DSA......Page 104
6.1 The Kahikinui region of southeastern Maui, showing areas of intensive archaeological survey......Page 109
6.2 Frequency distribution of conventional radiocarbon dates for Kahikinui by 100-year age intervals......Page 112
6.3 Frequency distribution of calibrated radiocarbon dates for Kahikinui b y 100-year age intervals......Page 113
6.4 Radiocarbon dates respond to the "calibration stochastic distortion (CSD) effect"......Page 114
6.5 Map of a typical pre-Contact residential cluster in Kahikinui......Page 116
6.6 The frequency distribution of dated habitation complexes for Kahikinui......Page 117
7.1 Map showing the lands (ahupua'a) of Wai'anae Moku, island of O'ahu......Page 130
7.2 Map showing the lands (ahupua'a) of 'Ewa Moku, island of O'ahu.......Page 136
7.3 Map showing the lands (ahupua'a) of Hamakua Moku, Island of Hawai'i......Page 139
8.1 Calibrated radiocarbon dates from 'Opunohu Valley'......Page 152
8.2 'Opunohu Valley date distribution......Page 153
8.3 Distribution of house sizes in 'Opunohu Valley......Page 155
8.4 Island-wide estimates of population for Mo'orea at contact......Page 172
9.1 The Marquesas Islands, showing the location of the island of Ua Huka......Page 178
9.2 Map of the island of Ua Huka showing the location of Hokatu Valley......Page 179
9.3 Survey areas within Hokatu Valley......Page 180
9.4 Map of stone structures in Hokatu Valley......Page 181
9.6 Cross-section of a typical Marquesan house platform, showing the elevated sleeping area.......Page 182
10.1 Kingdon of Tonga and other islands in Western Polynesia......Page 196
10.2 Principal soil types on Tongatapu and Vava'u......Page 200
10.3 Lapita phase (950-700 B.C.) sites on Tongatapu......Page 204
10.5 Lapita phase sites (950-700 B.C.) on the islands of the Vava'u Group......Page 205
10.6 Plainware phase (700 BC- AD 400) ceramic sites on Tongatapu adapted from Spennemann (1986)......Page 209
10.7 Midden ridge and Plainware phase (700 BC- AD 400)......Page 211
10.8 Plainware phase (700 BC-AD 400) ceremic sites on the islands of the Vava'u Group......Page 212
11.1b Map of the South Pacific region showing New Zealand and Samoa, with the atolls of Tuvalu, Tokelau, and Pukapuka......Page 221
11.2 An enhanced representation of Samoan population history from AD 1790 to 1950......Page 223
11.3 'Upolu: Mid-twentieth-century land use based solely on the distinction between forest and arable land in cultivation/habitation......Page 236
11.4 Savai'i: Mid-twentieth-century land use based solely on the distinction between forest and arable land in cultivation/habitation, although separating from these the raw lava of the late-eighteenth/early-nineteenth-century volcanism......Page 237
11.5 Palauli Bay showing the two principal named coastal settlements of the 1830s......Page 238
11.6b. The actual internal patterning found in Asaga Village (nu'u), Savai'i, in 1956......Page 243
13.1 Map of the western Pacific Ocean showing the location of Kosrae in the eastern Caroline Islands of Micronesia......Page 275
13.2 Map of Kosrae......Page 277
13.3 Dwelling compound of a high chief at Lelu showing houses and people as depicted in a sketch by Alexander Postels of the Senyavin......Page 278
13.4 Density plot of radiocarbon dates from archaeological sites on Kosrae's main island......Page 285
14.1 Map of Vanuatu and New Caledonia......Page 297
14.2 Dominion and district boundaries on Aneityum (Anatom) in the early Contact period......Page 299
14.3 Population decline and recovery on Aneityum, 1850-1990......Page 301
15.1 The demographic curve for New Caledonia as presented in historical publications......Page 326
15.2 Example of extensive dryland horticultural structures in the Tchamba Valley (east coast of Grande Terre)......Page 330
15.3 The demographic curve of the northeast coast of Grande Terre from ca. 1840 to ca. 1945, reconstructed through historical information.......Page 336
15.4 Poindi-Poweu in front of his dwelling at Nekipin in 1954, a mourning turban on his head......Page 341
Preface......Page 16
1 Patrick V. Kirch and Jean-Louis Rallu Long-Term Demographic Evolution in the Pacific Islands......Page 18
2 Jean-Louis Rallu Pre- and Post-Contact Population in Island Polynesia......Page 32
3 Shripad Tuljapurkar, Charlotte Lee, and Michelle Figgs Demography and Food in Early Polynesia......Page 52
4 Patrick V. Kirch “Like Shoals of Fish”......Page 69
5 Thegn N. Ladefoged and Michael W. Graves Modeling Agricultural Development andDemography in Kohala, Hawai‘i......Page 87
6 Patrick V. Kirch Paleodemography in Kahikinui, Maui......Page 107
7 Ross Cordy Reconstructing Hawaiian Population at European Contact......Page 125
8 Brenda K. Hamilton and Jennifer G. Kahn Pre-Contact Population in the ‘Opunohu Valley, Mo‘orea......Page 146
9 Eric Conte and Tamara Maric Estimating the Population of Hokatu Valley, Ua Huka Island......Page 177
10 David V. Burley Archaeological Demography and Population Growth in the Kingdom of Tonga......Page 194
11 Roger C. Green Protohistoric Samoan Population......Page 220
12 Valerie J. Green and Roger C. Green An Accent on Atolls in Approaches to Population Histories of Remote Oceania......Page 249
13 J. Stephen Athens Prehistoric Population Growth on Kosrae, Eastern Caroline Islands......Page 274
14 Matthew Spriggs Population in a Vegetable Kingdom......Page 295
15 Christophe Sand, Jacques Bole, and A. Ouetcho What were the Real Numbers? The Question of Pre-Contact Population Densities in New Caledonia......Page 323
16 Patrick V. Kirch Concluding Remarks......Page 343
References......Page 356
List of Contributors......Page 392
Index......Page 394