Hawaiki, Ancestral Polynesia: An Essay in Historical Anthropology

395 Pages·2001·2.4 MB·English

by  Patrick Vinton Kirch

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Hawaiki, Ancestral Polynesia
AnEssayinHistoricalAnthropology
Thepowerofananthropologicalapproachtolong-termhistorylies
initsuniqueabilitytocombinediverseevidence,fromarchaeological
artifactstoethnographictextsandcomparativewordlists.Inthis
innovativebook,KirchandGreenexplicitlydevelopthetheoretical
underpinnings,aswellastheparticularmethods,forsuchahistorical
anthropology.Drawinguponandintegratingtheapproachesof
archaeology,comparativeethnography,andhistoricallinguistics,they
advanceaphylogeneticmodelforculturaldiversification,andapplya
triangulationmethodforhistoricalreconstruction.Theyillustrate
theirapproachthroughmeticulousapplicationtothehistoryofthe
Polynesiancultures,andforthefirsttimereconstructinextensive
detailtheAncestralPolynesianculturethatflourishedinthe
Polynesianhomeland–Hawaiki–some2,500yearsago.Ofgreat
significanceforOceanicstudies,KirchandGreen’sbookwillbe
essentialreadingforanyanthropologist,prehistorian,linguist,or
culturalhistorianconcernedwiththetheoryandmethodoflong-
termhistory.
patrick vinton kirch isProfessorofAnthropology,andDirector
ofthePhoebeA.HearstMuseum,attheUniversityofCaliforniaat
Berkeley.AmemberoftheNationalAcademyofSciences,hehas
authoredsometenpreviousbooksonPacificarchaeologyand
prehistory,includingAnahulu:TheAnthropologyofHistoryintheKingdom
ofHawaii(1992)(co-authoredwithMarshallSahlins),whichwonthe
J.I.StaleyPrizeinAnthropology.
roger c. green isEmeritusProfessorofPrehistoryattheUniver-
sityofAuckland,NewZealand.AmemberoftheNationalAcademy
ofSciencesandaFellowoftheRoyalSocietyofNewZealand,heis
theauthorofseveralimportantmonographsonPacificIslands
archaeologyandprehistory.
Frontispiece:MataoTangaloa(‘‘FaceofTangaloa’’),byFatuFeu’u
Hawaiki, Ancestral Polynesia
An Essay in Historical Anthropology
PATRICK VINTON KIRCH
UniversityofCalifornia,Berkeley
and
ROGERC. GREEN
UniversityofAuckland,NewZealand
  
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge  , United Kingdom
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
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© Cambridge University Press 2001
This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of
relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place
without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format 2001
- 
isbn-13 978-0-511-06700-6 eBook (NetLibrary)
- 
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- 
isbn-13 978-0-521-78309-5 hardback
- 
isbn-10 0-521-78309-7 hardback
isbn--13 978-0-521-78879-3 paperback
- 
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Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of
s for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not
guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
To Th´er`ese and Valerie, for their love and support;
and
to the late Bruce Biggs, preeminent Polynesian linguist

Contents
Listoffigures page viii
Listoftables x
Preface xiii
Listoflanguageabbreviations xvi
Prologue:onhistoricalanthropology 1
PartI Thephylogeneticmodel:theoryandmethod
1 Thephylogeneticmodelinhistoricalanthropology 13
2 Methodologies:implementingthephylogeneticmodel 32
3 Polynesiaasaphylogeneticunit 53
PartII RediscoveringHawaiki
Introductoryremarks 95
4 TheAncestralPolynesianworld 99
5 Subsistence 120
6 Foodpreparationandcuisine 143
7 Materialculture 163
8 Socialandpoliticalorganization 201
9 Gods,ancestors,seasonsandrituals 237
Epilogue:onhistory,phylogeny,andevolution 277
Notes 285
Glossaryofterms 313
References 317
SubjectIndex 357
IndexofProtoPolynesianReconstructions 369
vii
Figures
Frontispiece MataoTangaloa(‘‘FaceofTangaloa’’), page ii
byFatuFeu‘u
1.1 MapofthePolynesiantriangleandthePolynesianOutliers 17
1.2 Kirch’s1984modelofphylogeneticdifferentiationinPolynesia 20
2.1 Thehigher-levelsubgroupingoftheAustronesianlanguages,
downtotheOceaniclevel 39
2.2 Thegeographicdistributionofhigher-levelsubgroupsinthe
Austronesianphylum 40
3.1 ThemajorsubgroupsofOceanicforma‘‘rake-like’’
treestructure 56
3.2 Thegeographicdistributionofmajorsubgroupswithinthe
OceanicbranchofAustronesianlanguages 57
3.3 TheProtoCentralPacificdialectchain 58
3.4 North–southdialectdifferentiationwithinProtoPolynesian 59
3.5 A‘‘family-tree’’typeclassificationofthePolynesianlanguages 61
3.6 IslandsintheFiji–WesternPolynesianregionlinkedby
voyagingcirclesof24hoursorless 62
3.7 ThePacificregionwithNearOceania,RemoteOceania,and
theAndesiteLineand‘‘continental’’typeislandsindicated 64
3.8 CanoeregionsofthePacific 67
3.9 Thegeographicdistributionofsiblingclassificationtypes
inOceania 68
3.10 RelationshipsamongPolynesianbiologicalpopulationsas
indicatedbydistanceanalysisofthirty-eightnon-metric
cranialtraits 75
3.11 Agraphicrepresentationofthe‘‘density’’ofavailable
archaeologicalinformationfor majorPolynesiancultural
sequences 76
3.12 LocationsofkeyarchaeologicalsitesdatingtotheAncestral
Polynesianphase 84
4.1 ThecentralPacificregion,showingthelocationoftheAndesite
Line 108
4.2 Thehierarchicalstructuretypicaloffolkbiologicalclassifications 110
viii