Oceanic Migration: Paths, Sequence, Timing and Range of Prehistoric Migration in the Pacific and Indian Oceans

411 Pages·2010·4.46 MB·English

by  Charles E.M. Pearce

Oceanic Migration

·
Charles E.M. Pearce Frances M. Pearce
Oceanic Migration
Paths, Sequence, Timing and Range
of Prehistoric Migration in the Pacific
and Indian Oceans
123
Prof.CharlesE.M.Pearce FrancesM.Pearce
UniversityofAdelaide P.O.Box520
SchoolofMathematicalSciences MontacuteSA5134
NorthTerrace Australia
AdelaideSA5005
Australia
[email protected]
ISBN978-90-481-3825-8 e-ISBN978-90-481-3826-5
DOI10.1007/978-90-481-3826-5
SpringerDordrechtHeidelbergLondonNewYork
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2010920731
©SpringerScience+BusinessMediaB.V.2010
Nopartofthisworkmaybereproduced,storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmittedinanyformorby
anymeans,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,microfilming,recordingorotherwise,withoutwritten
permissionfromthePublisher,withtheexceptionofanymaterialsuppliedspecificallyforthepurpose
ofbeingenteredandexecutedonacomputersystem,forexclusiveusebythepurchaserofthework.
Printedonacid-freepaper
SpringerispartofSpringerScience+BusinessMedia(www.springer.com)
ToourdaughtersEmmaandAnn

Acknowledgements
We wish to thank all who have helped and encouraged us in writing Oceanic
Migration: our daughters Emma Hunt and Ann Head for their continued help
and support; Sheila Pegum for ongoing helpful advice; Olga and Doug Farnell,
Marianne and John Sved and Rubem Mondaini for their interest and encourage-
ment; Ann and Murray Head for generous technical assistance; Tony Beresford
for advice on eclipse timings; Jason Whyte for help with figures; and Andrew
Metcalfe,SimonTukeandSamCohenfortheirstatisticalandcomputationalexper-
tiseandstimulatingdiscussionsasthestatisticalchallengesfacedinwritingthebook
were confronted. We also wish to thank Cheryl Hoskin of the Polynesian Special
CollectionattheBarrSmithLibrary,UniversityofAdelaide,forherhelpovermany
years.
vii

Contents
PartI EarlyExplorationStrategiesandMigrationPaths
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2 GeneticEvidenceforaSpiceIslandPolynesianHomeland . . 5
1.3 ColdAdaptation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.4 ANewFocus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.5 Some oftheImplications ofaSpiceIsland-Based
PolynesianPrehistory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.6 Consilience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2 TheGeneticContext . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.2 SpeculativePrehistoriesfortheLapitaPeoples . . . . . . . . . 18
2.3 GeneticEvidenceforaLapitaHomelandinWallacea . . . . . 23
2.4 EvidenceforaSpiceIslandHomelandfromtheStudy
ofCommensalAnimals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.5 PolynesianColdResistanceandFamineResistance:
Houghton’sEvidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.6 Houghton’sPrehistoryfortheProto-Polynesians . . . . . . . . 32
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3 TheOceanographicContext . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.1 TheWestPacificWarmPool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.2 TheOceanographicFunctionsoftheWestPacificWarmPool . 42
3.3 TheMajorWestPacificWarmPoolCurrents . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.4 EarlyEvidenceforMaritimeTradingintheSpice
IslandRegion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.5 The West Pacific Warm Pool as a Long-Distance
VoyagingNursery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
3.6 Spice Island Expansion from Regional to
Long-DistanceTradingAftertheLastIceAgeFlood . . . . . 50
3.7 InternationalSpiceTrading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
ix