Journal ArticleDOI
Second millenniumB.C. arboriculture in Melanesia: Archaeological evidence from the Mussau Islands
TLDR
Recently, Lapita culture sites in the Mussau Islands have yielded the first significant assemblage of preserved seeds and other floral remains representing 20+ taxa, including tree crops of widespread importance in Malayo-Oceanic cultivation systems as mentioned in this paper.Abstract:
The Malayo-Oceanic tropics have long been regarded as a center for plant domestication, but archaeology has as yet contributed little direct evidence of the processes of domestication in prehistory. Recent excavations of Lapita culture sites in the Mussau Islands dating to 1600–500 B.C. have yielded the first significant assemblage of preserved seeds and other floral remains representing 20+ taxa. Nearly all of these are tree crops of widespread importance in Malayo-Oceanic cultivation systems. These materials confirm that the Lapita culture, responsible for the initial human settlement of much of the southwestern Pacific, included developed arboriculture in its economic system.read more
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Domesticated Landscapes: The Subsistence Ecology of Plant and Animal Domestication
John Edward Terrell,John P. Hart,Sibel Barut,Nico Cellinese,Antonio Curet,Tim Denham,Chapurukha M. Kusimba,Kyle Latinis,Rahul Oka,Joel W. Palka,Mary E Pohl,Kevin O. Pope,Patrick Ryan Williams,Helen R. Haines,John E Staller +14 more
TL;DR: It makes sense to define human subsistence behavior as an interactive matrix of species and harvesting tactics, that is, as a provisions spreadsheet.
Journal ArticleDOI
Biomolecular evidence for plant domestication in Sahul
TL;DR: Biomolecular markers reveal that for these crops at least, domestication has occurred in New Guinea and further east in Melanesia, and have obvious bearings on genetic resources programme strategies and future surveys.
Journal ArticleDOI
New evidence and revised interpretations of early agriculture in Highland New Guinea
TL;DR: A review of the evidence for early agriculture in New Guinea supported by new data from Kuk Swamp demonstrates that cultivation had begun there by at least 6950-6440 cal BP and probably much earlier as discussed by the authors.
Journal ArticleDOI
Molluscs in a world of islands: The use of shellfish as a food resource in the tropical island Asia-Pacific region
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the evidence for shellfish collection by non-sapiens hominins and the character of early Homo sapiens shellfish-gathering relative to discussions of coastal adaptations.
Journal ArticleDOI
The roots of agriculture and arboriculture in New Guinea: looking beyond Austronesian expansion, Neolithic packages and indigenous origins
TL;DR: The authors illustrate alternative possibilities for historical interpretation that do not over-emphasize the pre-Lapita isolation of New Guinea, but instead focus on regional interactions and mutual transformations of practice before, during and after the presumed arrival of Austronesian language-speakers in the region.
References
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Book
The evolution of the Polynesian chiefdoms
TL;DR: A glossary of Polynesian terms References Index as mentioned in this paper is used in this paper to describe the relationships between Polynesians and their environment, as well as their societies and ecosystems.