Prehistoric subsistence patterns in the northern Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia / by Patrick Vinton Kirch

Abstract

Faunal and floral material from seven excavated sites on Uahuka and Nuku hiva Islands was quantitatively analysed in order to provide an outline of adaptations in the Marquesan economic system from CA 300 to 1800 AD. A primary shift occurred during the Developmental Period from marine-oriented hunting and gathering techniques to terrestrially-oriented agricultural and animal husbandry practices. This shift may have been caused by a combination of demographic factors and by the over-exploitation of marine resources. A number of rapid and drastic changes in the Marquesan ecology as a result of human activity are also indicated.