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Yasawas,
Fiji
 |  Faunal
analysis has made great strides in the last several decades, and a large
literature specifically for zooarchaeology is now available for
quantification issues (i.e. Grayson 1984), taphonomy (i.e. Lyman 1994), and
on the subject in general (i.e. Reitz and Wing 1999).
However, a large portion of this literature is focused on mammalian
fauna, and problems specific to identification and analysis of fish fauna
are rarely discussed in depth. In
the Pacific, where marine resources were undoubtedly a major food source for
native islanders, some zooarchaeologists have recently concerned themselves
with problems in fish fauna recovery and quantification (cf. Allen 1992,
2001; Butler 1994, 2001; Nagaoka 2002, 2003).
With these problems in mind, I am analyzing fish fauna from several
sites in the Yasawas island group in Fiji. |
Nu`alolo
Kai, Kaua`i
| Bird remains have received some attention in the
Pacific, primarily because of the recent realization that a large number of
avian extinctions occurred before European contact.
The reasons for these extinctions are somewhat unclear, but  substantial evidence correlates the arrival of
the original Polynesian colonizers with avian population decline.
Hunting, habitat destruction, or the introduction
of non-native animals (i.e. rats) all may have contributed to the extinction
or extirpation of nearly half the Hawaiian native bird species.
Similar declines occur on most Polynesian islands with initial
settlement. While bird bone in
archaeological sites is common enough, the majority of analyses have been
undergone by paleontologists, without much focus on bird/human interactions.
I am currently analyzing a large avian assemblage from Nu΄alolo
Kai, Kaua΄i, which includes nearly one-thousand unmodified bones and
five-hundred modified bones (primarily “picks” and “awls”).
I am interested in using models from evolutionary ecology to look at change over time in the avian population.
In addition, I am interested in creating a functional classification
for the bird bone tools, which are abundant at the site and have not
previously been systematically classified. |
Anakena,
Rapa Nui
| The 2004 Rapa
Nui Archaeological Field School excavated a long faunal sequence at
Anakena beach. I am currently
analyzing the faunal remains for this site.
More about this site will be posted as analyses are completed. |
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