Page 108 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol IV

pacific, settlement of 1409

orative styles on Lapita pottery changed synchronously, have provided significantly younger ages than existed in
there was either repeated migration or some degree of earlier data. For instance, the important Marquesan
interaction throughout the region. Lapita was contem- site—Ha’atuatua, Hane, and Anapua—once dated to
poraneous with movement of a similar ceramic culture about 0 CE are now dated no earlier than about 900 CE,
into western Micronesia, and both represent the begin- and there are similar results from throughout East Poly-
ning of long-distance seafaring in the Pacific. Equally nesia. Consequently, the pattern of settlement history in
importantly, from Lapita onward eastward migration in Remote Oceania appears episodic rather than continu-
Remote Oceania was into islands where hitherto a few ous, as follows:
species of bats were the highest form of terrestrial mam-
1. a very rapid dispersal 1000–800 BCE of red-slipped
malian life.
pottery-using cultures, especially Lapita, into western
Micronesia and from New Guinea to West Polynesia;
Seafaring and Colonization
2. expansion into central Micronesia, probably from the
A sudden and sixfold increase (to 1,200 kilometers) in
Santa Cruz islands, and colonization of some islands
voyaging range at about 1000 BCE indicates the advent
marginal to the eastern Lapita expansion (Niue Puka-
in the Pacific of the sail, first recorded in China and
puka and Rotuma), about 200 BCE;
Egypt by 3000 BCE, and probably also of shaped paddles
3. rapid, aceramic dispersal from West Polynesia into
used for both propulsion and steering, and the develop-
and through East Polynesia at 900–1100 CE; and
ment, with vessel controllability, of rudimentary stellar
4. colonization around 800–600 CE of South Polynesia
navigation.The evolution of voyaging technology there-
(New Zealand and outlying archipelagos).
after has been one of the most important issues in the set-
tlement history of Remote Oceania.The traditional view,
espoused by Peter Buck, was that early colonists used Sailing Downwind
large, fast, double-hulled canoes that were capable of sail- The punctuated pattern of settlement suggests that the
ing into the prevailing southeast trade winds. Based on assumed sophistication of seafaring in Remote Oceania
that assumption, modern voyaging researchers, such as needs to be reconsidered. So also do linguistic data that
Ben Finney, have worked with indigenous seafarers to show that the term for “double canoe” did not occur
build substantial double-hulled canoes, notably Hokule’a, before the development of Central Pacific languages, that
and sail them around the Pacific to demonstrate the voy- is after the Lapita expansion, and that there were no
aging skills of ancient Polynesians. The performance terms for either “fixed mast” or “standing rigging.” Early
data gained in these practical experiments were then migrations probably used outrigger canoes. In the west-
used in computer simulations, which suggested probable ern Pacific and Southeast Asia, these canoes had lateen
patterns of early maritime migration.The conclusions of rigs historically, but those may not have been intro-
this neotraditional research were that voyaging capabili- duced to Remote Oceania until about 1200 CE, through
ties were sufficiently sophisticated that no part of Ocea- the influence of expanding Arabian seafaring technology.
nia remained beyond reach, so that the overall pattern of In the Central and East Pacific, Oceanic spritsails were
colonization was broadly continuous from west to east; dominant historically, and the early form of these, found
Lapita colonization reached as far east as Samoa at in New Zealand and probably the Marquesas, had no
about 900 BCE, to the Cook Islands in East Polynesia by fixed mast or rigging. It consisted of two spars, with a tri-
500 BCE or earlier, and then throughout East Polynesia angular sail, apex down, and it was held up only by wind
by 0–500 CE. pressure against sheets held aft. Canoes using it sailed
Recent chronological research in East Polynesia has downwind because the absence of side-stays meant that
cast doubt on this hypothesis. Key archaeological sites winds on the beam would push the rig overboard. Since