Defending the Defensible

A Rebuttal of Scott Fitzpatrick’s (2010) Critique of the AD 1300 Event Model with Particular Reference to Palau

Bibliographic Data

ID20493988
AuthorsPatrick Nunn (0000-0001-9295-5741, University of New England), Patrick D Nunn, Rosalind Hunter-Anderson, Rosalind L Hunter-Anderson (0000-0002-9317-6130, University of New Mexico)
Year2010
Volume2
Issue1
Pages92-99
Publication date2010-12-21
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Pacific Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1179-4704 • E-ISSN: 1179-4712
PublisherNew Zealand Archaeological Association (PUBLISHER • NZ)
DOI10.70460/jpa.v2i1.37
OpenAlexW1939803693
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited15

In a recent article [Journal of Pacific Archaeology, vol 1(2), 2010], Scott Fitzpatrick contends that the AD 1300 event model is unhelpful as a key to understanding environmental and societal change in the Pacific during the past 1500 years. We reject this contention on the grounds that there are ample and persuasive grounds for supposing otherwise. The AD 1300 event model proposes that climate change (especially cooling) and sea-level fall affected most of the Pacific Basin during the transition between the Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age, and that the impacts of these changes on food resources were so profound that they led to enduring impacts on human societies in this region, particularly Pacific Islands. We aver that the AD 1300 event model remains a powerful tool for understanding last-millennium environmental and societal change in the Pacific Islands and that all the charges Fitzpatrick levels against it can be readily dismissed

Epistemology · Physics · Political science · Rebuttal · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Law · Medieval Literature and History · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies · Philosophy