Two millennia of mollusc foraging on Ebon Atoll, Marshall Islands

Sustained marine resource use on a Pacific atoll

Datos Bibliográficos

ID6038679
AutoresMatthew Harris (0000-0002-8201-5817, School of Social Science The University of Queensland, autor de correspondencia), Marshall Weisler (0000-0002-2336-2544, School of Social Science The University of Queensland)
Año2018
Volumen53
Número1
Páginas41-57
Fecha de publicación2018-04-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaArchaeology in Oceania/Archæology & physical anthropology in Oceania (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0728-4896 • E-ISSN: 1834-4453
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/arco.5134
OpenAlexW2744705888
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas15
Referencias citadas66

Small, remote islands, such as low coral atolls, with nutrient‐poor, biogenic soils for food crops and vulnerability to extreme weather, have long been considered marginal environments for human habitation. Yet, four decades of archaeological research in the atoll archipelago of the Marshall Islands, eastern Micronesia have demonstrated sustained human occupation there for over two millennia. Here, we present a fine‐grained analysis of mollusc remains from four recently excavated archaeological sites (4476 total MNI / 14843 total NISP) combined with mapping and analysis of extant benthic habitats, on Ebon Atoll, Marshall Islands. We examine spatial and temporal variability in mollusc foraging practices from prehistoric village sites and ephemeral camp sites across the windward–leeward exposure gradient. Our analysis demonstrates that foragers targeted a rich assemblage of taxa from different habitats, reflecting a foraging strategy that was adapted to local environmental conditions. Human foraging over 2000 years documented no observable human impacts to molluscs or nearshore intertidal marine ecosystems, challenging previous notions of atolls as marginal, exceptionally difficult settings for human habitation

Archaeology · Archipelago · Atoll · Benthic zone · Biology · Chaparral · Ephemeral key · Foraging · Geography · Habitat · Intertidal zone · Prehistory · Reef · Coral and Marine Ecosystems Studies · Isotope Analysis in Ecology · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies · Ecology