Jeffrey T Clark
Biographic Data
| ID | 633086 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jeffrey T Clark |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jeffrey T |
| FAMILY NAME | Clark |
| SIGNATURE | CLARK J T |
| AFFILIATIONS | North Dakota State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4521-6919 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 30 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 114 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 30 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1981 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Can we teach undergraduates the history of time
This essay examines the author's experience since 2018 in developing and teaching a third-year undergraduate course on the history of time at a Singapore university, for students specializing in East and Southeast Asian history and the history of technology. History courses are traditionally taught in a chronological format, with clear periodization, and a nearly exclusive focus on written and audiovisual "texts." The author has found that such a…
Assessing foraging variability on small islands in Manu‘a (American Samoa) during the first millennium BC
Small islands are important model systems for examining the role of people in shaping novel environments and modifying resources through time. Here we report on the vertebrate faunal assemblages recovered from two sites on Ofu and Olosega islands (American Samoa), which were occupied only a few centuries after the initial settlement of the islands. We assess forager decision‐making both locally and regionally as well as changing subsistence regim…
An early (pre‐1500 BP) fishhook assemblage from Ofu and Olosega islands, Manu‘a Group, American Samoa: Implications for Technological Evolution and Cultural Interaction
Marine resources are integral to the subsistence of coastal populations in Oceania and have been since the islands were first settled. While items of fishing gear, most notably fishhooks, are found throughout the Pacific, they are not as common as one might think. Fishhooks are in fact noticeably uncommon in the Central Pacific, for example. Consequently, the various types of analyses of fishhook morphology, particularly the types of line attachm…
The secret of quick thinking: The invention of mental speed in America, 1890-1925
In the early 20th century, mental speed became a dominant measure of intelligence in the United States. For both cultural and technical reasons, this had not always been the case. For 19th-century Americans, quickness of speech and thought often signified lack of self-discipline. Unlike with other objects of temporal measurement and rationalization such as factory work, little scientific or popular consensus existed over how to clock the invisibl…
Ritualizing Hierarchy: Power Strategies and Pigeon Catching in Ancient Samoa
Previous research has demonstrated that the nature of power strategies correlates with the nature of ritual action, and nowhere is political action more important than in Polynesia. Polynesian poli
Historical ecology of Ofu Island revisited: New Data for an Island‐wide Model
Case studies offer an opportunity to examine and highlight relationships among variables in a way that cannot be done through broad comparison. Ofu Island has served as one such case study for understanding human–environment relationships. Here, we use three decades of archaeological investigations – past work of others as well as our own recent research – to formulate a revised model of the historical ecology of the island. We argue that Ofu sti…
Refining the chronology for west polynesian colonization: New data from the Samoan archipelago
Space and structure in Polynesia: Instantiated spatial logic in American Sāmoa
This study examines the intersections of spatial logic and archaeology in the Sāmoan Archipelago of Polynesia. These islands provide model systems for understanding social space given their small size and bounded nature. We argue that spatial logic, defined as group conceptualization of space or shared orientations, contributes to the patterning of archaeological remains in Sāmoa. The building of architectural structures and the cultural structur…
Colonisation and Late Period Faunal Assemblages from Ofu Island, American Samoa
The identification and analysis of 1583 bones from colonisation (~2700 cal BP) to late period (post-800 cal BP) cultural layers from archaeological site AS-13-41 on Ofu Island, American Samoa are reported. The assemblage is dominated by fish (~91 per cent; NISP = 1435, MNI = 162) with bones of human, Green Sea Turtle, sea birds (shearwaters and petrels) and a terrestrial bird (Buff-Banded Rail), as well as the commensals Pacific Rat, chicken (Red…
Landscape Evolution and Human Settlement Patterns on Ofu Island, Manu’a Group, American Samoa
This study summarizes the impacts of geomorphological processes on human settlement strategies on the island of Ofu in the Samoan Archipelago from island colonization to permanent settlement in the interior uplands (c. 2700–900 b.p. ). Previous archaeological research on Ofu has documented a dynamic coastal landscape at one location, To’aga, on the southern coast. Using a new geoarchaeological data set, our study extends this assessment to a site…
Investigating regional patterning in archaeological remains by pairing extensive survey with a lidar dataset: The case of the Manu'a Group, American Samoa
Between chaos and control: Spatial perception of domestic, political, and ritual organisation in prehistoric Samoa
The spatial layout of a late prehistoric settlement is examined using comparative analysis, ethnohistorical documents and GIS analysis. The spatial organisation of the settlement is similar to the spatial layout of ethnographically documented Samoan villages, which has been posited to mirror social and political interaction. Spatial concepts developed from analysis of those historic villages are argued to be apparent within this prehistoric settl…
Sigatoka: The Shifting Sands of Fijian Prehistory (review)
Steel to Stone: A Chronicle of Colonialism in the Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea
In this book the late Jeffrey Clark subjects the history of colonialism among the Wiru of Papua New Guinea to a fresh and subtle examination. He reflects upon his own fieldwork as an anthropologist as he scrutinizes the cultural construction of encounters and exchanges between New Guineans and Australians from the 1930s on. Colonized and colonizers alike are the focus of an analysis that draws upon theories of culture, temporality, discursive rep…
Cause And Afek: Primal women, bachelor cults and the female spirit
Blurred Boundaries And Transformed Identities: Myth and ritual in the Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea
Late Ceramics in Samoa: A Test Using Hydration-Rim Measurements
An Early Settlement in the Polynesian Homeland: Excavations at'Aoa Valley, Tutuila Island, American Samoa
The Samoan Islands are critically important for understanding the prehistory of the central Pacific. In this paper we discuss investigations carried out at site AS-21-S in 'Aoa Valley, on the north coast of eastern Tutuila Island, American Samoa. 'Aoa, along with Mulifanua, on 'Upolu, and To'aga, on Ofu' is one of the earliest sites in the archipelago, with occupation dating back some 3000 years. The early component at 'Aoa is significant for its…
An Early Settlement in the Polynesian Homeland: Excavations at 'Aoa Valley, Tutuila Island, American Samoa
Shit Beautiful: Tambu and Kina Revisited
The concept of inalienability as discussed by Annette Weiner (1992) seems to privilege Polynesia over Melanesia in terms of a more ‘evolved’ logic of object possession. Two instantiations of material culture from the Wiru and Tolai people, pearlshells and coils of shell‐money respectively, are compared and assessed for their inclusion into the category of “inalienable possessions.” The conclusion argues against fitting Melanesian artefacts into a…
Radiocarbon Dates from American Samoa
Between 1988 and 1991, I directed five archaeological research projects in American Samoa. The goal of that research was to reveal changes in the prehistoric settlement system of Samoa, from initial colonization of the archipelago to the time of significant European contact. The chronological placement of key sites was an essential facet of the research. A secondary goal was to locate sites with ceramic components, particularly sites with Lapita …
Gold, Sex, and Pollution: Male illness and myth at Mt. Kare, Papua New Guinea
In 1986 a goldfield was discovered in a high-altitude valley of the Papua New Guinea Highlands. Hundreds of Huli people from the Southern Highlands Province soon arrived to take advantage of the fortunes that could be made. This article examines the gold's incorporation into Huli mythopoeia, relates it to men's explanations of the illnesses they suffered at the goldfield, and shows how gold became analogous to menstrual blood as an agent of pollu…
Human Genetics, Paleoenvironments, and Malaria: Relationships and Implications for the Settlement of Oceania
Lapita is a distinctive ceramic style that first appeared in the Bismarck Archipelago about 3600 B.P. and over the next few centuries spread throughout island Melanesia. For many prehistorians the distribution of Lapita sherds identifies the expansion of Austronesian-speaking populations through Oceania. This article addresses the Lapita language question by exploring the implications of the relationship among gamma globulin (Gm) genetics, paleoe…
Madness and colonisation: The embodiment of power in Pangia
The article considers two examples of ‘madness’ which occurred during the colonial era in Pangia district, Southern Highlands Province, PNG. The first, immediately prior to pacification, concerned outbreaks of madness among young Wiru men which were similar to the ‘wildman’ behaviour described in the Highlands ethnography. The second style of madness was associated with the so‐called ‘hysteria’ accompanying revival activity by Christian missions.…
Pearlshell Symbolism in Highlands Papua New Guinea, With Particular Reference to the Wiru People of Southern Highlands Province
Pearlshells, in their use in exchange in the Papua New Guinea Highlands, have usually been analysed as 'power tokens' in a political context dominated by big men. This article attempts to account for the historically recent acceptance and use of pearlshells in terms of symbolic and aesthetic, rather than political and economic, values. The symbolism of two types of pearlshell found among Wiru people is considered, and an overview of available mat…
Gold, Sex, and Pollution: Male illness and myth at Mt. Kare, Papua New Guinea
In 1986 a goldfield was discovered in a high-altitude valley of the Papua New Guinea Highlands. Hundreds of Huli people from the Southern Highlands Province soon arrived to take advantage of the fortunes that could be made. This article examines the gold's incorporation into Huli mythopoeia, relates it to men's explanations of the illnesses they suffered at the goldfield, and shows how gold became analogous to menstrual blood as an agent of pollu…
The Incredible Shrinking Men: Male ideology and development in a Southern Highlands society
Human Genetics, Paleoenvironments, and Malaria: Relationships and Implications for the Settlement of Oceania
Lapita is a distinctive ceramic style that first appeared in the Bismarck Archipelago about 3600 B.P. and over the next few centuries spread throughout island Melanesia. For many prehistorians the distribution of Lapita sherds identifies the expansion of Austronesian-speaking populations through Oceania. This article addresses the Lapita language question by exploring the implications of the relationship among gamma globulin (Gm) genetics, paleoe…
Palaeodemography in leeward Hawaii
Steel to Stone: A Chronicle of Colonialism in the Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea
In this book the late Jeffrey Clark subjects the history of colonialism among the Wiru of Papua New Guinea to a fresh and subtle examination. He reflects upon his own fieldwork as an anthropologist as he scrutinizes the cultural construction of encounters and exchanges between New Guineans and Australians from the 1930s on. Colonized and colonizers alike are the focus of an analysis that draws upon theories of culture, temporality, discursive rep…
Radiocarbon Dates from American Samoa
Between 1988 and 1991, I directed five archaeological research projects in American Samoa. The goal of that research was to reveal changes in the prehistoric settlement system of Samoa, from initial colonization of the archipelago to the time of significant European contact. The chronological placement of key sites was an essential facet of the research. A secondary goal was to locate sites with ceramic components, particularly sites with Lapita …
Investigating regional patterning in archaeological remains by pairing extensive survey with a lidar dataset: The case of the Manu'a Group, American Samoa
Late Ceramics in Samoa: A Test Using Hydration-Rim Measurements
The secret of quick thinking: The invention of mental speed in America, 1890-1925
In the early 20th century, mental speed became a dominant measure of intelligence in the United States. For both cultural and technical reasons, this had not always been the case. For 19th-century Americans, quickness of speech and thought often signified lack of self-discipline. Unlike with other objects of temporal measurement and rationalization such as factory work, little scientific or popular consensus existed over how to clock the invisibl…
Ritualizing Hierarchy: Power Strategies and Pigeon Catching in Ancient Samoa
Previous research has demonstrated that the nature of power strategies correlates with the nature of ritual action, and nowhere is political action more important than in Polynesia. Polynesian poli
Between chaos and control: Spatial perception of domestic, political, and ritual organisation in prehistoric Samoa
The spatial layout of a late prehistoric settlement is examined using comparative analysis, ethnohistorical documents and GIS analysis. The spatial organisation of the settlement is similar to the spatial layout of ethnographically documented Samoan villages, which has been posited to mirror social and political interaction. Spatial concepts developed from analysis of those historic villages are argued to be apparent within this prehistoric settl…
Historical ecology of Ofu Island revisited: New Data for an Island‐wide Model
Case studies offer an opportunity to examine and highlight relationships among variables in a way that cannot be done through broad comparison. Ofu Island has served as one such case study for understanding human–environment relationships. Here, we use three decades of archaeological investigations – past work of others as well as our own recent research – to formulate a revised model of the historical ecology of the island. We argue that Ofu sti…
Glass Scrapers from Historic North America
with the wooden tool. However, the hardwood tool would only cut a single block before requiring resharpen ing, which was done with the machete. Limestone veins in the travertine were difficult to cut and quickly dulled the wooden tool. Sharpening activity with stone tools available to the prehistoric and poorer Colonial in habitants would have increased the cutting time. Fire hardening the tip of the wooden tool might decrease the time loss due t…
Assessing foraging variability on small islands in Manu‘a (American Samoa) during the first millennium BC
Small islands are important model systems for examining the role of people in shaping novel environments and modifying resources through time. Here we report on the vertebrate faunal assemblages recovered from two sites on Ofu and Olosega islands (American Samoa), which were occupied only a few centuries after the initial settlement of the islands. We assess forager decision‐making both locally and regionally as well as changing subsistence regim…
An early (pre‐1500 BP) fishhook assemblage from Ofu and Olosega islands, Manu‘a Group, American Samoa: Implications for Technological Evolution and Cultural Interaction
Marine resources are integral to the subsistence of coastal populations in Oceania and have been since the islands were first settled. While items of fishing gear, most notably fishhooks, are found throughout the Pacific, they are not as common as one might think. Fishhooks are in fact noticeably uncommon in the Central Pacific, for example. Consequently, the various types of analyses of fishhook morphology, particularly the types of line attachm…
Cause And Afek: Primal women, bachelor cults and the female spirit
Glass Scrapers from Historic North America
with the wooden tool. However, the hardwood tool would only cut a single block before requiring resharpen ing, which was done with the machete. Limestone veins in the travertine were difficult to cut and quickly dulled the wooden tool. Sharpening activity with stone tools available to the prehistoric and poorer Colonial in habitants would have increased the cutting time. Fire hardening the tip of the wooden tool might decrease the time loss due t…
Kaun and Kogono: Cargo Cults and Development in Karavar and Pangia1
Differences between Highlands and Seaboard Melanesia have intrigued anthropologists for decades. The persistence of cargo cults on the Seaboard was used to differentiate coastal people from Highlanders, who, because of their interest and engagement in development, were often viewed as more pragmatic and less ‘religious’ than Seaboarders. This study will suggest that development can have cult dimensions, and concludes with a proposed distinction b…
Palaeodemography in leeward Hawaii
The Incredible Shrinking Men: Male ideology and development in a Southern Highlands society
Pearlshell Symbolism in Highlands Papua New Guinea, With Particular Reference to the Wiru People of Southern Highlands Province
Pearlshells, in their use in exchange in the Papua New Guinea Highlands, have usually been analysed as 'power tokens' in a political context dominated by big men. This article attempts to account for the historically recent acceptance and use of pearlshells in terms of symbolic and aesthetic, rather than political and economic, values. The symbolism of two types of pearlshell found among Wiru people is considered, and an overview of available mat…
Early settlement in the indo-pacific
Madness and colonisation: The embodiment of power in Pangia
The article considers two examples of ‘madness’ which occurred during the colonial era in Pangia district, Southern Highlands Province, PNG. The first, immediately prior to pacification, concerned outbreaks of madness among young Wiru men which were similar to the ‘wildman’ behaviour described in the Highlands ethnography. The second style of madness was associated with the so‐called ‘hysteria’ accompanying revival activity by Christian missions.…
Radiocarbon Dates from American Samoa
Between 1988 and 1991, I directed five archaeological research projects in American Samoa. The goal of that research was to reveal changes in the prehistoric settlement system of Samoa, from initial colonization of the archipelago to the time of significant European contact. The chronological placement of key sites was an essential facet of the research. A secondary goal was to locate sites with ceramic components, particularly sites with Lapita …
Gold, Sex, and Pollution: Male illness and myth at Mt. Kare, Papua New Guinea
In 1986 a goldfield was discovered in a high-altitude valley of the Papua New Guinea Highlands. Hundreds of Huli people from the Southern Highlands Province soon arrived to take advantage of the fortunes that could be made. This article examines the gold's incorporation into Huli mythopoeia, relates it to men's explanations of the illnesses they suffered at the goldfield, and shows how gold became analogous to menstrual blood as an agent of pollu…
Human Genetics, Paleoenvironments, and Malaria: Relationships and Implications for the Settlement of Oceania
Lapita is a distinctive ceramic style that first appeared in the Bismarck Archipelago about 3600 B.P. and over the next few centuries spread throughout island Melanesia. For many prehistorians the distribution of Lapita sherds identifies the expansion of Austronesian-speaking populations through Oceania. This article addresses the Lapita language question by exploring the implications of the relationship among gamma globulin (Gm) genetics, paleoe…
Shit Beautiful: Tambu and Kina Revisited
The concept of inalienability as discussed by Annette Weiner (1992) seems to privilege Polynesia over Melanesia in terms of a more ‘evolved’ logic of object possession. Two instantiations of material culture from the Wiru and Tolai people, pearlshells and coils of shell‐money respectively, are compared and assessed for their inclusion into the category of “inalienable possessions.” The conclusion argues against fitting Melanesian artefacts into a…
An Early Settlement in the Polynesian Homeland: Excavations at'Aoa Valley, Tutuila Island, American Samoa
The Samoan Islands are critically important for understanding the prehistory of the central Pacific. In this paper we discuss investigations carried out at site AS-21-S in 'Aoa Valley, on the north coast of eastern Tutuila Island, American Samoa. 'Aoa, along with Mulifanua, on 'Upolu, and To'aga, on Ofu' is one of the earliest sites in the archipelago, with occupation dating back some 3000 years. The early component at 'Aoa is significant for its…
An Early Settlement in the Polynesian Homeland: Excavations at 'Aoa Valley, Tutuila Island, American Samoa
Late Ceramics in Samoa: A Test Using Hydration-Rim Measurements
Cause And Afek: Primal women, bachelor cults and the female spirit
Blurred Boundaries And Transformed Identities: Myth and ritual in the Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea
Steel to Stone: A Chronicle of Colonialism in the Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea
In this book the late Jeffrey Clark subjects the history of colonialism among the Wiru of Papua New Guinea to a fresh and subtle examination. He reflects upon his own fieldwork as an anthropologist as he scrutinizes the cultural construction of encounters and exchanges between New Guineans and Australians from the 1930s on. Colonized and colonizers alike are the focus of an analysis that draws upon theories of culture, temporality, discursive rep…
Sigatoka: The Shifting Sands of Fijian Prehistory (review)
Between chaos and control: Spatial perception of domestic, political, and ritual organisation in prehistoric Samoa
The spatial layout of a late prehistoric settlement is examined using comparative analysis, ethnohistorical documents and GIS analysis. The spatial organisation of the settlement is similar to the spatial layout of ethnographically documented Samoan villages, which has been posited to mirror social and political interaction. Spatial concepts developed from analysis of those historic villages are argued to be apparent within this prehistoric settl…
Investigating regional patterning in archaeological remains by pairing extensive survey with a lidar dataset: The case of the Manu'a Group, American Samoa
Refining the chronology for west polynesian colonization: New data from the Samoan archipelago
Space and structure in Polynesia: Instantiated spatial logic in American Sāmoa
This study examines the intersections of spatial logic and archaeology in the Sāmoan Archipelago of Polynesia. These islands provide model systems for understanding social space given their small size and bounded nature. We argue that spatial logic, defined as group conceptualization of space or shared orientations, contributes to the patterning of archaeological remains in Sāmoa. The building of architectural structures and the cultural structur…
Colonisation and Late Period Faunal Assemblages from Ofu Island, American Samoa
The identification and analysis of 1583 bones from colonisation (~2700 cal BP) to late period (post-800 cal BP) cultural layers from archaeological site AS-13-41 on Ofu Island, American Samoa are reported. The assemblage is dominated by fish (~91 per cent; NISP = 1435, MNI = 162) with bones of human, Green Sea Turtle, sea birds (shearwaters and petrels) and a terrestrial bird (Buff-Banded Rail), as well as the commensals Pacific Rat, chicken (Red…
Landscape Evolution and Human Settlement Patterns on Ofu Island, Manu’a Group, American Samoa
This study summarizes the impacts of geomorphological processes on human settlement strategies on the island of Ofu in the Samoan Archipelago from island colonization to permanent settlement in the interior uplands (c. 2700–900 b.p. ). Previous archaeological research on Ofu has documented a dynamic coastal landscape at one location, To’aga, on the southern coast. Using a new geoarchaeological data set, our study extends this assessment to a site…
Historical ecology of Ofu Island revisited: New Data for an Island‐wide Model
Case studies offer an opportunity to examine and highlight relationships among variables in a way that cannot be done through broad comparison. Ofu Island has served as one such case study for understanding human–environment relationships. Here, we use three decades of archaeological investigations – past work of others as well as our own recent research – to formulate a revised model of the historical ecology of the island. We argue that Ofu sti…
Geography (23 works) · History (22 works) · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies (22 works) · Archaeology (21 works) · Sociology (15 works) · Island Studies and Pacific Affairs (13 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (9 works) · Ethnology (9 works) · Political science (9 works) · Anthropology (8 works)