Collapse_ How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed - Jared Diamond [344]
Dale Lightfoot, “Morphology and ecology of lithic-mulch agriculture” (Geographical Review 84:172-185 (1994)) and Carleton White et al., “Water conservation through an Anasazi gardening technique” (New Mexico Journal of Science 38:251-278 (1998)) provide evidence for the function of lithic mulches elsewhere in the world. Andreas Mieth and Hans-Rudolf Bork “Diminution and degradation of environmental resources by prehistoric land use on Poike Peninsula, Easter Island (Rapa Nui)” (Rapa Nui Journal 17:34-41 (2003)) discuss deforestation and erosion on the Poike Peninsula. Karsten Haase et al., “The petrogenetic evolution of lavas from Easter Island and neighboring seamounts, near-ridge hotspot volcanoes in the S.E. Pacific” (Journal of Petrology 38:785-813 (1997)) analyze the dates and chemical compositions of Easter’s volcanoes. Erika Hagelberg et al., “DNA from ancient Easter Islanders” (Nature 369:25-26 (1994)) analyze DNA extracted from 12 Easter Island skeletons. James Brander and M. Scott Taylor, “The simple economics of Easter Island: a Ricardo-Malthus model of renewable resource use” (American Economic Review 38: 119-138 (1998)) give an economist’s view of overexploitation on Easter.
Chapter 3
The settlement of Southeast Polynesia is covered in the sources for the settlement of Polynesia as a whole that I provided under the Further Readings for Chapter 2. The Pitcairn Islands: Biogeography, Ecology, and Prehistory (London: Academic Press, 1995), edited by Tim Benton and Tom Spencer, is the product of a 1991-92 expedition to Pitcairn, Henderson, and the coral atolls Oeno and Ducie. The volume consists of 27 chapters on the islands’ geology, vegetation, birds (including Henderson’s extinct birds), fishes, terrestrial and marine invertebrates, and human impacts.
Most of our information about the Polynesian settlement and abandonment of Pitcairn and Henderson comes from the studies of Marshall Weisler and various colleagues. Weisler provides an overall account of his research in a chapter, “Henderson Island prehistory: colonization and extinction on a remote Polynesian island,” on pp. 377-404 of the above-cited volume by Benton and Spencer. Two other overview papers by Weisler are “The settlement of marginal Polynesia: new evidence from Henderson Island” (Journal of Field Archaeology 21:83-102 (1994)) and “An archaeological survey of Mangareva: implications for regional settlement models and interaction studies” (Man and Culture and Oceania 12:61-85 (1996)). Four papers by Weisler explain how chemical analysis of basalt adzes can identify on what island the basalt was quarried, and thus can help trace out trade routes: “Provenance studies of Polynesian basalt adzes material: a review and suggestions for improving regional databases” (Asian Perspectives 32:61-83 (1993)); “Basalt pb isotope analysis and the prehistoric settlement of Polynesia,” coauthored with Jon D. Whitehead (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 92:1881-1885 (1995)); “Interisland and interarchipelago transfer of stone tools in prehistoric Polynesia,” coauthored with Patrick V. Kirch (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 93:1381-1385 (1996)); and “Hard evidence for prehistoric interaction in Polynesia” (Current Anthropology 39:521-532 (1998)). Three papers describe the East and Southeast Polynesia trade network: Marshall Weisler and R. C. Green, “Holistic approaches to interaction studies: a Polynesian example,” pp. 413-453 in Martin Jones and Peter Sheppard, eds., Australasian Connections and New Directions (Auckland, N.Z.: Department of Anthropology, University of Auckland, 2001); R. C. Green and Marshall Weisler, “The Mangarevan sequence and dating of the geographic expansion into Southeast Polynesia” (Asian Perspectives 41:213-241 (2002)); and Marshall Weisler, “Centrality and the collapse of long-distance voyaging in East Polynesia,” pp. 257-273 in Michael D. Glascock, ed., Geochemical Evidence for Long-Distance Exchange (London: Bergin and Garvey, 2002). Three papers on Henderson Island crops and skeletons