Environmental Change and Prehistoric Polynesian Settlement in Hawai(i
نویسنده
چکیده
Prehistoric environmental change in Hawai'i is evaluated through the analysis of sedi-ment and pollen samples from dated cores and excavation profiles in the coastal low-lands of O'ahu. It is suggested that a lowland Pritchardia palm forest and associatedspecies underwent rapid decline starting between about A.D. 1000 to 1200. This de-cline seems to have occurred earlier in coastal areas than in inland areas. By the timeof Western contact in A.D. 1778 the native palm forest community had all butdisappeared. Though prehistoric Polynesians are implicated in the decline, theactual mechanism remains to be demonstrated. The question of coastal infilling andprogradation is also considered. Sea level change appears to be the overwhelming con-trolling variable. It is concluded that prehistoric Polynesians had little if anythingto do with large-scale geomorphological alteration of the landscape, which has beena continuing process throughout the Holocene.
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