Pacific islands archaeology
نویسنده
چکیده
The Pacific Islands, also known as Oceania, have been subdivided traditionally by anthropologists into three main geographic regions: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia (Fig. 1). Following Green (1991), prehistorians now stress the division between Near Oceania in the west (including the Bismarck Archipelago and the Solomon Islands), and Remote Oceania (which includes all of island Melanesia southeast of the Solomons, along with Polynesia and Micronesia). This latter distinction recognizes the Pleistocene settlement of Near Oceania, whereas the widely dispersed islands of Remote Oceania were discovered and settled only within the past 4,000 years. Archaeological research in Oceania has a long history, but modern efforts emphasizing stratigraphic excavations did not begin until after World War II (Kirch 2000), and have revealed the main chronological sequence for human settlement. This sequence is summarized here, followed by reviews of the development of complex societies in Oceania, and of human impact on island environments.
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