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Patrick Kirch

University of Hawaii at Manoa, Anthropology, Faculty Member +1University of Hawaii at Manoa, Anthropology, Faculty MemberUniversity of California, Berkeley, Integrative Biology and Anthropology, Emeritus

For more than four decades I have studied the archaeology, ethnography, and paleoecology of the Pacific Islands. I have carried out original field research throughout Oceania, including work in Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, the Loyalty Islands, Kingdom of Tonga, American Samoa, Yap, Belau, the Marshall Islands, the Cook Islands, French Polynesia (Mangareva, Mo'orea), and Hawai'i. My research results have been presented in more than 250 books, monographs, articles, and chapters. Among my major books are: Unearthing the Polynesian Past (U. Hawaii Press 2016), Kua'aina Kahiko (U. Hawaii Press, 2014), A Shark Going Inland is my Chief (Univ. California Press, 2012); On the Road of the Winds (Univ. California Press, 2000); How Chiefs Became Kings (Univ. California Press, 2010); Feathered Gods and Fishhooks (Univ. Hawaii Press, 1985); The Wet and the Dry (Univ. Chicago Press, 1994); The Lapita Peoples (Blackwells, 1997); and The Evolution of the Polynesian Chiefdoms (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1984). I currently have active research projects in Hawai'i and French Polynesia, both of which are focused on the reciprocal interactions between Polynesian populations their their island ecosystems.
Address: 232 Kroeber Hall
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720 USA

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Books

Tangatatau Rockshelter: The Evolution of an Eastern Polynesian Socio-Ecosystem

by Patrick Kirch, Virginia Butler, and Jennifer Kahn

Archaeological Investigations in the Mangareva Islands (Gambier Archjpelago), French Po!ynesia

by Patrick Kirch, Eric Conte, Marshall Weisler, and Atholl Anderson

Archaeological investigations were conducted in 2001 and 2003 at several sites on Mangareva, Tara... more

Kirch, ed, 1989, The To'aga Site, American Samoa

Site report on archaeological excavations at the To'aga site, Ofu Island, American Samoa.

Kirch, ed, 1989, Prehistoric Rockshelters of the Anahulu Valley, O'ahu.pdf

by Patrick Kirch, Melinda S Allen, Terry Hunt, and Sara Collins

A site report on the archaeological excavation of several rockshelter sites in the Anahulu Valley... more

Flexner Mulrooney Mc Coy Kirch 2017 Visualizing Hawaiian Sacred Sites JPA

by Patrick Kirch and Mara Mulrooney

In the early 1900s, Australian-born archaeologist John F.G. Stokes was the first to extensively u... more In the early 1900s, Australian-born archaeologist John F.G. Stokes was the first to extensively use modern surveying techniques and photography to document Hawaiian archaeological sites. Stokes carried out fieldwork for a Bishop Museum-based research program driven by interests in Polynesian origins and Hawaiian religious change, focusing specifically on the monumental temple sites called heiau in Hawaiian. Using a sample of the visual record of plan maps and photographs from Stokes's work, we examine how Stokes represented sacred sites, including the variable level of architectural detail offered. Stokes's reliance on Native Hawaiian informants is notable, as it may have played an important role in shaping his view of the archaeological landscape. Stokes's survey record provides an important dataset for understanding the paradigms at work in Polynesian archaeology in the early 20th century, and the influences of this work in subsequent approaches to monumentality in the archipelago and beyond.

Unearthing the Polynesian Past: Explorations and Adventures of an Island Archaeologist

Unearthing the Polynesian Past: Explorations and Adventures of an Island Archaeologist, by Hawai... more Unearthing the Polynesian Past: Explorations and Adventures of an Island Archaeologist, by Hawaii-born archaeologist Patrick Vinton Kirch relates Kirch's fifty years of archaeological explorations across the Pacific, from Mussau to Hawai‘i to Easter Island. In this lively memoir rich with personal—and often amusing—anecdotes, Kirch relates his many adventures while doing fieldwork on remote islands.
At the age of thirteen, Kirch was accepted as a summer intern by the eccentric Bishop Museum zoologist Yoshio Kondo, and was soon participating in archaeological digs on the islands of Hawai‘i and Maui. While a student at Punahou School, he apprenticed with famed archaeologist Kenneth Emory. After obtaining his anthropology degree from the University of Pennsylvania, Kirch joined a Bishop Museum expedition to Anuta Island, where a traditional Polynesian culture still flourished. His appetite whetted by these adventures, Kirch went on to obtain his doctorate at Yale University with a study of the traditional irrigation-based chiefdoms of Futuna Island.
Further expeditions took Kirch to isolated Tikopia, where his excavations exposed stratified sites extending back three thousand years; to Niuatoputapu, a former outpost of the Tongan maritime empire; to Mangaia, with its fortified refuge caves; and to Mo‘orea where chiefs vied to construct impressive temples to the war god ‘Oro. In Hawai‘i, Kirch traced the islands’ history in the Anahulu valley and across the ancient district of Kahikinui, Maui. His joint research with ecologists, soil scientists, and paleontologists has elucidated how Polynesians adapted to and often transformed their island ecosystems.
Looking back over the past half-century of Polynesian archaeology, Kirch in his concluding chapter reflects on how the questions we ask about the past have changed over the decades, how archaeological methods have advanced, and how our knowledge of the Polynesian past has greatly expanded.
Unearthing the Polynesian Past will be available in November 2015, and may be ordered from the University of Hawai'i Press (https://www.uhawaiipress.com).

Kua'aina Kahiko: Life and Land in Ancient Kahikinui, Maui. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, 2014

A Shark Going Inland is my Chief: The Island Civilization of Ancient Hawai'i. University of California Press, Berkeley, 2012

In January 1778, H.M.S. Resolution and Discovery under the command of Captain James Cook broke t... more In January 1778, H.M.S. Resolution and Discovery under the command of Captain James Cook broke the barrier of isolation that had shrouded the Hawaiian Islands for at least 500 years. The British explorers encountered an island civilization governed by divine god-kings who cloaked themselves in magnificent feathered robes and could not be gazed upon by the common people. In its complex, hierarchical social and political organization, as well as in its highly intensive agricultural economy, Hawaiian society closely resembled other "archaic states" that had arisen in other parts of the Old and New Worlds. In 'A Shark Going Inland Is My Chief' archaeologist Patrick Vinton Kirch brings to bear more than four decades of research, along with the findings of colleagues and students, to trace the fascinating history of Hawaiian culture from the time of the first Polynesian arrival about one thousand years ago. Kirch traces the ultimate origins of the Hawaiians and other Polynesians back to the shores of the South China Sea, and follows their voyages of discovery across the vast Pacific. He shows how the early Polynesian settlers of Hawai'i adapted to their new island home, gradually transforming it into a highly productive agricultural landscape. As their power continued to grow, the chiefs became gods who walked the land, invoking comparison with the fearsome tiger shark. Integrating Native Hawaiian oral traditions with the evidence of archaeology, Kirch puts a human face on the gradual rise to power of the Hawaiian god-kings, who by the late eighteenth century were locked in a series of wars for ultimate control of the entire archipelago.

Book Keywords: archaic states, Polynesia, oral traditions, divine kingship, cultural evolution, political economy, ancient voyaging

How Chiefs Became Kings: Divine Kingship and the Rise of Archaic States in Ancient Hawai'i. 2010. University of California Press, Berkeley.

Hawaiki, Ancestral Polynesia: An Essay in Historical Anthropology. (with Roger C. Green). 2001. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

On the Road of the Winds: An Archaeological History of the Pacific Islands Before European Contact. 2000. University of California Press, Berkeley.

The Lapita Peoples: Ancestors of the Oceanic World. 1997. Blackwells, Oxford.

The Wet and the Dry: Irrigation and Agricultural Intensification in Polynesia. 1994. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Anahulu: The Anthropology of History in the Kingdom of Hawaii (co-authored with Marshall Sahlins). 1992. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Feathered Gods and Fishhooks: An Introduction to Hawaiian Archaeology and Prehistory. 1985. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu.

The Evolution of the Polynesian Chiefdoms. 1984. Cambridge University Press.

Papers

Origins of Polynesian Pigs Revealed by Mitochondrial Whole Genome Ancient DNA

Animals, Sep 18, 2022

Archaeology in Oceania, 1990

Potentials and Pitfalls for ZooMS Analysis in the Pacific: A Case Study from Ofu Island (Manu‘a Group, American Samoa)

Visualising Hawaiian Sacred Sites: The archives and J.F.G. Stokes’s pioneering archaeological surveys, 1906–1913

Journal of Pacific archaeology, 2017

In the early 1900s, Australian-born archaeologist John F.G. Stokes was the first to extensively u... more In the early 1900s, Australian-born archaeologist John F.G. Stokes was the first to extensively use modern surveying techniques and photography to document Hawaiian archaeological sites. Stokes carried out fieldwork for a Bishop Museum-based research program driven by interests in Polynesian origins and Hawaiian religious change, focusing specifically on the monumental temple sites called heiau in Hawaiian. Using a sample of the visual record of plan maps and photographs from Stokes’s work, we examine how Stokes represented sacred sites, including the variable level of architectural detail offered. Stokes’s reliance on Native Hawaiian informants is notable, as it may have played an important role in shaping his view of the archaeological landscape. Stokes’s survey record provides an important dataset for understanding the paradigms at work in Polynesian archaeology in the early 20th century, and the influences of this work in subsequent approaches to monumentality in the archipelago...

Tangatatau Rockshelter: The Evolution of an Eastern Polynesian Socio-Ecosystem

by Patrick Kirch, Virginia Butler, and Jennifer Kahn

Archaeological Investigations in the Mangareva Islands (Gambier Archjpelago), French Po!ynesia

by Patrick Kirch, Eric Conte, Marshall Weisler, and Atholl Anderson

Archaeological investigations were conducted in 2001 and 2003 at several sites on Mangareva, Tara... more

Kirch, ed, 1989, The To'aga Site, American Samoa

Site report on archaeological excavations at the To'aga site, Ofu Island, American Samoa.

Kirch, ed, 1989, Prehistoric Rockshelters of the Anahulu Valley, O'ahu.pdf

by Patrick Kirch, Melinda S Allen, Terry Hunt, and Sara Collins

A site report on the archaeological excavation of several rockshelter sites in the Anahulu Valley... more

Flexner Mulrooney Mc Coy Kirch 2017 Visualizing Hawaiian Sacred Sites JPA

by Patrick Kirch and Mara Mulrooney

In the early 1900s, Australian-born archaeologist John F.G. Stokes was the first to extensively u... more In the early 1900s, Australian-born archaeologist John F.G. Stokes was the first to extensively use modern surveying techniques and photography to document Hawaiian archaeological sites. Stokes carried out fieldwork for a Bishop Museum-based research program driven by interests in Polynesian origins and Hawaiian religious change, focusing specifically on the monumental temple sites called heiau in Hawaiian. Using a sample of the visual record of plan maps and photographs from Stokes's work, we examine how Stokes represented sacred sites, including the variable level of architectural detail offered. Stokes's reliance on Native Hawaiian informants is notable, as it may have played an important role in shaping his view of the archaeological landscape. Stokes's survey record provides an important dataset for understanding the paradigms at work in Polynesian archaeology in the early 20th century, and the influences of this work in subsequent approaches to monumentality in the archipelago and beyond.

Unearthing the Polynesian Past: Explorations and Adventures of an Island Archaeologist

Unearthing the Polynesian Past: Explorations and Adventures of an Island Archaeologist, by Hawai... more Unearthing the Polynesian Past: Explorations and Adventures of an Island Archaeologist, by Hawaii-born archaeologist Patrick Vinton Kirch relates Kirch's fifty years of archaeological explorations across the Pacific, from Mussau to Hawai‘i to Easter Island. In this lively memoir rich with personal—and often amusing—anecdotes, Kirch relates his many adventures while doing fieldwork on remote islands.
At the age of thirteen, Kirch was accepted as a summer intern by the eccentric Bishop Museum zoologist Yoshio Kondo, and was soon participating in archaeological digs on the islands of Hawai‘i and Maui. While a student at Punahou School, he apprenticed with famed archaeologist Kenneth Emory. After obtaining his anthropology degree from the University of Pennsylvania, Kirch joined a Bishop Museum expedition to Anuta Island, where a traditional Polynesian culture still flourished. His appetite whetted by these adventures, Kirch went on to obtain his doctorate at Yale University with a study of the traditional irrigation-based chiefdoms of Futuna Island.
Further expeditions took Kirch to isolated Tikopia, where his excavations exposed stratified sites extending back three thousand years; to Niuatoputapu, a former outpost of the Tongan maritime empire; to Mangaia, with its fortified refuge caves; and to Mo‘orea where chiefs vied to construct impressive temples to the war god ‘Oro. In Hawai‘i, Kirch traced the islands’ history in the Anahulu valley and across the ancient district of Kahikinui, Maui. His joint research with ecologists, soil scientists, and paleontologists has elucidated how Polynesians adapted to and often transformed their island ecosystems.
Looking back over the past half-century of Polynesian archaeology, Kirch in his concluding chapter reflects on how the questions we ask about the past have changed over the decades, how archaeological methods have advanced, and how our knowledge of the Polynesian past has greatly expanded.
Unearthing the Polynesian Past will be available in November 2015, and may be ordered from the University of Hawai'i Press (https://www.uhawaiipress.com).

Kua'aina Kahiko: Life and Land in Ancient Kahikinui, Maui. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, 2014

A Shark Going Inland is my Chief: The Island Civilization of Ancient Hawai'i. University of California Press, Berkeley, 2012

In January 1778, H.M.S. Resolution and Discovery under the command of Captain James Cook broke t... more In January 1778, H.M.S. Resolution and Discovery under the command of Captain James Cook broke the barrier of isolation that had shrouded the Hawaiian Islands for at least 500 years. The British explorers encountered an island civilization governed by divine god-kings who cloaked themselves in magnificent feathered robes and could not be gazed upon by the common people. In its complex, hierarchical social and political organization, as well as in its highly intensive agricultural economy, Hawaiian society closely resembled other "archaic states" that had arisen in other parts of the Old and New Worlds. In 'A Shark Going Inland Is My Chief' archaeologist Patrick Vinton Kirch brings to bear more than four decades of research, along with the findings of colleagues and students, to trace the fascinating history of Hawaiian culture from the time of the first Polynesian arrival about one thousand years ago. Kirch traces the ultimate origins of the Hawaiians and other Polynesians back to the shores of the South China Sea, and follows their voyages of discovery across the vast Pacific. He shows how the early Polynesian settlers of Hawai'i adapted to their new island home, gradually transforming it into a highly productive agricultural landscape. As their power continued to grow, the chiefs became gods who walked the land, invoking comparison with the fearsome tiger shark. Integrating Native Hawaiian oral traditions with the evidence of archaeology, Kirch puts a human face on the gradual rise to power of the Hawaiian god-kings, who by the late eighteenth century were locked in a series of wars for ultimate control of the entire archipelago.

Book Keywords: archaic states, Polynesia, oral traditions, divine kingship, cultural evolution, political economy, ancient voyaging

How Chiefs Became Kings: Divine Kingship and the Rise of Archaic States in Ancient Hawai'i. 2010. University of California Press, Berkeley.

Hawaiki, Ancestral Polynesia: An Essay in Historical Anthropology. (with Roger C. Green). 2001. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

On the Road of the Winds: An Archaeological History of the Pacific Islands Before European Contact. 2000. University of California Press, Berkeley.

The Lapita Peoples: Ancestors of the Oceanic World. 1997. Blackwells, Oxford.

The Wet and the Dry: Irrigation and Agricultural Intensification in Polynesia. 1994. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Anahulu: The Anthropology of History in the Kingdom of Hawaii (co-authored with Marshall Sahlins). 1992. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Feathered Gods and Fishhooks: An Introduction to Hawaiian Archaeology and Prehistory. 1985. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu.

The Evolution of the Polynesian Chiefdoms. 1984. Cambridge University Press.

Origins of Polynesian Pigs Revealed by Mitochondrial Whole Genome Ancient DNA

Animals, Sep 18, 2022

Archaeology in Oceania, 1990

Potentials and Pitfalls for ZooMS Analysis in the Pacific: A Case Study from Ofu Island (Manu‘a Group, American Samoa)

Visualising Hawaiian Sacred Sites: The archives and J.F.G. Stokes’s pioneering archaeological surveys, 1906–1913

Journal of Pacific archaeology, 2017

In the early 1900s, Australian-born archaeologist John F.G. Stokes was the first to extensively u... more In the early 1900s, Australian-born archaeologist John F.G. Stokes was the first to extensively use modern surveying techniques and photography to document Hawaiian archaeological sites. Stokes carried out fieldwork for a Bishop Museum-based research program driven by interests in Polynesian origins and Hawaiian religious change, focusing specifically on the monumental temple sites called heiau in Hawaiian. Using a sample of the visual record of plan maps and photographs from Stokes’s work, we examine how Stokes represented sacred sites, including the variable level of architectural detail offered. Stokes’s reliance on Native Hawaiian informants is notable, as it may have played an important role in shaping his view of the archaeological landscape. Stokes’s survey record provides an important dataset for understanding the paradigms at work in Polynesian archaeology in the early 20th century, and the influences of this work in subsequent approaches to monumentality in the archipelago...

Stable isotope analysis of Pacific rat (Rattus exulans)from archaeological sites in Mangareva (French Polynesia): The use of commensal species for understanding human activity and ecosystem change

Environmental Archaeology, 2016

Soil nutrients and intensive dryland agricultural production in Kaupō, Maui, Hawaiian Islands

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2015

Polynesian plainware sherds from Hivaoa and their implications for early Marquesan prehistory

•ABSfRACT Two plain sherds from Aruona Valley, Hivaoa Island, represent the lint discovery of pon... more •ABSfRACT Two plain sherds from Aruona Valley, Hivaoa Island, represent the lint discovery of ponery from the Southern Marquesas Islands. Morphological and manufacturing attributes support classifica tion of the sherds as Polynesian Plainware, and petrographic analysis of t.emper indicates a local origin. This new find is discussed in the <:<next of other poucry localities in the Marquesas, and their implications for the earliest phase of sealcment in Eastern Polynesia.

Intensive Dryland Agriculture in Kaupō, Maui, Hawaiian Islands

Asian Perspectives, 2009

Simulating social-ecological systems: the Island Digital Ecosystem Avatars (IDEA) consortium

GigaScience, 2016

Systems biology promises to revolutionize medicine, yet human wellbeing is also inherently linked... more Systems biology promises to revolutionize medicine, yet human wellbeing is also inherently linked to healthy societies and environments (sustainability). The IDEA Consortium is a systems ecology open science initiative to conduct the basic scientific research needed to build use-oriented simulations (avatars) of entire social-ecological systems. Islands are the most scientifically tractable places for these studies and we begin with one of the best known: Moorea, French Polynesia. The Moorea IDEA will be a sustainability simulator modeling links and feedbacks between climate, environment, biodiversity, and human activities across a coupled marine-terrestrial landscape. As a model system, the resulting knowledge and tools will improve our ability to predict human and natural change on Moorea and elsewhere at scales relevant to management/conservation actions.

Stable Isotopic Evidence for Nutrient Rejuvenation and Long-Term Resilience on Tikopia Island (Southeast Solomon Islands)

Sustainability

Tikopia Island, a small and relatively isolated Polynesian Outlier in the Southeast Solomon Islan... more Tikopia Island, a small and relatively isolated Polynesian Outlier in the Southeast Solomon Islands, supports a remarkably dense human population with minimal external support. Examining long-term trends in human land use on Tikopia through archaeological datasets spanning nearly 3000 years presents an opportunity to investigate pathways to long-term sustainability in a tropical island setting. Here, we trace nutrient dynamics across Tikopia’s three pre-European contact phases (Kiki, Sinapupu, Tuakamali) via stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of commensal Pacific rat (Rattus exulans) and domestic pig (Sus scrofa) bone and tooth dentine collagen. Our results show a decline in δ15N values from the Kiki (c. 800 BC-AD 100) to Sinapupu (c. AD 100–1200) phases, consistent with long-term commensal isotope trends observed on other Polynesian islands. However, increased δ15N coupled with lower δ13C values in the Tuakamali Phase (c. AD 1200–1800) point to a later nutrient rejuvenatio...

Paired geochemical and technological analyses of basalt adze debitage at the Hālawa Dune Site, Molokaʻi Island, Hawaiʻi

Archaeology in Oceania, 2017

New prehistoric avifaunas from the Gambier Group, French Polynesia

Palaeontologia Electronica, 2018

Cook Island artifact geochemistry demonstrates spatial and temporal extent of pre-European interarchipelago voyaging in East Polynesia

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Jul 5, 2016

The Cook Islands are considered the "gateway" for human colonization of East Polynesia,... more The Cook Islands are considered the "gateway" for human colonization of East Polynesia, the final chapter of Oceanic settlement and the last major region occupied on Earth. Indeed, East Polynesia witnessed the culmination of the greatest maritime migration in human history. Perennial debates have critiqued whether Oceanic settlement was purposeful or accidental, the timing and pathways of colonization, and the nature and extent of postcolonization voyaging-essential for small founding groups securing a lifeline between parent and daughter communities. Centering on the well-dated Tangatatau rockshelter, Mangaia, Southern Cook Islands, we charted the temporal duration and geographic spread of exotic stone adze materials-essential woodworking tools found throughout Polynesia- imported for more than 300 y beginning in the early AD 1300s. Using a technique requiring only 200 mg of sample for the geochemical analysis of trace elements and isotopes of fine-grained basalt adzes, w...

Re-dating of the Kuli‘ou‘ou Rockshelter, O‘ahu, Hawai‘i: Location of the first radiocarbon date from the Pacific Islands

Journal of the Polynesian Society, 2014

Long-term human modification of dryland agricultural potential

Background/Question/Methods The transformation of natural ecosystems to agricultural ecosystems, ... more Background/Question/Methods The transformation of natural ecosystems to agricultural ecosystems, agricultural intensification, and the cessation of agriculture alter nutrient cycling dynamics. Unfortunately, in ecosystems experiencing rapid rates of erosion, the fingerprint of past land use change has been removed from the landscape. In dryland ecosystems, however, particularly ecosystems transformed by prehistoric farmers and modified little since, soil erosion rates are often sufficiently low to have preserved chemical evidence of these past changes. Our research aims to understand the long-term ecological consequences of these transformations, across both space and time. We quantified prehistoric agricultural potential across two contrasting field systems on the Hawaiian archipelago using a combination of archaeological and geochemical data. For each field system, we then defined relative changes in agricultural potential: for Maui, we contrasted soil fertility reductions by cult...

Household expansion linked to agricultural intensification during emergence of Hawaiian archaic states

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Jan 3, 2011

The Leeward Kohala Field System (LKFS) covering ∼ 60 km(2) on Hawai'i Island is one of the wo... more The Leeward Kohala Field System (LKFS) covering ∼ 60 km(2) on Hawai'i Island is one of the world's best-studied archaeological examples of preindustrial agricultural intensification. Archaeological correlates for households over a 400-y period of intensification of the LKFS (A.D. 1400-1800) indicate that household age, number, and distribution closely match the expansion of agricultural features at both macro- and microscales. We excavated and dated residential complexes within portions of five traditional Hawaiian land units (ahupua'a), two in the central core of the field system and three in the southern margins. Forty-eight radiocarbon dates from 43 residential features indicate an overall pattern of exponential increase in the numbers of households over time. Spatial distribution of these dates suggests that the core of the LKFS may have reached a population saturation point earlier than in the southern margins. Bayesian statistical analysis of radiocarbon dates from...

Residential landscapes and house societies of the late prehistoric Society Islands

We extend the ‘house society’ perspective to one of the most complex Eastern Polynesian chiefdoms... more We extend the ‘house society’ perspective to one of the most complex Eastern Polynesian chiefdoms, the Society Islands. Employing a landscape approach, we argue that competing elites used the flexibility of the ‘house society’ structure and its landed estates to promulgate and manipulate status differences. Our study documents how the social hierarchy and its ideological underpinnings were materialized in archaeologically visible ways, including investments in residential landscapes, site proxemics, and construction sequences. While communal investments in the landed material estate were staged over a few centuries, investments in the house’s ideology and corporate identity were established early on. Differences in house rank afforded some houses greater access to essential resources and facilitated their abilities to maintain and extend their corporate group, while affording them greater access to labor and continued wealth production over time. Our case study exemplifies the significant role that small-scale relations--quotidian interactions within neighborhoods--played as sources of social power.

Rapid evolution of ritual architecture in central Polynesia indicated by precise 230 Th/U coral dating

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2010

In Polynesia, the complex Society Islands chiefdoms constructed elaborate temples ( marae ), some... more In Polynesia, the complex Society Islands chiefdoms constructed elaborate temples ( marae ), some of which reached monumental proportions and were associated with human sacrifice in the ‘Oro cult. We investigated the development of temples on Mo‘orea Island by 230 Th/U dating of corals used as architectural elements (facing veneers, cut-and-dressed blocks, and offerings). The three largest coastal marae (associated with the highest-ranked chiefly lineages) and 19 marae in the inland ‘Opunohu Valley containing coral architectural elements were dated. Fifteen corals from the coastal temples meet geochemical criteria for accurate 230 Th/U dating, yield reproducible ages for each marae , and have a mean uncertainty of 9 y (2σ). Of 41 corals from wetter inland sites, 12 show some diagenesis and may yield unreliable ages; however, the majority (32) of inland dates are considered accurate. We also obtained six 14 C dates on charcoal from four marae . The dates indicate that temple architec...

Investigating the Global Dispersal of Chickens in Prehistory Using Ancient Mitochondrial DNA Signatures

PLoS ONE, 2012

Geospatial modeling of pre-contact Hawaiian production systems on Molokaʻi Island, Hawaiian Islands

Journal of Archaeological Science, 2011

Flexner and Kirch, 2016, Field mapping and Polynesian prehistory.pdf

by Patrick Kirch and James Flexner

Archaeologists have long acknowledged that disciplinary history is very important for understandi... more Archaeologists have long acknowledged that disciplinary history is very important for understanding not only how far we
have come, but also for understanding why we do things in certain ways and not others. Further, it is clear that there are different
regional bents to the history of archaeology. In the Pacific, much of the surface archaeology is composed of stone architecture, from
the massive stone moai of Rapa Nui, to more humble stone walls, terraces, and house sites that cover this and many other islands. In
Oceania, and especially Polynesia, the development of the ‘settlement pattern approach’ from the 1960s onwards has been especially
influential in regional archaeological history and contemporary practice. The settlement pattern ‘turn’ in Oceania included a notable
visual change with the integration of site plans at various scales as a way of describing archaeological landscapes. Maps obviously
have a much longer history in the representation of cultures as well as archaeological sites in Oceania as well. Exploring the history of
visual representations of past places, and the techniques through which these images were produced, is an important part of the history
of archaeology in the Pacific and elsewhere. In the 21st century, the traditional mapping equipment available to archaeologists (tape
and compass, alidade and plane table, theodolite) has been augmented with a host of modern technologies (GPS, 3-dimensional laser
scanning, LIDAR, CAD, GIS, and other mapping software). Yet the advent of high-tech mapping solutions does not negate the value
of more traditional techniques, and in fact there are many reasons why the old methods persist. While our technology gets faster and
more precise, there is still much to recommend approaches that require the mapping of Pacific archaeological landscapes by hand,
‘stone-by-stone’ when searching for meaning in past settlement patterns. This is especially true in regards to training future generations
of Pacific archaeologists, and the increasing consideration of alternative (especially indigenous) epistemologies in Pacific archaeology.

Cook Island artifact geochemistry demonstrates spatial and temporal extent of pre-European inter-archipelago voyaging in East Polynesia

by Marshall Weisler, Peter Sheppard, and Patrick Kirch