Investigating the global dispersal of chickens in prehistory using ancient mitochondrial dna signatures

Data from morphology, linguistics, history, and archaeology have all been used to trace the dispersal of chickens from Asian domestication centers to their current global distribution. Each provides a unique perspective which can aid in the reconstruction of prehistory. This study expands on previous investigations by adding a temporal component from ancient DNA and, in some cases, direct dating of bones of individual chickens from a variety of sites in Europe, the Pacific, and the Americas. The results from the ancient DNA analyses of forty-eight archaeologically derived chicken bones provide support for archaeological hypotheses about the prehistoric human transport of chickens. Haplogroup E mtDNA signatures have been amplified from directly dated samples originating in Europe at 1000 B.P. and in the Pacific at 3000 B.P. indicating multiple prehistoric dispersals from a single Asian centre. These two dispersal pathways converged in the Americas where chickens were introduced both by Polynesians and later by Europeans. The results of this study also highlight the inappropriate application of the small stretch of D-loop, traditionally amplified for use in phylogenetic studies, to understanding discrete episodes of chicken translocation in the past. The results of this study lead to the proposal of four hypotheses which will require further scrutiny and rigorous future testingExcavations in Fais by MI were made possible by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. DB gratefully acknowledges support from the Marsden Fund, and the Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology and Evolution. During the course of this research AS was supported by a Postgraduate Scholarship from the University of Auckland and a Fellowship from the Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology and Evolutio

Ongoing Archaeological Research on Fais Island, Micronesia

The third season of archaeological research was carried out on Fais Island in the Caroline Islands at the end of 2005. A deep cultural deposit (more than 3.3 meters) was excavated along the southern coastal deposit from which a number of potsherds, shell artifacts, bone artifacts, and various kinds of natural remains were found. The constant recovery of artifactual remains supports the previous supposition that the island was continuously inhabited since the time of the first colonization. Pigs and dogs (and possibly chickens) have definitely existed on the island since about A.D. 400 afterward. Two charcoal samples obtained from the earliest cultural deposit were securely dated as A.D. 230-410 (Beta-21306) and A.D. 240-420 (Beta213061). These are the earliest dates obtained for the coral islands in the central Caroline Islands. The continuous appearance of potsherds and natural food remains throughout the culture sequence indicates that Fais was permanently settled for the last 1700 years and was not just occupied for a short period of time. On the basis of introduced pottery and domesticated animals, maintaining cultural contacts with high islands could have been a significant way to survive on such small coral islands with limited resources

Changing prehistoric Yapese pottery technology: a case study of adaptive transformation

Description: xi, 192 leaves : ill., maps ; 30 cm. + 1 computer disk. Notes: University of Otago department: Anthropology. Computer disk in pocket. Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Otago. Bibliography: leaves 182-192. Bound with: Archaeological investigations in the Yap Islands, Micronesia. The published bulletin is not included in the OUR Archive upload. The full citation of this bulletin is as follows: Intoh, M., & Leach, F. (1985). Archaeological investigations in the Yap Islands, Micronesia: first millennium B.C. to the present day. Oxford, England: B.A.R.This study describes the processes of cultural adaptation to environmental conditions through an examination of ceramic technology. The case study involved eight months fieldwork in the Yap Islands, Western Caroline Islands, Micronesia, to obtain archaeological, ethnographic and environmental information. Analyses of the mineral and chemical composition and physical characteristics of Yapese clays showed that two types exist on the island: very plastic metamorphic clay and nonplastic sedimentary clay. Analysis of sand samples from beach and river locations showed varying amount of calcareous sand grains. Three types of pottery were distinguished in the archaeological deposits on the basis of temper and physical characteristics of vessel walls. Calcareous Sand Tempered (CST) and Plain potteries were made between 2000 and 600 years B.P. whereas Laminated pottery was made after 600 years B.P. Technological change between the three pottery types was shown by reconstructing the technology used and the physical properties of the products, using information about the mineral composition of the clays, tempering, forming, surface finish, vessel form, thickness, firing, strength and porosity. Metamorphic plastic clay was used for making all three types of pottery. The major contrasting characteristic of the different potteries is differences in tempering behaviour. A steady improvement in firing technique over 2000 years was identified as the major cause for the changes observed. CST pottery was tempered with fine calcareous beach sand. The clay tempered in this way was very workable but had a disadvantage of being easily damaged if fired at higher temperatures. Plain pottery was tempered with a range of materials, such as burnt coral lime and coarse sand but not with calcareous sand. This variation with alternative tempers is interpreted as attempts to avoid the deleterious effects of heating calcareous sand. The quality of Plain pottery was not very high (weak, thick and straighter vessel wall), and the experiments did not result in an effective solution to the problems of CST pottery because technological replacement did not occur. Laminated pottery was shown to be identical to the historically manufactured pottery, and was made with a unique technology. No temper was added to the highly plastic clay, and the techniques of forming, drying and firing were adapted to the low workability of the clay. The combination of these techniques produced a strong and durable layered vessel wall. The thesis includes a published bulletin describing the excavations and a computer disk with a full catalogue of all pot sherds and scientific data

Biogeography and Prehistoric Exploitation of Birds from Fais Island, Yap State, Federated States of Micronesia

Five archaeological sites on the remote, raised limestone island of Fais, Yap, Federated States of Micronesia, yielded nearly 200 identifiable bird bones from strata that range in age from about 400 to 1800 radiocarbon yr B.P. Represented are 14 species of seabirds, five species of migratory shorebirds, four species of land birds, and the introduced chicken. This is the most species-rich prehistoric assemblage of birds from any island in Micronesia. Because the "modern" avifauna of Fais never has been studied, it is difficult to determine which of the species from archaeological contexts still occur on Fais. Nevertheless, based upon modern distributions of birds from other islands in Yap and adjacent island groups, the environmental condition of Fais, and what is known about the relative vulnerability of individual species, it is likely that about nine ofthe seabirds (Pterodroma sp., Bulweria bulwerii, Sula dactylatra, S. sula, Sterna sumatrana, S. lunata, S.fuscata, Anous minutus, Procelsterna cerulea) and three of the land birds (Poliolimnas cinereus, Gallicolumba cf. xanthonura, Ducula oceanica) no longer live on Fais

Changing prehistoric Yapese pottery technology: a case study of adaptive transformation

Description: xi, 192 leaves : ill., maps ; 30 cm. + 1 computer disk. Notes: University of Otago department: Anthropology. Computer disk in pocket. Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Otago. Bibliography: leaves 182-192. Bound with: Archaeological investigations in the Yap Islands, Micronesia. The published bulletin is not included in the OUR Archive upload. The full citation of this bulletin is as follows: Intoh, M., & Leach, F. (1985). Archaeological investigations in the Yap Islands, Micronesia: first millennium B.C. to the present day. Oxford, England: B.A.R.This study describes the processes of cultural adaptation to environmental conditions through an examination of ceramic technology. The case study involved eight months fieldwork in the Yap Islands, Western Caroline Islands, Micronesia, to obtain archaeological, ethnographic and environmental information. Analyses of the mineral and chemical composition and physical characteristics of Yapese clays showed that two types exist on the island: very plastic metamorphic clay and nonplastic sedimentary clay. Analysis of sand samples from beach and river locations showed varying amount of calcareous sand grains. Three types of pottery were distinguished in the archaeological deposits on the basis of temper and physical characteristics of vessel walls. Calcareous Sand Tempered (CST) and Plain potteries were made between 2000 and 600 years B.P. whereas Laminated pottery was made after 600 years B.P. Technological change between the three pottery types was shown by reconstructing the technology used and the physical properties of the products, using information about the mineral composition of the clays, tempering, forming, surface finish, vessel form, thickness, firing, strength and porosity. Metamorphic plastic clay was used for making all three types of pottery. The major contrasting characteristic of the different potteries is differences in tempering behaviour. A steady improvement in firing technique over 2000 years was identified as the major cause for the changes observed. CST pottery was tempered with fine calcareous beach sand. The clay tempered in this way was very workable but had a disadvantage of being easily damaged if fired at higher temperatures. Plain pottery was tempered with a range of materials, such as burnt coral lime and coarse sand but not with calcareous sand. This variation with alternative tempers is interpreted as attempts to avoid the deleterious effects of heating calcareous sand. The quality of Plain pottery was not very high (weak, thick and straighter vessel wall), and the experiments did not result in an effective solution to the problems of CST pottery because technological replacement did not occur. Laminated pottery was shown to be identical to the historically manufactured pottery, and was made with a unique technology. No temper was added to the highly plastic clay, and the techniques of forming, drying and firing were adapted to the low workability of the clay. The combination of these techniques produced a strong and durable layered vessel wall. The thesis includes a published bulletin describing the excavations and a computer disk with a full catalogue of all pot sherds and scientific data

Introduction: Archaeology and Historical Ecology in the Pacific Basin.

v. ill. 23 cm.Quarterl