Fitzpatrick, Scott M.

Intoh, Michiko

Pacific Science

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463Introduction: Archaeology and Historical Ecology in the Pacific Basin1Scott M. Fitzpatrick2 and Michiko Intoh3In recent years, historical ecology hasemerged as one of the most insightful andcomprehensive approaches to understandinghow humans have influenced and had an im-pact on the environment. Coupling the natu-ral and social sciences, this interdisciplinaryapproach draws on paleoecology, archaeol-ogy, history, biology, and other disciplines.By integrating long-term analyses of climatechange, prehistoric human settlement, histor-ical interactions, and modern developmentand industrialism, historical ecology is an im-portant paradigm for examining the naturaland cultural phenomena that drive the evolu-tion of island ecosystems.In 1991, Patrick V. Kirch and Terry Huntorganized a session at the Pacific ScienceCongress in Honolulu focused on these issuesin the Pacific islands. Their subsequent vol-ume published in 1997 entitled Historical Ecol-ogy in the Pacific Islands (Yale University Press)set the foundation for exploring how this fieldof study could be applied in the Pacific withobvious and important implications for study-ing other islands and coastal areas worldwide.Several years ago, we discussed the prospectof marking the 10th anniversary of the vol-ume’s publication with a special session atthe 2007 Pacific Science Congress in Oki-nawa. We were interested in revisiting howvarious interweaving and dynamic processeshad structured island environments over themillennia and how historical ecology in thePacific had developed over the last 10 years.For the 2007 Pacific Science Congress ses-sion, we invited scholars from around theworld to examine the importance of inter-disciplinary and collaborative research forunderstanding human impacts and adaptationson islands in the Pacific and outer margins ofOceania. Although not all invitees were ableto attend the congress, everyone asked to par-ticipate believed it was essential to have thempublished in a cohesive volume. After muchdiscussion, we agreed that Pacific Science, asthe leading journal for biological and physicalsciences in the region, was the ideal venue tocover the broad and exciting array of histori-cal ecological research being conducted byPacific Rim archaeologists.The papers presented here expand on ear-lier efforts within the region to integrate ar-chaeology into various types of analyses thatexamine long-term changes to land- and sea-scapes. The papers in this issue highlight awide range of associated topics: from biologi-cal invasions due to human translocation ofanimals (Matisoo-Smith et al.), changes insubsistence strategies (Allen and Craig), land-scape modification through both natural andhuman processes (Torrence et al., Yamaguchiet al.), and sustainability of resources (Tho-mas, Hunt and Lipo) to ones that exploreconcepts embedded within behavioral ecol-ogy ( Jones, Des Lauriers, Maschner et al.,Erlandson et al., Summerhayes et al.).As readers familiar with Kirch and Hunt’s(1997) earlier volume will note, the currentcollection of papers is geographically ex-panded to include island groups along thewest coast of North America, including theAleutians, Channel Islands, and Cedros (BajaCalifornia). Given the long history of re-search in these areas and the great temporalspan of human occupation reaching back tothe Terminal Pleistocene/Early Holocene,they provide unique opportunities to explorethe antiquity of human occupation on islandsthat are resource rich and relatively close tomainlands, in contrast to most Pacific islands.Pacific Science (2009), vol. 63, no. 4:463–464: 2009 by University of Hawai‘i PressAll rights reserved1Manuscript accepted 9 February 2009.2 Box 8107, Department of Sociology and Anthropol-ogy, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NorthCarolina 27695.3 National Museum of Ethnology, 10-1 Senri ExpoPark, Suita, Osaka 565-8511, Japan.The papers in this issue demonstrate that theanalysis of archaeological remains and theirapplication to historical ecology has becomeincreasingly sophisticated. For example, theapplication of techniques such as DNA andstable isotopes to studies of the ancient pasthas tremendously expanded our ability totrack the movement of human groups, flora,and fauna and to gauge changes to the humandiet as populations became more familiar withtheir environments. Coupled with continuedadvances in theoretical modeling, researchersare also setting the stage for establishing therelevance of archaeology to the broader sci-entific community. As historical ecology inthe Pacific Rim continues to move forwardin exciting new directions, it is clear thatscholars working in this vast region will con-tinue to pave the way in finding novel ap-proaches to understanding the evolution ofhuman behavior in island regions.We thank the authors for contributingtheir papers to this special issue of the journaland reviewers who provided useful commentsthat improved each paper. The editor of Pa-cific Science, Curt Daehler, patiently guided usthrough the process of putting the collectiontogether. Special thanks go to Atholl Ander-son for graciously reading through and com-menting on all the contributions as part ofthe epilogue for this issue. And finally, we ac-knowledge Patrick V. Kirch and Terry Hunt,who fostered greater discussion of these is-sues nearly two decades ago at the 17th Pa-cific Science Congress and influenced manyothers to follow in their footsteps.464 PACIFIC SCIENCE . October 2009

Introduction: Archaeology and Historical Ecology in the Pacific Basin.

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Introduction: Archaeology and Historical Ecology in the Pacific Basin.

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