Dissertation Research: The Role of the Southern Cooks in East Polynesian Colonization and Differentiation

作为博士论文研究的一部分，梅林达·艾伦女士将对南库克群岛的艾图塔基岛西海岸进行考古和地质调查。她将布置从海岸向内陆延伸的横断面，并进行测试挖掘和螺旋钻调查。在发现有很高考古潜力的地区将进行进一步的挖掘。收集到的数据将允许重建爱土竹的地质历史，并提供岛上最早居民的信息。波利尼西亚群岛，许多彼此之间被漫长的水域隔开，很快就被航海民族从西到东殖民。虽然殖民的总体轮廓很清楚，但许多细节仍未解决。特别是不知道西波利尼西亚和东波利尼西亚之间的海洋是否提供了一个主要的屏障，如果是的话，它需要多长时间才能跨越。南库克群岛位于东波利尼西亚的西端。虽然他们还没有找到相关的地点，但艾伦女士认为，各种各样的地貌过程会导致沉积物沉积在最有可能早期居住的地区，因此遗址被掩埋了。在这项研究中，她将确定艾图塔基的沉积历史，并试图找到早期的遗骸。这项研究很重要，因为它将增加我们对流动性和迁移在人类适应中的作用的理解。如果成功的话，它还将为考古学家提供线索，告诉他们在太平洋其他岛屿上哪里以及如何寻找这样的遗址。

As part of her doctoral dissertation research, Ms. Melinda Allen will conduct an archaeological and geological survey of the West coast of Aitutaki Island in the Southern Cooks Islands. She will lay out transects running from the coast inland, and conduct test excavations as well as an auger survey. Additional excavation will take place in areas discovered to have high archaeological potential. The data collected will permit a reconstruction of the geological history of Aitutake and provide information on the island's earliest inhabitants. The Polynesian islands, many separated from each other by long stretches of water, were rapidly colonized from West to East by a seafaring people. While the general outline of the colonization is clear, many of the specifics remain unresolved. In particular it is not known whether the ocean between Western and Eastern Polynesia provided a major barrier and if so, how long it took to cross. The Southern Cooks lie at the Western extremity of Eastern Polynesia. Although they have not as yet yielded relevant sites Ms. Allen believes that a variety of geomorphological processes would have led to deposition of sediment in the most likely areas of early habitation and thus sites are buried. In this research she will determine depositional history of Aitutaki and try to locate early remains. This research is important because it will increase our understanding of the role mobility and migration play in human adaptation. If successful it will also provide archaeologists with clues of where and how to look for such sites on other Pacific islands.