Dissertation Research: Archaeological Study of the Development of Fijian Sociopolitical Complexity

在蒂莫西·厄尔博士的指导下，罗伯特·雷赫特曼先生将为他的博士论文收集数据。他将对在斐济群岛进行考古实地考察时收集的骨头和木炭样本进行放射性碳测年。总共有35个样本将被确定日期。在斐济中部的瓦卡亚岛进行实地考察期间，雷赫特曼先生进行了一次全面的调查，找到了十个坚固的防御工事。其中有两处被挖掘出来，科罗列沃有环形沟渠墙，德莱尼有不同的石墙防御系统。在这个过程中，雷赫特曼收集了大量的陶瓷、花卉和动物遗骸以及人类墓葬材料。他最直接的目标是重建这一地区的文化序列，这一地区在考古方面知之甚少。结合陶瓷系列化，放射性碳测年应提供必要的排序。斐济群岛以及波利尼西亚的其他部分引起了人类学家的极大兴趣，因为那里出现了复杂的、高度组织的主要社会。由于波利尼西亚群岛最初只有一群人居住，而且不同的岛屿表现出不同类型的社会组织，人类学家寻找跨岛环境和历史的相似和差异，试图解释社会差异。斐济以开发两种类型的堡垒而闻名，关于它们是如何出现的，已经提出了几种方案。一些人类学家认为，一波又一波的移民潮导致了分歧--以及战争的发展--而另一些人则认为，严格意义上的内部力量起了主导作用。问题是，很少有遗址被挖掘出来，那些受到考古关注的遗址也没有及时得到安全的安置。雷赫特曼的研究之所以重要，有几个原因。它将产生许多考古学家感兴趣的文化序列。它将阐明战争的出现及其在社会复杂性发展中的作用。它还将进一步培养一位有前途的年轻科学家。

Under the guidance of Dr. Timothy Earle, Mr. Robert Rechtman will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. He will radiocarbon date samples of bone and charcoal collected during archaeological fieldwork in the Fiji Islands. In all, 35 samples will be dated. During fieldwork on Wakaya Island in central Fiji, Mr. Rechtman conducted a complete survey and located ten substantial fortified sites. Two of these, Korolevu with a ring'ditch wall and Delaini with a different stone wall system of defence were excavated. In the process, Mr. Rechtman collected extensive ceramic, floral and faunal remains as well as human burial material. His most immediate goal is to reconstruct the cultural sequence for this area which is poorly archaeologically known. In conjunction with ceramic seriation, the radiocarbon dates should provide the necessary ordering. The Fiji Islands, together with the rest of Polynesia, are of great interest to anthropologists because of the complex highly organized chiefly societies which arose there. Because the Polynesian islands were originally populated by a single group of people and because different islands exhibit distinctive kinds of social organization, anthropologists look for cross-island similarities and differences in environment and history in an attempt to explain social variation. Fiji is known for the development of two fort types and several scenarios have been proposed for how they emerged. Some anthropologists posit that sequential waves of migrants are responsible for differences - and for the development of warfare - while others believe that strictly internal forces played a dominant role. The problem is that few sites have been excavated and those which have received archaeological attention have not been securely placed in time. Mr. Rechtman's research is important for several reasons. It will produce a cultural sequence of interest to many archaeologists. It will shed light on the emergence of warfare and its role in the development of social complexity. It will also further the training of a promising young scientist.