Studies on Conservation of Culture Heritage in Cook Islands

自1965年开始自治以来，库克群岛的毛利人一直在努力建立其民族自我意识和身份的坚实基础。特别是在20世纪80年代末和90年代初，这种寻求毛利人民族认同的社会趋势在库克群岛蓬勃发展，并在1991年文化发展部成立时达到高潮。该部的重要目标是“保护、延续和加强库克群岛的文化遗产，以维护传统并培养对这一重要国家资源的欣赏。”我们的研究最初是应库克群岛政府的邀请提出的，目的是通过调查与库克群岛文化遗产有关的物质和非物质信息，为其文化决策做出贡献。这项研究与文化发展部合作进行了三年，从考古学、自然人类学、自然地理学、描述语言学和民族志等不同角度进行。这项研究的目标是拉罗汤加岛和普卡普卡岛；其结果包括17个考古遗址的重大发现和丰富的信息。还在拉罗汤加、普卡普卡和阿提乌对马拉埃的仪式结构的形态和地理分布进行了一般调查。有关我们的研究结果的详细信息，请参阅本摘要报告第11节中列出的已发表材料。

Since the beginning of its self-government in 1965, Maori people in the Cook Islands have been struggling to establish a robust basis of their ethnic self-awareness and identity. Especially in the late 1980s and early 90s, this socialt trend of searching for Maori ethnic identity flourished in the Cook Islands, which reached its climax at the opening of the Ministry of Clutural Development in 1991. The significant object of the ministry was to "preserve, perpetuate and enhance the Cook Islands Cultural Heritage in order to uphold tradition and develop an appreciation for this important national resource."Our research was originally proposed at the invitation of the Cook Islands Government to contribute to its cultural policy-making by means of surveying both material and immaterial information concerning cultural heritage in the Cook Islands. The research was carried out for three yesrs, in cooperation with the Ministry of Cultural Development, from the various perspectives of archaeology, physical authropology, physical geography, descriptive linguistics, and ethnography.The research has been targeting the islands of Rarotonga and Pukapuka ; the results of which included significant findings and fruitful information from the excavation of 17 archaeological sites. General surveys of morphology and geographical distribution of ceremonial structures of marae were also undertaken in Rarotonga, Pukapuka and Atiu. For the details of findings from our research, please refer to the published materials as listed in the section 11 of this abstract report.