Studies on Conservation of Culture Heritage in Cook Islands

自1965年开始实行自治以来，库克群岛的毛利人一直在努力为自己的民族自我意识和民族特性奠定坚实的基础。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身份的社会潮流在库克群岛蓬勃发展，在1991年文化发展部成立时达到高潮。文化部的重要目标是“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，目的是通过调查有关库克群岛文化遗产的物质和非物质信息，为其文化决策作出贡献。这项研究与文化发展部合作，从考古学、自然作者学、自然地理学、描述语言学和人种学的各个角度进行，为期三年，研究对象是拉罗汤加岛和普卡普卡岛;研究成果包括从17个考古遗址的挖掘中获得的重要发现和丰富信息。还在拉罗汤加、普卡普卡和阿蒂乌对marae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节所列的已发表材料。

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.