Dissertation Research: Prehistoric Agriculture in the Society Islands

在帕特里克基尔希博士的指导下， 加州/伯克利大学的研究生，将 为她的博士论文收集资料。 她的研究 关注社会岛群的史前史， 波利尼西亚和她将进行广泛的调查， 在几个不同的环境区进行挖掘 群岛 特别是，她的工作将集中在发展 农业和她的调查将注意到的立场， 农业领域和相关结构，如灌溉 运河有限的挖掘将提供放射性碳样本， 绝对约会 与居住地的关系， 纪念碑也将被注意到。 在该项目的第二个方面， 莱波夫斯基女士将研究农业与 环境变化，以确定在何种程度上 农业生产首先是责任，其次是责任。 对森林砍伐造成的高地侵蚀做出反应。 有了这些数据，莱波夫斯基女士应该能够追踪到 史前农业的发展。 海洋人类学家对极端的 在不同的波利尼西亚人身上观察到的社会复杂性的变化 群岛 在某些情况下，大而复杂的酋长职位 发达国家，而其他国家的人口仍然相对较少， 平等主义者 这种情况提供了一个极好的测试案例 研究促进文化发展的过程。 今天最广泛接受的模式是将发展与 所采用的农业系统的环境和性质; 它假定集约农业的发展 系统对于高级社会复杂性是必要的。 从这个角度来看，社会群岛特别重要。 因为人种学数据表明， 复杂，但农业集约化程度低。 MS Lepofsky的研究将确定事实是否如此。 这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。 社会 岛屿在考古学上并不为人所知， 这项工作将引起许多研究人员的兴趣。 它将 阐明农业实践与 太平洋岛屿环境中的土壤侵蚀及其过程 这是复杂社会的发展。 它将 并协助培养一名有前途的年轻科学家。

Under the direction of Dr. Patrick Kirch, Ms Dana Lepofsky, a graduate student at the University of California/Berkeley, will collect data for her doctoral dissertation. Her research focusses on the prehistory of the Society Island group in Polynesia and she will conduct extensive survey and limited excavation in a variety of environmental zones on several islands. In particular, her work will focus on the development of agriculture and her survey will note the position of agricultural fields and associated structures such as irrigation canals. Limited excavation will provide radiocarbon samples for absolute dating. The relationship with habitation sites and monuments will also be noted. In a second aspect of the project MS Lepofsky will examine the relationship between agriculture and environmental change to determine the extent to which agricultural practices are first responsible for, and secondly responsive to upland erosion which resulted from deforestation. With these data MS Lepofsky should be able to trace the development of prehistoric agriculture over time. Oceanic anthropologists are extremely interested in the extreme variation in social complexity observed on different Polynesian islands. In some cases large and complex chieftainships developed while in others groups remained relatively small and egalitarian. This situation has provided an excellent test case to examine the processes which underlay cultural development. The model most widely accepted today links development to environment and the nature of the agricultural system employed; it postulates that the development of intensive agricultural systems are necessary for advanced degrees of social complexity. From this perspective the Society Islands are of particular interest because ethnographic data indicates considerable complexity but little agricultural intensification. Ms Lepofsky's research will determine if, in fact, this is the case. This research is important for several reasons. The Society Islands are not archaeologically well known and the results of this work will interest a large number of researchers. It will shed light on the relationship between agricultural practice and soil erosion in Pacific island settings and on the processes which underlay the development of complex societies. It will also assist in the training of a promising young scientist.