An Archaeology of first European contact in the Pacific

该项目形成了太平洋第一次接触的考古学，以描述欧洲人（西班牙人，葡萄牙人和荷兰人）与当地人口之间的第一次直接接触和间接影响-主要是由新物种引入当地环境引起的-以及他们对后者的影响，在16世纪和17世纪。通过展示这些早期的接触确实塑造了我的案例研究的历史，这个项目还将表明该地区受到的影响比以前想象的要大，太平洋地区与世界其他地区一样，在全球历史中扮演着重要角色。这对传统史学提出了挑战，传统史学认为18世纪是欧洲人第一次在太平洋出现的时间，而忽略了土著居民和欧洲人之间早期纠缠的存在和程度。2)通过研究土地使用的变化（包括农业耕作方式的改变）和埋葬方式，确定人口结构的变化。3）通过研究人类遗骸寻找传染病的标志物，确定传入的疾病。该项目将在西太平洋进行，这是当时欧洲活动的主要场景。在这一地区，该项目侧重于一个特殊的考古案例研究：阿洛菲（法国海外领地的沃利斯和富图纳）小岛，包括在南岛宇宙中。阿洛菲位于美拉尼西亚-波利尼西亚边界，直到1616年荷兰探险队在那里停留了13天，它才暴露于外国特工。因此，这座8公里长的岛屿被遗弃，之后仅用于农业目的，这使其成为研究人口影响的独特之处。可获得已发布的档案信息，以及之前的考古研究（由申请人和项目成员进行），这些研究证明可以通过考古学研究接触及其物质后果。

This project gives shape to an Archaeology of first contacts in the Pacific to characterize the first direct contact and indirect effects -mainly caused by the introduction of new species into the local environments- between Europeans (Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch) and local populations, and their consequences for the latter, in the 16th and 17th centuries. By showing that these early contacts did shape the history on my case study, this project will also show that the region was more affected than previously thought and that the Pacific was a player in global history in parallel with other world regions. This challenges traditional historiography, which considers the 18th century as the time of the first relevant European presence in the Pacific and has neglected the existence and extent of earlier entanglements between indigenous populations and Europeans.Particular goals of the project are: 1) vegetation and plant-related diet changes. 2) demographic changes, through the study of changes in land use -including reshaping of agricultural practices- and burial practices.3) determination of introduced disease through the study of human remains in search for markers of infectious illness.The project is bound to the Western Pacific, the main scenario of the European activities at the time. Within this region, the project focusses on one exceptional archaeological case study: the small island of Alofi (Wallis and Futuna, French Overseas Collectivity, France), included in the Austronesian universe. Alofi is at the Melanesia-Polynesia boundary, and its exposure to foreign agents was null until a Dutch expedition spent there 13 days in 1616. Apparently as a consequence, this 8 km-long island was abandoned and only used for agricultural purposes afterwards, which makes it unique for the study of demographic impacts. Published archival information is available, as well as previous archaeological research (by applicant and project members) which has attested that contact and its material consequences can be studied through archaeology.