Pacific prehistory in ten pages
Man, the beginning of classes has resulted in me being unbelievably swamped. However, I will break radio silence to point out one new article that I found when rennovating my syllabus: “Untangling Oceanic Settlement: The Edge Of The Knowable”:http://www.mun.ca/biology/dinnes/B2900/Articles/T8_18_531.pdf is the best short summary of the state of the art in Pacific prehistory that I have come across. Although Pacific prehistory is _not_ my area of speciality by any means, as someone who has to teach it I am keenly aware how valuable a piece like this is, especially because of its interdisciplinary scope and concision.
[Comment deleted. Comments are for comments on the current post, not for self-publishing. Please read our comments policy for further explanation.]
I must say that “The edge of unknowable” stance taken by scientists on Pacific prehistory is a total cop out. What it is actually saying is that too much evidence has accumulated that contradicts mainstream views on Polynesian origins from the west in the last 3,500 years.
See my website Polynesian Pathways with special reference to the ‘Genetics rewrites Pacific prehistory’ page. The page on Lapita is also worth a look. It seems that scientists have contradicted themselves one too many times on this one.
http://www.polynesian-prehistory.com