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Temper Sands in Exotic Marquesan Pottery and the Significance of Their Fijian Origin

1998; Société des océanistes; Volume: 107; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.3406/jso.1998.2052

1760-7256

William R. Dickinson, Barry V. Rolett, Yosihiko H. Sinoto, Mara Elena Rosenthal, Richard Shutler,

Island Studies and Pacific Affairs

Petrographic restudy of quartzose temper sands in potsherds recovered by Suggs and Sinoto from the Ha'atuatua archaeological site on Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas Islands confirms a previous tentative inference that they represent wares manufactured on the Rewa Delta of Viti Levu in Fiji. Temper sands in the exotic Ha'atuatua sherds and in prehistoric sherds excavated from the Nasilai site on the Rewa Delta are closely comparable, both qualitatively in terms of texture and the range of sand grain types present and quantitatively in terms of grain frequency percentages determined by counts of generic categories of sand grains in thin section. Indigenous Marquesan sherds from Nuku Hiva, Hiva Oa, and Ua Huka contain contrasting quartz-free basaltic temper sands compatible with local derivation from Marquesan volcanic assemblages. Recent work at the Ha'atuatua site indicates that the occupation level yielding the sherds dates from late in Marquesan prehistory, meaning that the Fijian sherds recovered at Ha'atuatua may provide evidence for post-colonization contacts across the width of Polynesia late in prehistoric time.