ANTH204 Lecture 1: ANTH204-Pacific-and-New-Zealand-Archaeology
Document Summary
The focus of this course is island oceania beyond australia and south east asia (although broader links and connections will be discussed) Nineteenth century french explorer dumont d"urville divided the peoples and islands of this vast. Polynesia ( many islands ) incorporated within the polynesia triangle (new zealand at the coldest southwestern corner) Micronesia ( little islands predominantly coral atolls to the north. Melanesia ( dark islands ) describing the generally darker-skinned peoples of the western pacific (between australia and micronesia) Roger green introduces two geographical divisions recognizing biogeography, distance, and settlement prehistory. Near oceania: western region of greatest biogeographic diversity (new guinea to the solomon islands, papuan and austronesian language speakers, settled for thousands of years (40,000 bp or longer in the west) Islands becoming increasingly isolated, non-continental (volcanic) and resource-poor: pacific islands dispersed to the north, east and southeast of near oceania, settled between 1500 bc- ad 1000, austronesian language speakers.
