Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Polynesian Expansion Between 2830 to 2840 BP




Pining this down is good news and it appears independent of Radio carbon methods.  Dating this has always been controversial and this should end it.

It also confirms that it came about shortly after the collapse of the global maritime empire centered in the Atlantic about which we have posted much.  Thus it also coincides with the extensive cultural upheaval that took place elsewhere and may even have been a contributing factor.

Do note that I suspect maritime activity continued on a more local basis everywhere for well into the Roman period and possibly never ended in quite the same way it did with the rise of Islam in European waters.

This was the last great expansion and came up with scant rewards.

Coral files reveal time of first Polynesian settlements

by Staff Writers

Burnaby, Canada (SPX) Nov 09, 2012

This shows pristine (upper) and used (lower) surfaces of an Acropora coral file used to sculpt and smooth wood and shell surfaces. Credit: Burley D, Weisler MI, Zhao.

Polynesia was one of the last places on Earth to be settled by humans, and new techniques reveal that this settlement first occurred within a 16 year window nearly 3000 years ago.

The research, published in the open access journal PLOS ONE by David Burley and colleagues from Simon Fraser University, Canada, reveals that the first human settlers lived in a founder colony on the islands of Tonga between 2830 to 2846 years ago.

To arrive at this precise figure, the researchers used a high-precision technique to estimate the age of coral files that early settlers used to sculpt and smooth wood and shell surfaces.

As Dr. Burley states, "This degree of precision is impossible using radiocarbon and other dating techniques.

It provides significant new opportunities for our understanding of the exploration and settlement of the far distant islands spread across the South Pacific."

Citation: Burley D, Weisler MI, Zhao J-x (2012) High Precision U/Th Dating of First Polynesian Settlement. PLoS ONE 7(11): e48769. doi:10.1371/ journal.pone.0048769

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