On the Road of the Winds

Patrick Vinton Kirch is Chancellor's Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of twelve books including A Shark Going Inland Is My Chief: The Island Civilization of Ancient Hawai'i and Anahulu: The Anthropology of History in the Kingdom of Hawaii.

List of Maps /
List of Figures /
List of Tables /
Preface /

INTRODUCTION /

Defining Oceania /
• Linguistic, Human Biological, and Cultural Variation in Oceania /
• About This Book /
• A Note on Dates and Time /

1 • DISCOVERING THE OCEANIC PAST /

Enlightenment Voyagers /
• Outposts of Empire: Missionaries, Colonists, and Academic Beginnings /
• “The Problem of Polynesian Origins” /
• Te Rangi Hiroa and the “Micronesian Route” to Polynesia /
• The Discovery of Time Depth and Culture Change /
• The Search for Polynesian Sequences /
• Broadening Research Horizons /
• Moving beyond Polynesia: Archaeology in Melanesia and New Guinea /
• Francophone Archaeology in the Pacific /
• Not an Ivory Tower: Public Archaeology in the Pacific /
• Recent Advances in Pacific Archaeology /

2 • THE PACIFIC ISLANDS AS A HUMAN ENVIRONMENT /

Origins and Development of the Pacific Islands /
• Types of Islands /
• Climatic Factors in the Pacific /
• Island Life and Biogeography /
• The Microbiotic World and Human Populations /
• Island Ecosystems /
• Humans and Island Socioecosystems /

3 • SAHUL AND THE PREHISTORY OF “OLD” MELANESIA /

The Pleistocene Geography of Sahul and Near Oceania /
• Initial Human Arrival in Sahul and Near Oceania /
• Pleistocene Voyaging in Near Oceania /
• Near Oceania during the Pleistocene /
• Cultural Innovations of the Early Holocene /
• A Paradox and a Hypothesis /

4 • LAPITA AND THE AUSTRONESIAN EXPANSION /

The Human Landscape of Near Oceania at 2000–1300 b.c. /
• The Advent of Lapita /
• Lapita Origins: The Austronesian Expansion /
• Lapita across Time and Space /
• Lapita in Linguistic and Biological Perspective /
• The Lapita Ceramic Series /
• Lapita Sites and Settlements /
• Lapita Subsistence Economies /
• Exchange between Lapita Communities /
• Ancestral Oceanic Societies /

5 • THE PREHISTORY OF “NEW” MELANESIA /

Trading Societies of Papua and the Massim /
• The Late Holocene in Highland New Guinea /
• The Bismarck Archipelago after Lapita /
• The Solomon Islands /
• Vanuatu /
• The Polynesian Outliers in Melanesia /
• Ethnogenesis in La Grande Terre /
• Fiji: An Archipelago “in Between” /
• Larger Themes in Melanesian Prehistory /

6 • MICRONESIA: IN THE “SEA OF LITTLE LANDS” /

Colonization and Early Settlement in Micronesia /
• Cultural Sequences in Micronesia /
• Tuvalu and the Polynesian Outliers in Micronesia /
• Atoll Adaptations /
• Later Prehistory in Western Micronesia /
• Development of Sociopolitical Complexity in the Caroline High Islands /

7 • POLYNESIA: ORIGINS AND DISPERSALS /

Polynesian Origins /
• Polynesia as a Phyletic Unit /
• Ancestral Polynesia /
• Cultural Sequences in Western Polynesia /
• The Settlement of Eastern Polynesia /
• Early Settlement Sites in Eastern Polynesia /
• Polynesian Voyaging /
• Summary /

8 • POLYNESIAN CHIEFDOMS AND ARCHAIC STATES /

Polynesian Chiefdoms: Ethnographic Background and Anthropological Significance /
• The “Traditional” Societies /
• Sociopolitical Transformation in the Open Societies /
• The Emergence of Stratified Chiefdoms /
• From Chiefdom to Archaic State: Tonga and Hawai‘i /
• Polynesian History: A Concluding Note /

9 • BIG STRUCTURES AND LARGE PROCESSES IN OCEANIC PREHISTORY /

Voyaging and the Human “Conquest” of the Pacific /
• History Written in the Present: Correlations between Language, Biology, and Culture /
• The Role of Demographic Transitions in Oceanic History /
• Oceanic Populations on the Eve of European Contact /
• The Political Economy of Dynamic Landscapes /
• Intensification and Specialization in Island Economies /
• Transformations of Status and Power /
• On Comparison: A Closing Comment /

Notes /
References /
Index /