Domesticate And Commensal Species: The Transport Of Animals And Plants Across The Pacific

Question 1

Samoan Mula

Answer 1

1. Typically tattooed on women by women
2. Masters that are both men and women
   2.1 Know the genealogy of the people
3. Lie on floor and get portions put on and then have a rest to heal between species which can take many weeks to complete the tattoo
4. Hospitalized by the shock of the pain
5. Men get tattoo to show that they are strong
   5.1 Whether or not it increases resilience to fight off disease

Question 2

Samoan Mounds

Answer 2

1. 1200-900 BP
2. Monuments
3. Burials
4. Heavily forested so hard to find sites
5. Mound with chamber tomb

Question 3

Pigeon Catching

Answer 3

1. Star mounds
   1.1 Shaped like a star like a gummy one
   1.2 Stacked basalt 1.5 m high
   1.3 To get on top have to clamber up and there is a platform
   1.4 7-8 arms to “star”
2. Competitive chiefly activity
   2.1 500 BP
   2.2 Compete to catch pigeons
   2.3 Bigger than our pigeons size of duck
   2.4 They are territorial
   2.5 Catch one male pigeon and tie string to leg and have it fly around and hold on
   2.6 Chiefs stand on edge of rays with their pigeon holding it up and go around and around
   2.7 Another pigeon see this and since territorial go after “decoy” pigeon
   2.8 Assistant will have net and catch new bird
   2.9 Competition was to catch as many birds as they can
   2.10 Missionaries outlawed it because they should be working and work of the devil
3. People eat them

Question 4

Samoan Warfare and Fortifications

Answer 4

1. Many weapons, mostly clubs
   1.1 Excavated in 19th Century
   1.2 Made of heavy thick wood in variety of shapes and sizes
2. Ridgetop forts
   2.1 500 BP
3. Warfare and violence part of their identity
   3.1 Many warriors
4. Combat focused on getting close to opponent and wacking them with one hit and kill them
5. Families have replica on wall to represent their people

Question 5

A Larger Fiji-Tonga-Samoa Group

Answer 5

1. Contact period
   1.1 Economic/social networks (Triangle back to Lapita)
   1.2 Ships for family visit or trading
2. Prehistory
   2.1 Exchange of Samoan basalt and adzes
   2.2 Exchange of Fijian pottery
   2.3 Chiefdoms in Samoa, Tonga, and Fiji all competing with each other (Trading of genes; Say have chiefly title ancestry in Samoa; Tongans kinda isolate themselves and call themselves distinct from the other two)

Question 6

Samoa-Tonga origin for East Polynesia

Answer 6

1. Jump from Samoa to far East Polynesia
   1.1 Hawaii
   1.2 Fiji
2. Language its own

Question 7

Why study Commensal Animals?

Answer 7

1. Commensal = eat at same table
   1.1 Have for variety of animals of why we keep them (eat or use for work) but have them for a reason
2. Intentional and unintentional
   2.1 Having a dog intentionally for protection
   2.2 Unintentionally have a dog or rat because can’t control them and came on boats (gave them scraps)
3. Human engineered dispersal
   3.1 We moved them
4. Proxy for human movement
   4.1 Different animals can tell us how people got there
   4.2 Pig big and bulky and can deal with them but cannot get to island on its own

Question 8

The RAT Model

Answer 8

1. Elizabeth Matisoo-Smith, 1994
2. Rattus exulans (The Pacific Rat)
   2.1 Only way to determine adults vs juveniles is dark bar on adults foot
3. Found on nearly all islands
   3.1 Intentional or unintentional??
4. Not transported by Europeans

Question 9

Collection of modern rats

Answer 9

1. mtDNA extraction from trapped rats
   1.1 Figure out when rats arrived on island then can figure out when people arrived on island
   1.2 Cut open and take organ samples to preserve them and do DNA analysis
2. Problem with modern populations?

Question 10

Modern Rat mtDNA

Answer 10

1. Interaction/Multiple introductions
   1.1 Societies
   1.2 S. Cooks
   1.3 New Zealand
   1.4 Hawaii (Multiple haplotypes of rats so many voyages to islands and each ship different population of rats)
2. Isolation
   2.1 Marquesas
   2.2 Easter Island
   2.3 Chathams (All rats from single voyage event; Populations isolated from others)

Question 11

Ancient DNA Rat Model

Answer 11

1. Archaeological rat bones
2. Extraction of DNA
3. Haplogroups
   3.1 Have others send rat bones and she extracts DNA to get and determine haplogroups
   3.2 Hard part trying to get non contaminated DNA
4. More detailed map from this model
   4.1 Isolated (Philippines/Borneo (on boats and didn’t leave))
   4.2 Interaction (Wallacea and New Guinea (Lapita); Wallacea and Remote Oceania (Lapita))
   4.3 Two Clades in Oceania (Two introductions (divided into 3A (Tonga, Samoa, Fiji) and 3B (everywhere else)))
5. Looks a lot like the people interactions and movement we have talked about

Question 12

Implications from the Ancient rats!

Answer 12

1. # of Haplotypes on island = index prehistoric interaction1.1 More rat Haplotypes more voyages to and from island
2. Near Oceania and Remote Oceania have different haplogroups
3. Break between Samoa/Fiji/Tonga and East Polynesia
4. Tells us about interaction and frequency of it without looking at human remains

Question 13

Pacific Dog husbandry

Answer 13

1. Ethnographic accounts (not for work like us)
   1.1 Raised for food
   1.2 Fed on root crops
   1.3 Teeth ornaments
   1.4 Hair/skin for clothing
2. Archaeological studies
   2.1 Spaniel sized (Hawaii)
   2.2 Short legs (like dachshund)
   2.3 Crowded teeth (Length of snout not big enough for molars and they had to go sideways; Selected breed for that size)
   2.4 No Lapita Dog