bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Philosophy of Transport
Authors: Sutherland Thomas
Published: November 2024

Focusing upon the five books of his early Hermes series, this article argues that Michel Serres furnishes an accomplished, unconventional philosophical account of communication and mediation – a structuralist epistemology designed to comprehend the sciences in their complexity and plurality – that, even decades after its first publication, has significant value for media theory. Two key themes within this pentalogy are highlighted: firstly, its emphasis upon motifs of communication, transport, and circulation, attempting to grasp the scientific field in topological terms, as a kind of networked encyclopaedia; and secondly, its attempt to account for the intricate relationship between the formal and the empirical in all theorization.
On the Medialization of the World and the Mediatization of Discourse
Authors: Hug Theo , Leschke Rainer
Published: November 2024

Descriptions and analyses in both media studies and communication studies correspond to a broad spectrum of terms, descriptive modalities, and ways of thematization. These terminologies and perspectives are partly overlapping but also distinct as regards histories and preferences in various academic contexts. Some expressions also serve as guiding metaphors, generic terms or catchwords with programmatic or paradigmatic claims. Medialization and mediatization are among these expressions that have achieved a high degree of popularity especially in German scholarly discourse. In this paper, we first examine some aspects of the politics of concepts of corresponding discourses in German media and communication studies. In contrast to synonymous or all-inclusive uses of the terms, we argue for a conceptual differentiation and constructive coexistence that can prove fruitful for both theoretical and empirical research.
Pluriversal Socialism – The Very Idea
Authors: Hall Gary
Published: November 2024

‘Pluriversal Socialism – The Very Idea’ starts from the position that politics in the West today is typically conducted in liberal humanist terms. This is the case regardless of whether those involved identify as radical democrats, socialists, communists, feminists, Greens, Marxists or anarchists.
Contemporary antihumanist and posthumanist theory is meant to offer something very different to liberal humanism. Media ecology, media archaeology, new materialism and object-oriented philosophy are all positioned as representing a shift away from anthropocentrism and a modernist epistemology based on the separation of human from nonhuman, subject from object, masculine from feminine, culture from nature, living from non-living. Instead, they champion a radically relational approach to the world that is designed to destablise such ontological dualisms. Yet while antihumanist and posthumanist theorists may write about transgressing the boundary that divides the human from the nonhuman, when it comes to their own ways of being and doing they too often end up operating as bourgeois liberal humanists.
‘Pluriversal Socialism’ continues with my exploration (in texts such as Pirate Philosophy and ‘Anti-Bourgeois Theory’) of how we can not only write non-liberal humanist theory but actually work, act and live as non-liberal humanists too. It does so by drawing on the emphasis that is currently placed by a number of Latin Americanist theorists on pluriversal, ontological, radically relational politics (as distinct from the universal, modernist, counterhegemonic politics of most left thinkers in the Global North). In the process it addresses two important questions that have been raised recently by Arturo Escobar and Boaventura de Sousa Santos respectively: ‘Can we unlearn the liberal individual … in a similar way that we endeavour to unlearn patriarchy, racism and heterosexism?’ And is what we need to do so ‘another theory of revolution’ or a revolution of theory?
‘Pluriversal Socialism’ is part of an ongoing discussion with Gabriela Méndez Cota and Jeremy Gilbert, who wrote responses to my 2019 essay for Media Theory, ‘Anti-Bourgeois Theory’. See Gabriela Méndez Cota, ‘Pirate Traces’ and Jeremy Gilbert, ‘Anti-Bourgeois for What?’, in Media Theory, Vol. 4, No. 1, 2020.
A History of the Idea of Speaking into the Air: A Conversation with John Durham Peters
Authors: Peters John Durham , Russill Chris , Dick Hannah , Young Liam Cole
Published: November 2024

The following is a conversation that took place between John Durham Peters (JDP) and the editors of this special issue, Chris Russill (CR), Hannah Dick (HD), and Liam Cole Young (LCY) on November 18, 2021. The conversation transcript has been edited for clarity.
Speaking Miscommunication: Bridging a Postcolonial Abyss
Authors: Hegde Radha S.
Published: November 2024

The dualistic view of communication as both disease and cure, raised by John Durham Peters in Speaking into the Air, continues to gain traction globally. This view of communication has followed the itineraries of the neoliberal economy and its expectations. Communication today is the site where individual aspirations, market expectations and national interests meet and collide. Taking a cue from Peters of thinking with the past, this essay follows the dualistic narrative in the complex linguistic terrain of India today where the English language and communication serve as a space for defining failure and promoting the remedy of self-development. Engaging with postcolonial examples, the discussion illustrates how narratives of miscommunication are integrated and reinforced in the entrepreneurial space of communication skills training.
Speaking at Iowa: A Personal Essay
Authors: Schwartz Margaret
Published: November 2024

This essay describes the social and intellectual environment at the University of Iowa in the years immediately following the publication of Speaking Into The Air, exploring notions of literary and academic celebrity, power in the classroom, and intellectual lineage.
Translation as A Problem of Communication: Some Reflections on Translating Speaking into the Air
Authors: Deng Jianguo
Published: November 2024

The 2017 Chinese translation of John Durham Peters’ (1999) Speaking into the Air challenged many of the typical ways that North American communication theory had shaped the historical development of communication studies in universities in China. It also challenged the dominant approaches to translating classic texts of English language communication theory, including a previous and seriously flawed 2003 translation of Peters’ 1999 book under the title, The Sorry State of Communication. In this article, the 2017 translator Professor Jianguo Deng discusses the history of communication studies in China, the usual approaches to translating English language scholarship in communication theory, the flawed 2003 text, his approach to re-translating Speaking into the Air, and the influential reception of the 2017 text among humanities scholars working in Chinese languages and cultures.
Introduction: Into the Air
Authors: Young Liam Cole , Russill Chris , Dick Hannah
Published: November 2024

In this introduction to the Into the Air special issue of Media Theory, the editors reflect on the resonances and rhythms of John Durham Peters’ Speaking into the Air (1999). We consider what was in the air at the time of the book’s original publication, and during our time assembling this special issue. Drawing on publication and marketing materials from the book, as well as work in cultural studies, Black studies, and postcolonial theory, we expand on what we see as the generous possibilities and potential for thinking with this text across historical junctures and against conventional understandings of civilizational time. We also introduce the key themes of this special issue and provide a brief overview of the contributions.
Please Take it & Re-use It
Authors: Callahan Sara
Published: November 2024

This essay examines three instances where Eadweard Muybridge’s motion studies have been referenced and reused in present-day visual culture—a scientific experiment that encoded a GIF of a galloping horse into bacterial DNA (2017); a project where multiple frames from the horse-in-motion series were tattooed onto eleven different people (2014); and an activist video that used images of animals from the series to argue for the urgency of species extinction and environmental catastrophe (2019). The author’s central argument is that, in addition to the more or less clearly stated intentions of this image-use, these transmediations of Muybridge’s historical photographic images also activate and extend questions and concerns from recent media theory: contributing to notions such as image ecology and image liveness, and proposing challenges to established distinctions between new/old media, still/moving images, and material/immaterial media qualities. A further suggestion is that their ability to carry out complex theoretical work relating to present-day media practices can help explain why these images have come to have such staying power in visual culture a century and a half after they were first made.
Notes on Oceanic Pharmacology
Authors: Anderman Nicholas
Published: November 2024

Recent oceanographic research indicates that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), one of the earth’s major oceanic circulatory systems, has begun to weaken rapidly. Should the system continue to slow, it will have potentially devastating consequences for climatic negentropy. Given this situation, the world ocean might be understood as a vast, watery pharmakon: a material space of ambivalent effects, yielding up both life and death on a planetary scale. This article explores the pharmacological dimensions of seawater, in four parts. Part one establishes the concept of oceanic pharmacology in conversation with Jacques Derrida’s reading of Plato’s Phaedrus. Part two looks at Bernard Stiegler’s theorization of Derridean diffe?rance and phusis, or nature, in order to argue that the ocean is not a natural thing at all, but must instead be understood as a technical object, i.e. as pharmakon. Part three critically surveys geophysical research on AMOC decline in an effort to shift the concept of oceanic pharmacology into a materialist register. Finally, part four takes up the crucial temporal dimensions of oceanic pharmacology in the context of Christina Sharpe’s notion of residence time. Thinking with Sharpe, the paper concludes with a discussion of what I call resonance time: an oceanic temporality of pharmacological uncertainty.
Intimate Infrastructures We Depend upon
Authors: Paasonen Susanna , Jaaksi Vilja , Koivunen Anu , Nikunen Kaarina , Talvitie-Lamberg Karoliina , Vänskä Annamari
Published: November 2024

This essay takes on Lauren Berlant’s mapping of intimacy as ‘connections that impact on people, and on which they depend for living’ in order to address attachments, dependencies, and vulnerabilities in datafied contexts where digital platforms operate as infrastructures of everyday life. Building on interview material, we explore such intimate attachments as ones rife with friction and inconvenience, asking how vulnerabilities emerge and become differently distributed among our study participants. We argue that thinking about the datafied everyday in terms of intimacy opens up space for considering the fundamental ambiguities involved in what matters to people, what they are attached to, and what they simply need to live with. We further suggest that attending to the complexity and vitality of mundane relating, impacting, and world-making offers ways of exploring and techno-capitalist infrastructures of data extraction and mass surveillance in tandem with other attachments and connections that bind, and matter.
Autism Robot Therapy, Remediation, and Mimetic Disabling
Authors: Roderick Ian
Published: November 2024

This article presents a critical study of the discursive positioning of social robots as intermediaries in remedial practices of care in autism therapy. It begins by examining the promotion of social robots to augment autistic children’s social skills as a form of remediation in which they take on a mediator role between therapist and patient. Drawing from McGuire’s genealogy of autism advocacy, I argue that the therapy robots operate as part of a network of coordinating and normalizing strategies that emerges in response to the evident “crisis” of autism. Hayle’s concept of material metaphor is then applied to highlight the potential discursive-material relations of the interposing role played by the robot. Finally, I argue that though designed as an enabling device, in actuality, metaphoric transferences make the robots mimetically disabling.
Technics and Contingency
Authors: Díaz Alva Alan
Published: November 2024

This text aims to explore the relationship between technics and contingency within a context where computational technologies often have the effect of domesticating the latter, leading to its statistical reduction within the realm of the probable. I will argue that the post-prosthetic and non-correlational character of these technologies prompts us to pursue a line of inquiry that calls for a different understanding of contingency. Instead of solely assigning it to domains external to computational technologies (the ‘externality thesis’), this perspective identifies a form of contingency inherent in these technologies themselves (the ‘internality thesis’). I will develop this approach through a comparative analysis of the work of M. Beatrice Fazi and Mark B.N. Hansen, authors who both draw from Alfred N. Whitehead’s process ontology. I will underscore the tensions between their proposals, trying to identify the main divergences within their speculative ontologies of computation. However, I will also propose that we can read them as complementary propositions that account for the ontological productivity of computational media and operations, allowing us to theorise a form of computational contingency independent from the tendencies towards algorithmic closure and determinism present in contemporary technical systems.
Medium Rare. Photography and Media Theory
Authors: McQuire Scott
Published: November 2024

Photography’s definition as a distinctive medium has often been contested, but seems increasingly challenged in foundational terms in the 21st century. This article will explore photography’s rather unsettled relation to media and media theory by drawing on the writings of Vilém Flusser, Friedrich Kittler, and Bernard Stiegler, who have all — albeit in different ways — positioned the emergence of photography in the 19th century as a signal event in the history of media. Photography marks the point at which cultures long organized around ‘writing’ began to cede ground to cultures in which ‘technological images’ play a growing role. In the 21st century it has become increasingly common to ask whether photography remains faithful to its past or has become something else. My approach here is slightly different: what does the historical transformation of photography tell us about how we understand ‘media’ in the present?
Montage, Memories, Machine
Authors: Pfefferkorn Jasmin
Published: November 2024

This paper explores the entanglement of human perception and machine operations in contemporary photographic culture, using montage as a conceptual resource to interrogate our understanding of photography in the context of computational vision and algorithmic culture. It takes as a key example the ‘Memories’ feature of the Apple Photos application, in which ‘For You’ albums organize and (re)present images from a personal camera roll back to the viewer-user as a slideshow montage. Through a combination of technical analysis and auto-ethnography, it argues that the relation between stillness and motion in this instantiation of montage offers a productive way of understanding what it means to ‘see photographically’ within the contemporary socio-technical assemblages that comprise digital photography.
Lost in Compression
Authors: Malevé Nicolas
Published: November 2024

Recent developments of image generators have introduced a new point of contention in the already contested field of artificial intelligence: the ownership of images. In 2023 Getty Images sued the company Stability AI, accusing it of illegally appropriating photographs for the purpose of training its models. Analysing image generators and stock agencies as probabilistic systems, this text argues that their significant difference lies in their model of appropriation. Where Stability AI proceeds through direct appropriation, the stock agency proceeds through contractual appropriation using its dominant position in the market. The article discusses Getty Images’ release of an image generator trained on its own image collection and critically reflects on the stock agency’s attempt to insert its contractual engine in the core of the generative AI technology, making copyright the regulating principle of the relations of ownership of the system and the principle that constrains the range of images it can produce.
Assessing Traffic Congestion on Ikorodu Road, Lagos, Nigeria: A Comparative Analysis of Time-Based and Volume-Based Indices
Authors: Bello Rasheed , Thompson Kayode , Popoola Mansur
Published: November 2024

Urbanization and economic prosperity are often accompanied by severe traffic congestion in many cities. Lagos’s fast-growing population and demand for mobility make it a victim of this ordeal, especially along key economic corridors like Ikorodu Road. This study aims to identify the most congested sections and assess how effective various indices are for measuring the traffic conditions of Ikorodu Road by using time-based and volume-based traffic congestion indices. Travel time data were estimated using Google Satellite over a two-week period, while traffic volume data were collected using the moving observer car method. The collected data were analyzed using various traffic congestion models, including travel rate, delay ratio, speed performance index, and level of service. The results consistently showed that the section from Ketu to Mile 12 Under-bridge is the most congested, while the Maryland Tunnel to Ojota section experiences the least congestion. However, during peak periods, all sections were found to be habitually gridlocked. Anomalies in the volume-based indices suggested that time-based indices are more effective for measuring congestion, particularly on routes prone to unidirectional traffic flow. This study highlights the severity of traffic congestion along Ikorodu Road and confirms that travel time-based indices are more reliable for assessing congestion in Lagos. These findings provide a foundation for improving traffic assessment strategies and mitigating congestion in the city.
Functional requirements for digital transformation in oil & gas organizations
Authors: Acosta Strobel Jorge , Echevarría Rocío Gutiérrez , García Correa Jorvich , Paternina Alvarez Laura , Severiche Sierra Carlos
Published: November 2024

The functional requirements of the digital transformation in companies in the oil & gas sector were determined. I work with a quantitative approach, explanatory type, it is considered field with a non-experimental, transactional design. The intentional sample was 16 managers from different Petrochemical companies who were involved with the organizational processes of administrative areas. The observation technique was used through a survey, the questionnaire applied has items with multiple response options for five (5) alternatives, as follows: Always; Almost always; Sometimes, Almost never, and Never. In companies in the oil & gas sector, they lack a modern technical, rational and modern tool to respond to current demands that allow the administration and management of the network. The institutional need to propose digital transformation is considered viable; it was concluded that the infrastructure must have the required designs, as well as the operation of the hardware and software components that are used for instrumentation in its architecture.
Employment Entry through Supported Employment
Authors: Beimers David , Biegel David E. , Guo Shenyang , Stevenson Lauren D.
Published: November 2024

Supported employment is an evidence-based intervention in assisting consumers with mental illness in gaining competitive employment. However, many consumers struggle with substance abuse in addition to mental illness. This article examines the factors associated with entry into competitive employment among a population of consumers with co-occurring substance use and mental illness disorders. A total of 113 consumers receiving supported employment services were followed for a period of twelve months. A Cox proportional hazard model was applied to predict which factors were related to employment entry. Overall, 47 percent of consumers entered competitive employment. Factors that predicted employment entry were greater consumer empowerment, lower financial status, and greater supported employment service use. In addition, consumers who were white and who lived in areas with lower community unemployment rates were more likely to enter employment. However, substance use was not associated with employment entry. One important implication of this research is increased understanding of how consumer empowerment may influence engagement and follow-through in the job-seeking process. Other implications for practice and future research are discussed, as well.
Archeology from a Submersible: Rare Physical Evidence of Ancient Deepwater Bottom Fishing in Hawai‘i
Authors: Jokiel Paul L , Kelley Christopher , Rodgers Ku'ulei S
Published: November 2024

Historical accounts of off-shore fishing and methodology are documented in Hawaiian literature yet few accounts of ancient fishing grounds exist since locations were undisclosed and lost over time. A submersible dive (216 m) now provides evidence of a historical site and verification of traditional fishing techniques. A recovered artifact and photo documentation of stones scattered throughout the pinnacle distinctly fit historical descriptions of plummet and sinker stones used in bottom fishing. This paper documents the deepest substantiated pre-contact fishing site to date and substantiates reports of the ability of early Hawaiian fishermen to return to fishing sites well offshore.
Collective action and political agency in the leeward Kohala hinterlands, Hawai‘i Island
Authors: Ladefoged Thegn , McCoy Mark D , Graves Michael W
Published: November 2024

The kuaʻ‘āina, or backcountry, in the Hawaiian Islands was the setting for a dynamic back-and-forth between the collective action of commoner class farmers and political elites. We examine how the long-term history of that dynamic left behind spatial patterns in the form and distribution of domestic, agricultural, and ritual architecture across the Leeward Kohala Field System. We find a contrast between places that were the best and most reliable for farming and lands prone to shortfalls. Less ideal lands were less densely populated with fewer efforts to standardize plot sizes and a lower investment in temple architecture. We suggest that as leeward Kohala was drawn more and more into competition for power that involved local and non-local chiefs, the autonomy of residents diminished, and the ability of local inhabitants to negotiate the demands of elites after this shift was variable, with greater demands likely placed on residents living in optimal zones.
Hokikakika: History and Archaeology of a Catholic Village in the Eastern Tuamotus
Authors: Lagarde Louis , Nolet Emilie , Molle Guillaume
Published: November 2024

On Fakahina atoll (eastern Tuamotus), the remains of Hokikakika village, abandoned in the early 20th century, reveal the history of the christianization of the region by catholic Fathers of the Sacred Hearts. The mission itself, at the intersection of the village’s two main roads, but also full-masonry houses, masonry substructures and secondary features (cisterns, wells, outdoor kitchens, bread oven) testify for the impact of the missionaries in the transformation of the daily lives of pa’umotu people. The aim of this paper is to precisely document Hokikakika’s history through missionary archives and oral testimonies, and confront it with the archaeological record, in order to gain a finer understanding of this crucial phase of Polynesian history.
First Missions in Oceania
Authors: Montón-Subías Sandra , Moragas Natalia , Bayman James Morrison
Published: November 2024

This essay outlines and explores the broader implications of preliminary archaeological excavations at the colonial church and cemetery of San Dionisio (Humatak, Guam, Mariana Islands).  The native Chamorro of the Marianas were the first Pacific Islanders to experience European colonialism following the inception of the Jesuit mission in 1668. Although the Marianas were once perceived as a peripheral outpost of Spanish colonialism in the 17th century, recent scholarship reveals that such locales epitomize the underlying logic of the Jesuit mission system. Moreover, it is increasingly clear that in spite of centuries of colonialism, Guam offers a striking example of indigenous resilience and the vitality of archaeological heritage in the maintenance of contemporary cultural identity.
Bringing Christ to Whaingaroa
Authors: Gumbley Warren , Williams Lyn , Gainsford Matthew
Published: November 2024

Te Nihinihi Mission Station was the second of the Wesleyan mission stations at Whaingaroa (Raglan) replacing the earlier station on the north side of the harbour with a dedicated and distinct mission station on the southern side of the harbour in 1839 which operated until 1881. The mission was the third in a chain of missions established by the Wesleyan Mission Society along the west coast of the North Island and in the interior of the Waikato. The Wallises at Te Nihinihi mission were active and popular with Māori, but during their time the environment changed from one dominated by Māori to one colonised with land purchases by Europeans. Shortly after the Wallises left, land confiscation followed the militarisation of the area during the British invasion of the Waikato. The history of the Whaingaroa Mission is, like most of the other west coast Wesleyan missions, only sketchily understood with no archaeological investigations undertaken prior to the work described here. The mission layout itself describes the integrated yet separated nature of Whaingaroa mission and hints at the changing status and relationship of the mission within the colonising process of Whaingaroa/Raglan Harbour.
States without Archaeological Correlates? A Report from HawaiÊ»i
Authors: Bayman James M , Dye Thomas S , Rieth Timothy M
Published: November 2024

Two recent archaeological narratives of ancient Hawaiian society apply a neo-evolutionary approach to political development to argue that a primary state evolved prior to contact with Europeans in the late 18th century. Our analysis demonstrates that this finding is based on interpretations of indigenous oral traditions and contact-period historical accounts but lacks archaeological warrant. The Hawaiian archaeological record does not yield the conventional neo-evolutionary correlates of statehood. Moreover, archaeological evidence for the neo-evolutionary model of ladder-like transformation is also lacking.  A chronological analysis of Hawaiian political development inferred from the archaeological record reveals that it was a seamless process, with no evidence of a disjuncture when a statehood event might have occurred. We advocate a historical approach to investigating political development in Hawai‘i that articulates directly with the archaeological record, and is sufficiently developed and general to be applicable elsewhere in the world.
Grassroots badly burnt
Authors: Bedford Stuart , Spriggs Matthew , Flexner James , Naupa Anna
Published: November 2024

Here we salute the exceptional contributions of five ni-Vanuatu, who passed away over the last year, to the archaeological understanding of Vanuatu and the wider Pacific over a 50-year period. They were all at one time members of the Vanuatu Cultural Centre’s unique network of Filwokas (fieldworkers) who are involved in protecting, promoting and preserving the country’s cultural heritage. Their careers spanned the pre and post-Independence (1980) period when archaeological research itself was transformed from a largely colonially controlled exercise to being fully locally coordinated and regulated with an emphasis on grassroots awareness.
Shell Artefacts and Shell-Working within the Lapita Cultural Complex
Authors: Szabó Katherine
Published: November 2024

Despite a consistent presence in the archaeological record of the Lapita cultural complex, and their omnipresence in the associated literature, the nature and range of shell artefacts recovered from Lapita sites has only been partially summarized at best. Considering the categories of raw material choice, working techniques, formal artefact types and curation, this article summarizes our current knowledge and points to areas for further research.
Re-interpreting Old Dates: Radiocarbon Determinations from the Tokelau Islands (South Pacific)
Authors: Petchey Fiona , Addison David J. , McAlister Andrew
Published: November 2024

A re-evaluation of available archaeological radiocarbon dates from the Tokelau Islands in West Polynesia demonstrates that careful assessment is essential when developing chronologies from previously published radiocarbon data. The new calibration results point to concurrent and continual human occupation of Fakaofo and Atafu from at least 750-550 years ago up until European contact in AD 1765.
Excavations at Cook’s Cove, Tolaga Bay, New Zealand
Authors: Walter Richard , Jacomb Chris , Brooks Emma
Published: November 2024

The Cook’s Cove site (Z17/311) on the East Coast of the North Island of New Zealand is an unusual example of an archaeological site spanning close to the full duration of the New Zealand prehistoric sequence. In addition to a record of Polynesian activities, the site is also well known as the type site for the North Island Holocene stratigraphy. Recent excavations at Cook’s Cove have resulted in a reinterpretation of the nature of Polynesian occupation and adaptation in this part of the North Island. The application of an ‘event phase’ interpretative approach provides the means for reconstructing a detailed history of environmental processes and their relationships to cultural activities over a period of 700 years.
Cultural Distribution of Obsidian along the Waikato-King Country Coastline, North Island, New Zealand
Authors: Moore Phillip R
Published: November 2024

Analysis of obsidian artefact assemblages from fifteen ‘early’ (pre-AD 1500) Maori sites along an almost 150 kilometre long stretch of the Waikato-King Country coastline in the western North Island shows that while most are dominated by material from Mayor Island, they also contain a significant proportion of ‘grey’ obsidian (grey in transmitted light) from two main source areas – Taupo, and Cooks Beach-Hahei on Coromandel Peninsula. The presence of obsidian from these two source areas in a relatively large number of ‘early’ sites is suggestive of a well-developed exchange network, involving a continuing connection with the same sources over a considerable period of time, perhaps 50–100 years. Possible transportation routes for the obsidian are discussed.
Connections with Hawaiki: the Evidence of a Shell Tool from Wairau Bar, Marlborough, New Zealand
Authors: Davidson Janet , Findlater Amy , Fyfe Roger , MacDonald Judith , Marshall Bruce
Published: November 2024

A tool from the archaeological site at Wairau Bar, New Zealand, is identified as an import from the tropical Pacific. The tool was made by working a cutting edge on the apex of a spiral gastropod shell, identified as Acus crenulatus (formerly Terebra crenulata) (family Terebridae). Similar tools have been found in a number of sites in tropical East Polynesia, dating to the same general time period as Wairau Bar. The tool supports the view that the Wairau Bar site was a pioneering settlement close in time to the initial Polynesian arrival in New Zealand.
The Power of Paradigms: Examining the Evidential Basis for Early to Mid-Holocene Pigs and Pottery in Melanesia
Authors: O'Connor Sue , Barham Anthony , Aplin Ken , Dobney Keith , Fairbairn Andrew , Richards Michael
Published: November 2024

The origin and timing of the introduction of pigs and pottery into New Guinea are contentious topics. Arguments have centred on whether domestic pigs and pottery technology entered New Guinea following the ‘Austronesian expansion’ from Southeast Asia into Island Melanesia, c. 3,300 calBP, or in the early to mid-Holocene. We review the history of the debate and present new dates on pig bone and pottery contexts from archaeological sites, including Taora and Lachitu, on the north coast of mainland Papua New Guinea (PNG), where earlier data supported claims for early pig and pottery. We argue that theoretical positions about ‘Neolithic’ origins in PNG influenced the relative willingness to accept early dates prima facie and conclude that current evidence shows neither pig nor pottery arrived before 3,000 calBP in mainland PNG.
Pohnpei Coring Records: the Natural Distribution of Cyrtosperma chamissonis
Authors: Athens J. Stephen , Stevenson Janelle
Published: November 2024

Dating, pollen, and charcoal particle findings are presented from two mangrove swamp cores recovered from Pohnpei, Eastern Caroline Islands, Micronesia. The cores, from opposite sides of the island, provide continuous sediment se- quences dating from the early Holocene. Pollen analysis demonstrates that the giant swamp taro (Cyrtosperma chamissonis), an important cultigen on many islands in the Western Pacific, was growing on Pohnpei during prehuman times, indicating that its natural prehuman distribution was far wider than previously suspected. The archaeological implications for the prehuman presence of C. chamissonis are discussed. The cores are inconclusive with regard to the timing of initial human settlement and landscape change on Pohnpei, possibly due to their location deep within large coastal mangrove forests where terrestrial pollen types and charcoal from local fires are poorly dispersed.
Exploration as a Strategic Process in the Lapita Settlement of Fiji: the Implications of Vorovoro Island
Authors: Burley David V.
Published: November 2024

Intentional exploration as a systemic and strategic process in the Lapita settlement of Oceania is difficult to identify in archaeological context. An early Lapita site on Vorovoro Island, off the northeast coast of Vanua Levu, Fiji, provides potential insight in this respect. The island has only limited economic resources to support a colonizing group, sug- gesting a strategic role for Lapita occupation. This role, it is hypothesized, was as a landmark and base for exploration of the northern Vanua Levu coast. Radiocarbon dates indicate this took place contemporaneous with, and probably as an extension of first Lapita settlement in western Viti Levu c. 3000–3100 calBP.
Mangareva Fishing Strategies in Regional Context: an Analysis of Fish Bones from Five Sites Excavated in 1959
Authors: Weisler Marshall I. , Green Roger C.
Published: November 2024

In 1959, Roger Green conducted pioneering excavations in Mangareva (or Gambier Islands), French Polynesia, at five rockshelters on three islands (Kamaka, Aukena and Mangareva) totalling ~86 m2 (~99 m3). We report the analysis of 11,340 fish bones yielding 1738 number of identified specimens (NISP) and 421 minimal numbers of individual fish (MNI) dominated by inshore species including parrotfishes (Scaridae), groupers and rockcods (Serranidae), wrasses (Labridae) and surgeonfishes (Acanthuridae). Some 13 fish families (and Elasmobranchii or sharks and rays) were identified. Comparisons with 16 other Oceanic fish bone studies, which report an average of 24 ± 4 families, suggests that larger excavated samples in Mangareva using fine sieving should document additional fish families. Specific comparisons with fish bone assemblages from Reao Atoll, Tuamotus and the makatea island of Henderson (Pitcairn Group) – all within ~500 km of Mangareva – demonstrates the unique composition of the Mangareva archaeo-fauna which is dominated by inshore fish families that could have been captured by a range of hook techniques and, secondarily, netting. The lower pharyngeals of parrotfish were measured to examine spatial (between sites) and temporal changes in fish size. A decrease in fish bone density in one rockshelter tentatively suggests that fishing diminished in later prehistory.
Petrography of Temper Sands in 112 Reconstructed Lapita Pottery Vessels from Teouma (Efate): Archaeological Implications and Relations to Other Vanuatu Tempers
Authors: Dickinson William R. , Bedford Stuart , Spriggs Matthew
Published: November 2024

The remarkable cache of intact and reconstructed Lapita pottery vessels excavated from the Teouma site near the south coast of Efate in Vanuatu has made possible a petrographic temper analysis for which each sherd thin section is known without doubt to derive from a different single pot. Such positive vessel-by-vessel control for the specific provenience of each sherd has not been possible during petrographic study of any other collections of prehistoric potsherds from Pacific Oceania. Our study shows that 100 of 112 Teouma vessels were made using indigenous Efate temper sands of several kinds, but that three of the vessels derive from elsewhere in Vanuatu and nine derive from New Caledonia ~500 km away to the southwest. Petrographic comparison of the Teouma temper sands with tempers in 430 Lapita and post-Lapita sherds from elsewhere in Vanuatu and the geologically related eastern outliers of the Solomon Islands at the northern end of the New Hebrides island arc defines a discrete number of generic temper provinces identified geographically as a guide for future analysis of Vanuatu tempers. Where adequate age control for ceramics is available, no generic distinctions can be drawn between tempers in Lapita and post-Lapita wares from each temper province.
Bayesian re-evaluation of Lapita settlement in Fiji: radiocarbon analysis of the Lapita occupation at Bourewa and nearby sites on the Rove Peninsula, Viti Levu Island
Authors: Nunn Patrick D. , Petchey Fiona
Published: November 2024

80 radiocarbon dates are presented for Lapita-era sites on the Rove Peninsula, southwest Viti Levu Island, Fiji.  Of these, 67 are from the Bourewa site which is the largest and probably the earliest in the area.  Of these, 10 are rejected as not being demonstrably associated with its Lapita occupation. Constraints on date interpretation arising from sample materials are highlighted.  In particular, charcoals that have not been identified to short-lived tree species, twigs or seeds are evaluated according to observed contextual associations and established understanding of inbuilt age offsets using Bayesian outlier analysis.  It is concluded that many of the dates on charcoal are imprecise indicators of settlement age and have an average offset of 150 years.  Shell radiocarbon results are similarly evaluated and it is concluded that the majority have 14C values that are in equilibrium with the marine radiocarbon reservoir and therefore yield ages that are accurate indicators of Lapita occupation of Bourewa. Results suggest that initial occupation at Bourewa occurred 2814±25 calBP (2837-2786 calBP [68.2% prob.]; 2865-2770 [95.4% prob.]) and ended 2657±20 calBP (2677-2641 calBP [68.2% prob.]; 2690-2614 calBP [95.4% prob.]).  Similar analyses applied to other dated Lapita sites in Fiji shows that, while Bourewa is among the earliest, the Matanamuani (VL 21/5) site on Naigani Island remains the earliest to be securely dated.
Non-destructive XRF Analyses of Fine-grained Basalts from Eiao, Marquesas Islands
Authors: Charleux Michel , McAlister Andrew , Mills Peter R , Lundblad Steven P
Published: November 2024

The Marquesan island of Eiao was an important source of fine-grained basalt in Central East Polynesia, with examples being identified in archaeological assemblages throughout the region. However, compared to many other large-scale Polynesian basalt sources, little has been published about the physical extent and geochemical variability of tool-quality basalt on Eiao; prior to our study, only a single site with evidence of stone extraction had been identified and geochemi- cal information was limited to less than two dozen samples. In this paper we report geochemical data for 225 additional basalt specimens collected on Eiao. Our analyses were conducted non-destructively using three EDXRF instruments: one lab-based unit and two portable analysers. The majority of our sample, identified here as Group 1, possesses geochemical and physical characteristics similar to those reported in previous studies. Group 1 samples were collected from various locations on Eiao suggesting that, rather than being limited to a single quarry site, fine-grained basalt was extracted from multiple sources throughout the island. In addition, we identified a second group (Group 2), which possesses a distinct geochemistry, a coarser grain and often an unusual reddish colour. Evidence from Eiao indicates that Group 2 stone was regularly utilised and our analysis of an adze collected on Hiva Oa Island suggests that this material was distributed at least as far as the southern Marquesas.
Community-Based Research: The next step in Hawaiian archaeology
Authors: Kawelu Kathleen , Pakele Donald
Published: November 2024

In a 1997 keynote address to the Society for Hawaiian Archaeology, Patrick V. Kirch assessed the development of Hawaiian archaeology, past, present, and future. Kirch lamented the shrinking role research institutions played in Hawaiian archaeology, and challenged archaeologists to be more engaged with descendant communities. The landscape of Hawaiian archaeology has changed since Kirch’s 1997 assessment, and more partnerships between archaeologists and Hawaiian community groups have developed since that time. This paper presents an example of community-based archaeology, in which a grassroots group seeks to protect a heiau (place of worship) threatened by harbor expansion. The assembled group includes Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) elders and community members, students, State archaeologists, and Kānaka Maoli archaeologists. A brief contextual background of the sociopolitical history of Hawaiian archaeology is provided, as well as coverage of the development of the project and its potential to serve as an example for similar community efforts elsewhere in the islands.
A Prehistoric Quarry/Habitation Site on Moloka‘i and a Discussion of an Anomalous Early Date on the Polynesian Introduced Candlenut (kukui, Aleurites moluccana)
Authors: Weisler Marshall I. , Mendes Walter P. , Hua Quan
Published: November 2024

According to studies in the early 1990s, quarry/habitation site (MO-B6-161) on leeward Moloka‘i may have been occupied about a century earlier than regional settlement models imply. In the first instance, we dated nut shell fragments from the Polynesian introduced candlenut (kukui, Aleurites moluccana), from the original radiocarbon sample collection curated at the Bishop Museum, producing a calibrated age (at 2 σ) of AD 690-895 (Beta-336756). Our renewed excavations obtained appropriate short-lived twig wood for dating in addition to another date on candlenut. Four dates produced a calibrated median age of AD 1770, more in line with expectations for late prehistoric settlement in these marginal leeward regions. However, the oldest date was not contaminated with old carbon and satisfies all aspects of ‘chronometric hygiene’. Because of this unusually early date (especially on a Polynesian introduced plant), we report in detail its leeward site context, additional dates, depositional context, stratigraphic sequence and the cultural inventory of the MO-B6-161 site as well as the details of sample pretreatment and discuss the absence of sources of carbon contamination. High-quality geochemistry of adze source rock is also presented, thus facilitating island and archipelago-wide interaction studies.
Geochemistry and Technology of Basaltic Glass Artefacts from an Embedded Source and Two High-altitude Base Camps in the Mauna Kea Adze Quarry Complex, Hawai‘i
Authors: McCoy Patrick C. , Weisler Marshall I. , St Pierre Emma J. , Bolhar Robert , Feng Yuexing
Published: November 2024

Located at the base of an escarpment at ~3720 m elevation, in the Mauna Kea Adze Quarry Complex, Hawai‘i Island, is a small outcrop of basaltic glass that was utilised by adze makers for at least several hundred years as a source of toolstone for the manufacture of small, expedient flake tools. A test excavation of this previously unknown source/quarry was undertaken in 1976 to obtain a sample of artefacts to compare with what appeared to be lithologically identical basaltic glass cores and flakes from excavations at two nearby rockshelters used by adze makers as base camps. Comprehensive geochemical analyses of a small sample of flakes from the source and base camps confirm that all but one of the rockshelter artefacts are local basaltic glass and that the manufacture and use of basaltic glass tools was therefore an activity embedded in the adze quarry ‘industry’. The one anomalous sample, which was selected for analysis because of its unusually vitreous appearance, is a trachytic glass flake sourced to Pu‘u Wa‘awa‘a, a volcanic cone located ~40 km west of the Mauna Kea Adze Quarry and source of the best quality and most used volcanic glass on Hawai‘i Island. The provenance of the Pu‘u Wa‘awa‘a flake suggests that it was an offering or gift and not part of some down-the-line exchange network, as often assumed in the case of volcanic glass artefacts found in coastal habitation sites. Although there is no conclusive evidence that any of the Mauna Kea basaltic glass was exported, it is a possibilty that needs to be considered in future studies of volcanic glass distribution patterns, which appear to have been far more complicated than previously thought. To characterise sources/quarries and to provide robust matches of artefacts to sources, we advocate using comprehensive geochemical techniques and reporting the data in full—not just mid-Z elements and select oxide values.
Under the mission steps: An 800 year-old human burial from south Tanna, Vanuatu
Authors: Flexner James L , Willie Edson
Published: November 2024

Archaeological excavations at the late-19th century mission house at Kwamera, south Tanna Island, Vanuatu uncovered an inhumation directly underneath the mission step. Radiocarbon dating of the context revealed this burial to date to the 12th or 13th century AD. In addition to providing new information about the deeper past on Tanna, this finding provides some interesting material for thinking about long-term relationships to ancestors and sacred places on the island and how these related to interactions with missionaries in the 1800s.
Interior Lives: the age and interpretation of perishable artefacts from Maori rockshelter sites in inland Otago, New Zealand
Authors: Anderson Atholl , White Moira , Petchey Fiona
Published: November 2024

Rockshelter and similar sites in inland Otago have produced a relatively large number of Maori artefacts made in readily perishable materials such as flax leaves and fibre, tussock grass or tapa (bark) cloth. Regional preservation is clearly related broadly to the relatively arid climate. However, AMS radiocarbon dates on 11 samples from 10 sites shows that while a few date to the 17th century or earlier, the ages of most cluster in the 18th to early 19th centuries. We argue that this represents a phase of accelerated deposition in which material was left behind deliberately, as logistically-determined storage for future use in a strategic plan for exploiting inland resources. We propose that such a process of ‘furnishing the landscape’ with useful artefacts and stored raw materials became possible when territorial security was achieved by the extension of immigrant tribal authority over the inland region.