On the Road of the Winds
Subtitle: An Archaeological History of the Pacific Islands before European Contact
Edition: 1 edition
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: May 24, 2000
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 446
ISBN-13: 9780520223479
Subjects: Anthropology; Australasian & Pacific archaeology; Australasian & Pacific history; History of other lands; Social Science; History - General History; Historical Archaeology; Prehistory; History: World; Australasia, Oceania & Other Land Areas; Anthropology - General; General; Social Science / Anthropology / General; Archaeology; Australia & New Zealand - General; Antiquities; Oceania; Prehistoric peoples
First sentence: Pacific islanders have always promulgated their own indigenous forms of history, encoded in oral traditions passed from generation to generation.
Description: "On the Road of the Winds synthesizes the grand sweep of history in the Pacific Islands, beginning with the movement of early people out from Asia more than 40,000 years ago, and tracing the development of myriad indigenous cultures up to the time of European contact in the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries.".

"In particular Kirch focuses on human ecology and island adaptations, on the complexities of island trading and exchange systems, own voyaging technology and skills, and on the development of intensive economic systems linked to the growth of large populations. He also draws on his own original field research conducted on many islands ranging from the Solomons to Hawai'i as he takes us on an intellectual voyage into the Oceanic past."--BOOK JACKET.