Dating human dispersal in Remote Oceania: a Bayesian view from Hawai’i

Abstract

Settlement date estimates for Hawai'i and New Zealand are derived using Bayesian calibration of radiocarbon dates on paleoenvironmental and archaeological samples to demonstrate that the Bayesian framework provides the tools needed to resolve the order of settlement events in Remote Oceania, as well as the time elapsed between them. It predicts that archaeologists will successfully refine the dating of human dispersal elsewhere in Remote Oceania when they work collaboratively to build chronological models within a Bayesian framework.