Prehistory and human ecology in Eastern Polynesia: Excavations at Tangatatau Rockshelter, Mangaia, Cook Islands

TLDR

The Tangatatau Rockshelter (site MAN‑44, Mangaia, Cook Islands) yields one of Eastern Polynesia’s most comprehensive chrono‑stratigraphic sequences of artifacts, fauna, and botanical remains. This study outlines the major temporal trends in the site’s artifact, faunal, and paleoethnobotanical assemblages and interprets them in the context of classic Mangaian society, an exemplar of Polynesian “Open” chiefdoms. Two excavation seasons exposed 29 m² of the site’s estimated 225 m² floor area. Radiocarbon dating of 30 samples shows human occupation of the shelter from approximately 1000 to 1700 cal AD.

Abstract

Abstract The Tangatatau Rockshelter (site MAN‐44, Mangaia, Cook Islands) has produced one of Eastern Polynesia's most comprehensive chrono‐stratigraphic sequences of artifacts, vertebrate and invertebrate fauna, and botanical materials. Two seasons of excavation exposed 29 m 2 out of an estimated total floor area of 225 m 2 . A suite of 30 radiocarbon age determinations indicates that human use of the shelter spanned the period from ca. 1000 to 1700 cal AD. This paper outlines the major temporal trends in the artifact, faunal, and paleoethnobotanical assemblages recovered from the site, and discusses these in terms of the development of classic Mangaian society, an exemplar of Polynesian ‘Open’ chiefdoms.