Jillian Swift
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I am an archaeologist specializing in zooarchaeology and stable isotope analysis of archaeofauna across the Indo-Pacific. I am particularly interested in tropical island paleoecology, and the role of human-transported commensal animals in long-term island socio-ecosystem sustainability.
I am an archaeologist specializing in zooarchaeology and stable isotope analysis of archaeofauna across the Indo-Pacific. I am particularly interested in tropical island paleoecology, and the role of human-transported commensal animals in long-term island socio-ecosystem sustainability.
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Papers by Jillian Swift
Eastern Polynesia. Their analysis contributes to understanding such wide-ranging topics
as Polynesian migration and inter-island contact, subsistence and resource utilization
and depression, and the establishment of relative chronologies. Emory, Bonk, and Sinoto
conducted the first systematic analysis of Polynesian fishhooks in 1959. Continued work
by Sinoto laid the groundwork for East Polynesian fishhook studies and their utility
in comparative analysis and chronological applications. This paper reviews previous
Polynesian fishhook arrangements and suggests possible variables for the construction of a
function-oriented classification. A selection of these variables are applied to the collection
of fishhooks excavated by Robert Suggs on Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands, revealing
a more nuanced picture of spatiotemporal trends in fishhook size and morphology than
previously established.
period. We report on the archaeological and palaeoecological investigation of a stratified rock shelter (site AGA-3) on Agakauitai
Island, revealing a sequence of environmental transformation following Polynesian colonisation of the archipelago. Radiocarbon dates
indicate use of the rock shelter from the 13th to the mid-17th centuries, followed by a sterile depositional hiatus, and then final early
post-contact use (late 18th to early 19th century). Zooarchaeological analysis of faunal remains indicates rapid declines in local
populations of seabirds, especially procellariids, as well as later increases in numbers of the introduced, commensal Pacific rat (Rattus
exulans). Macro- and micro-botanical evidence documents transformation of the island’s flora from indigenous forest to one dominated
by economic plants and fire-resistant taxa. A multi-causal model of dynamic interactions, including nutrient depletion due to seabird
loss, most likely accounts for this dramatic ecological transformation.
Eastern Polynesia. Their analysis contributes to understanding such wide-ranging topics
as Polynesian migration and inter-island contact, subsistence and resource utilization
and depression, and the establishment of relative chronologies. Emory, Bonk, and Sinoto
conducted the first systematic analysis of Polynesian fishhooks in 1959. Continued work
by Sinoto laid the groundwork for East Polynesian fishhook studies and their utility
in comparative analysis and chronological applications. This paper reviews previous
Polynesian fishhook arrangements and suggests possible variables for the construction of a
function-oriented classification. A selection of these variables are applied to the collection
of fishhooks excavated by Robert Suggs on Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands, revealing
a more nuanced picture of spatiotemporal trends in fishhook size and morphology than
previously established.
period. We report on the archaeological and palaeoecological investigation of a stratified rock shelter (site AGA-3) on Agakauitai
Island, revealing a sequence of environmental transformation following Polynesian colonisation of the archipelago. Radiocarbon dates
indicate use of the rock shelter from the 13th to the mid-17th centuries, followed by a sterile depositional hiatus, and then final early
post-contact use (late 18th to early 19th century). Zooarchaeological analysis of faunal remains indicates rapid declines in local
populations of seabirds, especially procellariids, as well as later increases in numbers of the introduced, commensal Pacific rat (Rattus
exulans). Macro- and micro-botanical evidence documents transformation of the island’s flora from indigenous forest to one dominated
by economic plants and fire-resistant taxa. A multi-causal model of dynamic interactions, including nutrient depletion due to seabird
loss, most likely accounts for this dramatic ecological transformation.