World War II Underwater Cultural Heritage Sites in Truk Lagoon: Considering a Case for World Heritage Listing

This paper explores a number of issues in regard to the world heritage listing of the World War II underwater cultural heritage sites located in Truk Lagoon. The destruction of the Japanese Naval Base at Truk was an important event in the American strategy to end World War II and it had a profound effect on the indigenous inhabitants. Divers from all over the world visit Truk Lagoon to dive the 50 shipwrecks and numerous aircraft. The paper investigates the significance of the sites in accordance with the criteria for world heritage listing, and in context with Pacific Island Nations requirements.
© 2004 The Nautical Archaeology Society     

Maritime and Shipwreck Archaeology in the Western Indian Ocean and Southern Red Sea: An Overview of Past and Current Research

This paper provides an overview of previous archaeological research on shipwrecks and the maritime archaeology of the Western Indian Ocean and southern Red Sea. It highlights the early pioneering research on the Santo António de Tanná, wreck off Mombasa Island, before discussing more recent discoveries, surveys and excavations. Attention is drawn to the important distinction between ??shipwreck?? and ??maritime?? archaeology, and the need to develop integrated programmes aimed at investigating the diversity of the maritime heritage of these two regions. Particular attention is also drawn to the increased activity of treasure hunters and other threats to the underwater heritage of these regions, the need to sustain ongoing training and capacity building in maritime archaeology and for strengthening existing legislation.     

Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus) as a paleothermometer: otolith oxygen isotope reconstruction

Stable isotope studies are increasingly important for understanding past environmental and cultural developments along the North Pacific Rim. In this paper, we present methods for using Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus) otoliths as a paleothermometer using a case study from Kodiak Island, Alaska. The results of this study indicate that Pacific cod otoliths record variable paleoenvironmental conditions during the Little Ice Age. The broad distribution of Pacific cod and success in using the otoliths as a paleothermometer makes this method widely applicable to researchers working throughout the northern Pacific Rim.     

Heritage transactions at the Festival of Pacific Arts

The Festival of Pacific Arts, hosted by a different Pacific Island state once every four years, is a prime site for the reproduction of the global discourse on heritage. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted at the festival, this paper focuses on how the concept of heritage is employed at the festival as both an instrument of statecraft and a tool for the assertion of grass-roots political and economic agency. We conclude that heritage in the context of the festival is a form of cultural practice involving relationships of power and inequality, expressed in transactions of ownership and value transformations that have become over determined by economic logic and the concept of property.     

Transformations of cultural heritage in Melanesia: from kastam to kalsa

In this article, I look at the reverberations of the global discourse about heritage at the margins of the global system in the Pacific. To this end, I analyse the development of indigenous concepts of cultural heritage on Baluan Island, in Manus Province, Papua New Guinea. I discuss how over the past 50?years two different heritage concepts have developed on the island, which have been used to reflect upon and direct cultural and social change. Further I show how the genesis and transformation of this local discourse about heritage is driven by local concerns and politics, as well as national and international developments.     

Plant microfossil analysis reveals disturbed forest and a mixed-crop,dryland production system at Te Niu,Easter Island

Plant microfossil analysis was carried out on 12 soil samples from a variety of landscape features at three locations (100–250 m a.s.l.) along a 950 m transect at Te Niu, Easter Island. Pollen and phytolith assemblages were dominated by palms and ground ferns, and suggested disturbed forest. We identified pollen of bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) and starch grains of the common yam (Dioscorea alata), sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) and taro (Colocasia esculenta). The data suggest a mixed-crop, dryland production system at Te Niu dominated by yam and sweet potato, and supplemented by taro and bottle gourd. The data provide direct evidence of crop type and range, supporting the indirect evidence (topographic and landscape features, field and historical research, comparisons with elsewhere in the Pacific) that much of the rock covered landscape of Easter Island was used for intensive horticulture.     

10,000 years of human predation and size changes in the owl limpet (Lottia gigantea) on San Miguel Island,California

To investigate potential human impacts on California Channel Island shellfish stocks over the past 10,000 years, we measured 1718 owl limpet shells from 19 archaeological components on San Miguel Island. Inhabiting the middle intertidal zone of Pacific Coast rocky shores, owl limpets are slow-growing mollusks that can live for 30 years and reach lengths of over 100 mm. Recent ecological studies indicate that owl limpets are highly susceptible to heavy human predation, which results in reduced mean shell sizes among Lottia populations along the coasts of Alta and Baja California. On San Miguel Island, we identified a significant trans-Holocene reduction in mean owl limpet size, beginning more than 6500 years ago and accelerating at least 4400 years ago. Fluctuations in limpet size show no clear correlation with changes in sea surface temperature and marine productivity, suggesting that increased predation by growing human populations was primarily responsible for the reduction in Lottia size over time. Our results provide further evidence that prehistoric peoples significantly influenced nearshore fisheries long before the development of the commercial and industrialized fisheries of historic times.     

Stable isotope analysis of Pacific rat (Rattus exulans) from archaeological sites in Mangareva (French Polynesia): The use of commensal species for understanding human activity and ecosystem change

Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis was applied to archaeological specimens of the commensal Pacific rat (Rattus exulans) to investigate nutrient fluxes in prehistoric socio-ecosystems on Mangareva (Gambier Islands) and their implications for anthropogenic environmental change. The Pacific rat – ubiquitous in Polynesian archaeological sites – is characterised by low dietary selectivity and a limited home range, making it an ideal candidate for assessing changes in island food webs. Temporal trends in diet-derived bone collagen δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values are assessed from three sites: The Onemea Site, Taravai Island (TAR-6), Nenega-iti Rockshelter, Agakauitai Island (AGA-3) and Kitchen Cave Rockshelter, Kamaka Island (KAM-1). An overall trend of decreasing δ¹⁵N values in rat bone collagen over time reflects archipelago-wide changes to island socio-ecosystems most likely resulting from seabird population declines. Differences in site function and human activity may have also influenced local rat dietary patterns. Stable isotope analysis of the Pacific rat provides a low-impact line of evidence towards the reconstruction of human-centred food webs and the flow of nutrients within island socio-ecosystems.     

Review article: Turning the talk of war into history

The Pacific Theater: Island Representations of World War II. Edited by Geofffrey M. White and Lamont Lindstrom. Pacific Islands Monograph Series No. 8, Center for Pacific Islands Studies, University of Hawaii. Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press, 1989. xiv, 433 pp. maps, photos, notes, bibliogs, indexes, US$34.00. Co‐published at Melbourne, Melbourne University Press, 1990. A$44.95.     

Sound recordings and cultural heritage: the Fonck Museum,the Felbermayer collection,and its relevance to contemporary Easter Island culture

Sound recording plays a prominent role in cultural heritage work in the Pacific region, supported by sound archives and institutional collections that serve to preserve this intangible cultural heritage. While it has long been a standard practice for field recordings to be lodged in institutions of learning, recent developments in Pacific research have emphasised the ethical and social benefits that can result from the repatriation of sound recordings to their communities of origin, and from the development of field recording practices in which cultural stakeholders are more directly involved. Meanwhile, the digitisation of historical sound recordings and the use of digital domains for dissemination have become matters of theoretical and methodological inquiry in their own right. This article seeks to contribute to the discourse surrounding the repatriation of historical field recordings through the presentation of findings from a recent Chilean government-funded digitisation and repatriation project involving previously undocumented recordings of Easter Island (Rapanui) music from the Fonck Museum, Viña del Mar. It will explain the circumstances under which the project developed, the strategies pursued in bringing it to fruition, and the reception of the project by the Rapanui community.     

Public archaeology at Baynard-Zion: bringing life back to an antebellum cemetery

ABSTRACT

Heritage tourism is a driving economic force in much of the coastal southeastern United States, including on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, one of the most popular destinations for vacationers in the country. Working with local community members in developing a diverse and multipronged public archaeology program, we helped facilitate research and develop programing at the Baynard Mausoleum and Zion Chapel of Ease and Cemetery (Baynard-Zion). Built and used during the late eighteenth through mid-nineteenth centuries, Baynard-Zion includes some of the oldest marked graves on the island as well as its oldest standing architecture. Using a constellation of techniques, including geophysical surveys, genetic testing of human remains, and limited excavations, research conducted at Baynard-Zion provides an opportunity to enhance public perception and understanding of pivotal historic events and people on the island while also assisting in development plans that promote heritage tourism.     

The Polish contribution to protection of the archaeological heritage in central south Iraq,November 2003 to April 2005

Abstract

Iraq is the cradle of modern civilization, the land of ancient Mesopotamia, and thus unparalleled in its wealth of heritage sites. For years, with its strong Antiquities Law and its professional State Board of Antiquities and Heritage, Iraq protected its antiquities successfully. But since the beginning of the 1990s, many archaeological sites have been looted. Following the Second Gulf War (2003) the Polish government has attempted to assist Iraq. Since November 2003 the Polish Ministry of Culture has been delegating archaeologists for purposes of documentation, intervention and protection of the archaeological monuments located in the central southern part of Iraq, the core land of ancient Babylonia and Sumer. In close cooperation with Iraqi archaeologists, twenty-four projects valued at US$680,000 have been implemented between January 2004 and April 2005, involving aerial and ground reconnaissance and salvage recording of the most threatened archaeological sites. The Polish team has also conducted education and awareness training of the Coalition forces detachments to promote respect for heritage.     

The Chinese Pacifics: A Brief Historical Review

ABSTRACT

This survey reviews the growing role and presence of China in the Island Pacific. As the late Professor Ron Crocombe remarked, in the Pacific a major transition is under way from a range of European to Asian influences. Many Western observers have viewed this rise of Asian, and specifically Chinese, influence with alarm, but Crocombe saw it as offering Pacific Islanders new opportunities. This paper first analyses the diversity that can be masked by terms such as ‘China’ and ‘the Pacific’. Then it surveys recent literature on China in the Pacific and scholarship concerned with longer Chinese histories in the region that most recent commentators ignore and which question a number of their assertions. Finally, it suggests possible future directions for historical research on this topic.     

Tanzania's endangered heritage: A call for a protection program

There is no doubt that heritage resource loss in Tanzania is proceeding at an alarming rate. Natural and human agencies, adverse storage infrastructures and techniques, and lack of trained conservators and curators and of a proper protection program are the major threats that endanger the heritage resources of Tanzania. As our natural and cultural environments bring irreparable damage to the resources that document our human history, we need to preserve and protect them before they vanish. A preservation and protection program for Tanzania should include public education, the establishment of heritage preservation laws, more progress in the inventory and protection of in situ heritage resources, research into preservation and conservation methods, training of staff, and improvements in the curation of collected heritage resources and records. Preservation and protection of heritage resources are collaborative exercises. The scientific and world community need to support and engage in this proposed program both technically and financially, if the preservation and protection of heritage resources in Tanzania are to succeed.

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Résumé Il ne fait pas de doute que la perte des ressources du patrimoine historique se poursuit à un rythme alarmant en Tanzanie. Les agents naturels et humains, des techniques et des locaux de conservation inadaptés, el manque de conservateurs bien formés et d'un programme de sauvegarde adéquat sont les principales menaces qui pèsent sur les biens historiques et culturels en Tanzanie. Comme notre environnement naturel et culturel provoque des dommages irréparables aux sources historiques, nous devons les préserver et les protéger avant qu'elles ne disparaissent. Un programme de préservation et de protection pour la Tanzanie devrait inclure l'éducation du public, l'adoption de lois relatives à la sauvegarde du patrimoine, de nouveaux progrès dans l'inventaire et la protection in situdes vestiges, des recherches sur les méthodes de préservation et de conservation, la formation des responsables et l'amélioration des conditions de conservation et de récolte des objets et de la documentation. La préservation et la protection des vestiges du patrimoine impliquent une large collaboration. Pour arriver à la préservation et à la protection des ressources du patrimoine tanzanien, el faut que la communauté scientifique et mondiale s'implique et soutienne ce projet à la fois techniquement et financièrement.

     

Historical Cross-Border Relocations in the Pacific: Lessons for Planned Relocations in the Context of Climate Change

ABSTRACT

Perennial discussions arise about relocating whole Pacific Island communities because of the impacts of climate change. The relocation of Pacific communities to other countries is generally assumed to be a novel, futuristic idea. Yet in the mid-20th century, three such cross-border movements in the Pacific occurred, with at least another three mooted but not carried out. This paper focuses principally on the 1945 Banaban relocation from present-day Kiribati to Fiji but makes some comparisons with the movement of Vaitupuans from Tuvalu to Fiji in 1947. Research draws on interviews conducted in Fiji and Kiribati in 2012 and 2013; official records housed in the national archives of Kiribati, Fiji and the UK; and the colonial records of the Western Pacific High Commission, held in New Zealand.     

REVIEWS

Urbanisation in the Island Pacific: Towards sustainable development By John Connell and John Lea . London and New York: Routledge. 2002. Pp:xiv + 240. Price: £65     

Assessment and Significance of a World War II battle site: recording the USS Emmons using a High‐Resolution DEM combining Multibeam Bathymetry and SfM Photogrammetry

The USS Emmons, a 106m US Navy Gleaves‐class destroyer minesweeper that sank in 40m of water off Okinawa Island, Japan after kamikaze attack in 1945, is used as a case study for examining the history, multivocal significance, and heritage management of a World War II naval battle site. A baseline record of the site was made using an innovative method incorporating precise control points obtained from high‐resolution multibeam echosounding bathymetry to generate 3D models using structure‐from‐motion photogrammetry. The 3D models produced can be used for sharing information about this underwater cultural heritage and for future in situ monitoring of the archaeological remains.     

The south pacific ‘experiment’: Reflections on the origins of regional identity

Abstract

When colonial administrators decided to encourage a sense of unity among the members of the emergent élite of their Pacific Island territories in the late 1940s, they regarded their project as novel. Rather than a sense of tapping a pre‐existing affinity, it seemed that what was being attempted was social engineering on a grand scale. The first South Pacific Conference of Pacific Island representatives held at Nasinu, Fiji, in April‐May 1950, was seen by European officials and observers as an ‘experiment’.

The attempt to forge a sense of regional unity was seen as pushing against the perceived gulf between Melanesian and Polynesian cultures and as expecting too much in the way of conference skills from ‘undeveloped’ societies. But the ‘experiment’ was considered necessary for other important post‐war goals. Although the Nasinu conference is to be seen broadly as an experiment in the promotion of trusteeship, or ‘native welfare’, principles, there was by no means agreement on its ultimate purposes. For some it offered the best (if risky) chance of minimising United Nations interference in the continuation of colonial control, for others a way of ensuring the demise of empire by serving the needs of self‐determination. Finally, the promotion of a sense of region among Pacific Islanders was seen by some as part of an experiment in keeping the region from Communist influence.     

Training,education, management and prehistory in the Mediterranean: Work in progress on a European Union research project

Abstract

This paper presents the work in progress of TEMPER (Training, Education, Management and Prehistory in the Mediterranean), a research project conducted by a consortium of seven partner institutions in the UK, Greece, Malta, Israel, and Turkey. TEMPER is funded by the European Union, as part of their Euromed Heritage II programme [1] and is the only project funded by the programme focusing on our prehistoric cultural heritage. The aim of TEMPER is to make the prehistory of the Mediterranean more accessible. This will be achieved through the development of educational programmes at pilot sites around the Mediterranean, the development of management plans for pilot sites, the delivery of a related training programme and dissemination of the project results. The project runs from January 2002 to June 2004.