"Oceanian ceramic cultures making earthenware pottery spread during the past 3500 years through a dozen major island groups spanning 6000 km of the tropical Pacific Ocean from western Micronesia to western Polynesia. Island potters mixed sand as temper into clay bodies during ceramic manufacture. The nature of island sands is governed by the geotectonics of hotspot chains, island arcs, subduction zones, backarc basins, and remnant arcs as well as by sedimentology. Because small islands with bedrock exposures of restricted character are virtual point sources of sand, many tempers are diagnostic of specific islands. Petrographic study of temper sands in thin section allows distinction between indigenous pottery and exotic pottery transported from elsewhere. Study of 2223 prehistoric Oceanian potsherds from 130 islands and island clusters indicates the nature of Oceanian temper types and documents 105 cases of interisland transport of ceramics over distances typically

"The Oxford Handbook of Prehistoric Oceania presents the archaeology, linguistics, environment and human biology of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. First colonized 50,000 years ago, Oceania witnessed the independent invention of agriculture, the construction of Easter Island's statues, and the development of the word's last archaic states."--Provided by publisher.

I enjoyed reading this volume. It is rare to see such a comprehensive report on hard data published these days, especially one so insightfully contextualised by the editors' introductory and concluding chapters. These scholars and the others involved in the work really know their stuff, and it shows. The editors connect the preoccupations of Pacific archaeologists with those of their colleagues working in other island regions and on "big questions" of colonisation, migration, interaction and patterns and processes of cultural change in hitherto-uninhabited environments. These sorts of outward-looking, big-picture contextual studies are invaluable, but all too often are missing from locally- and regionally-oriented writing, very much to its detriment. In sum, the work strongly advances our understanding of the early prehistory of Fiji through its well-integrated combination of original research and the reinterpretation of existing knowledge in the context of wider theoretical and historical concerns. In doing so The Early Prehistory of Fiji makes a truly substantial contribution to Pacific and archaeological scholarship. Professor Ian Lilley, The University of Queensland

This unique collection applies globalization concepts to the discipline of archaeology, using a wide range of global case studies from a group of international specialists. The volume spans from as early as 10,000 cal. BP to the modern era, analysing the relationship between material culture, complex connectivities between communities and groups, and cultural change. Each contributor considers globalization ideas explicitly to explore the socio-cultural connectivities of the past. In considering social practices shared between different historic groups, and also the expression of their respective identities, the papers in this volume illustrate the potential of globalization thinking to bridge the local and global in material culture analysis. The Routledge Handbook of Archaeology and Globalization is the first such volume to take a world archaeology approach, on a multi-period basis, in order to bring together the scope of evidence for the significance of material culture in the processes of globalization. This work thus also provides a means to understand how material culture can be used to assess the impact of global engagement in our contemporary world. As such, it will appeal to archaeologists and historians as well as social science researchers interested in the origins of globalization.

“This edited volume of invited chapters honours the four decades of fundamental research by archaeologist Glenn Summerhayes into the human prehistory of the islands of the western Pacific, especially New Guinea and its offshore islands. This area helped to shape and direct many ancient dispersal events associated with Homo sapiens, initially from Africa more than 50,000 years ago, through the lower latitudes of Asia, into Australia, New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, and possibly the Solomon Islands. Around 3000 years ago, coastal regions of northern and eastern New Guinea, and the islands of Melanesia beyond, played a major role in the Oceanic migrations of Austronesian-speaking peoples from southern China and Southeast Asia, migrations that have recently attained new levels of genetic complexity through the analysis of ancient DNA from human remains. For the first time, humans of both Southeast Asian and New Guinea/Bismarck genetic origin reached the islands of Remote Oceania, beyond the Solomons. Many of the chapters in this book deal with archaeological aspects of this Austronesian maritime expansion (which never seriously impacted the populations of the New Guinea Highlands), especially as revealed through the analysis of Lapita pottery and associated artefacts. Other chapters offer archaeological perspectives on trade and exchange, and on related topics that extend into the ethnographic era. The research of Glenn Summerhayes stands centrally amongst all these offerings, ranging from the discovery of some of the oldest traces of Pleistocene human settlement in Papua New Guinea to documentation of the remarkable phenomenon of Lapita expansion through Melanesia into western Polynesia around 3000 years ago. This volume is a fitting celebration of a remarkable career in western Pacific archaeology and population history.” ­— Emeritus Professor Peter Bellwood, The Australian National University

This book offers the only synthesis of early-period Marianas archaeology, marking the first human settlement of Remote Oceania about 1500 B.C. In these remote islands of the northwest Pacific Ocean, archaeological discoveries now can define the oldest site contexts, dating, and artifacts of a Neolithic (late stone-age) people. This ancient settlement was accomplished by the world’s longest open-ocean voyage in human history at its time, more than 2000 km from any contemporary populated area. This work brings the isolated Mariana Islands into the forefront of scientific research of how people first settled Remote Oceania, further important for understanding long-distance human migration in general. Given this significance, the early Marianas sites deserve close attention that has been awkwardly missing until now. The author draws on his years of intensive field research to define the earliest Marianas sites in scientific detail but accessible for broad readership. It covers three major topics: 1) situating the ancient sites in their original environmental contexts; 2) inventory of the early-period sites and their dating; and 3) the full range of pottery, stone tools, shell ornaments, and other artifacts. The work concludes with discussing the impacts of the findings on Asia-Pacific archaeology and on human global migration studies.