Отправлено: 27.10.16 22:52. Заголовок: Ceramics and spatial rchaeology at Nan Madol, Pohnpei

Bryson R.U.
Ceramics and spatial rchaeology at Nan Madol, Pohnpei
Degree: Ph.D.
Degree Year: 1989
Institute: University of Oregon
Adviser: Williams S. Ayres

цитата:

Nan Madol consists of a complex of archaeological sites located along the east coast of Pohnpei Island in the Federated States of Micronesia. It served as the seat of Pohnpei's Saudeleur dynasty of paramount chiefs which unified the island''s independent polities in later prehistoric times. The complex has received considerable scientific study in recent years but many aspects of its construction and occupation are not fully understood. The research presented here integrates several related lines of evidence into a coherent picture of its occupation and evolving function through time. An essentially continuous building sequence is documented, beginning with islets which are described by oral historians as priestly residences, followed by ritual sites, and culminating in chiefly residences. Surface artifact distributions are applied to broad questions about the suitability of surface assemblages for archaeological interpretation and specific questions about local site formation processes. It is argued that results of surface artifact analyses may be successfully applied to the interpretation of even the complex archaeological questions posed by Nan Madol. Spatial data must first be screened to remove the "background noise" generated by site formation processes. The effects of tidal inundation are considered in this light. Ceramics are important to an understanding of how Micronesia was settled and have been utilized to demonstrate trade and exchange relationships. An obstacle to an areal synthesis based on pottery is the lack of comparable ceramic data sets. Nan Madol ceramics are considered with this in mind and are analyzed to approach the question of why that apparently successful technology was abandoned before contact. Finally a model of peer polity interaction is applied to the available archaeological and oral traditional data to assess its applicability to socio-political change on the island. It is suggested that an assumption of a vertically integrated socio-political hierarchy on Pohnpei at the time of Nan Madol does not accurately reflect the continuity of local polity autonomy and may not be useful in the interpretation of changes in the island''s socio-political complexion that must have taken place prior to the rise of the Saudeleurs.