Chapter 7
The Horticultural Context
Horticulture, Pottery and Plant and Animal
Domestication in the Spice Islands
Abstract This chapter considers a third heritage which, along with the genetic and
maritime heritages that Spice Islanders passed on to their Lapita and Polynesian
descendants, was vital to the successful colonization of the Pacific. This was the
horticultural heritage bequeathed to the Polynesians by their Spice Island ancestors. It involved plant domestication and the manipulated adaptation of domesticated
plants to new environments. We argue that the horticultural skills and knowledge
that the Polynesians inherited from their Spice Island ancestors, who for thousands
of years had been involved in plant domestication in Wallacea, enabled them to
successfully translocate essential staple foods to the varying microclimates of the
Pacific islands they settled. The Polynesians’ past and continuing genetic engineering of some plants and human-assisted adaptation of others enabled them to
create an intensive horticulture on Pacific islands able to sustain significant human
populations.
Keywords Plant domestication · Hybridization · Lapita pottery
7.1 Plant Domestication in the Spice Islands
In the last four chapters we have focused on the oceanographic background to
Spice Island exploration, trading and colonization in the Pacific and Indian Oceans
and on the genetic and maritime heritages that Spice Islanders passed on to
their Lapita and Polynesian descendants. In this chapter we consider a third heritage that Spice Islanders transmitted to their descendants: a horticultural heritage.
This involved skills and knowledge concerned both with plant domestication and
with the manipulated adaptation of domesticated plants to new environments. The
importance of this third heritage for the colonization of the Pacific is obvious:
it enabled the Spice Islanders’ descendants to successfully translocate essential
staple foods to the varying microclimates of the Pacific islands they settled, and
so transform depauperate islands so that they could support significant human
populations.
119
C.E.M. Pearce, F.M. Pearce, Oceanic Migration,
DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-3826-5_7, C
Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010
The Horticultural Context
Horticulture, Pottery and Plant and Animal
Domestication in the Spice Islands
Abstract This chapter considers a third heritage which, along with the genetic and
maritime heritages that Spice Islanders passed on to their Lapita and Polynesian
descendants, was vital to the successful colonization of the Pacific. This was the
horticultural heritage bequeathed to the Polynesians by their Spice Island ancestors. It involved plant domestication and the manipulated adaptation of domesticated
plants to new environments. We argue that the horticultural skills and knowledge
that the Polynesians inherited from their Spice Island ancestors, who for thousands
of years had been involved in plant domestication in Wallacea, enabled them to
successfully translocate essential staple foods to the varying microclimates of the
Pacific islands they settled. The Polynesians’ past and continuing genetic engineering of some plants and human-assisted adaptation of others enabled them to
create an intensive horticulture on Pacific islands able to sustain significant human
populations.
Keywords Plant domestication · Hybridization · Lapita pottery
7.1 Plant Domestication in the Spice Islands
In the last four chapters we have focused on the oceanographic background to
Spice Island exploration, trading and colonization in the Pacific and Indian Oceans
and on the genetic and maritime heritages that Spice Islanders passed on to
their Lapita and Polynesian descendants. In this chapter we consider a third heritage that Spice Islanders transmitted to their descendants: a horticultural heritage.
This involved skills and knowledge concerned both with plant domestication and
with the manipulated adaptation of domesticated plants to new environments. The
importance of this third heritage for the colonization of the Pacific is obvious:
it enabled the Spice Islanders’ descendants to successfully translocate essential
staple foods to the varying microclimates of the Pacific islands they settled, and
so transform depauperate islands so that they could support significant human
populations.
119
C.E.M. Pearce, F.M. Pearce, Oceanic Migration,
DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-3826-5_7, C
Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010