Chapter 10
Studying the History of Spice Island Migration
Through Cultural Diffusion
The Value of Consilient Evidence
Abstract One way of studying ancient migration paths and migration sequence is
by considering the diffusion and evolution of technologies (material culture) and
of cultural and spiritual beliefs and practices (non-material culture). The study of
both can be difficult because of the cumulative effects of later migrations overlaying
and so distorting or destroying earlier cultural practices. Yet, as this chapter demonstrates, even though throughout the Pacific earlier cultures were often overlaid by
the cultures of later migrants, vestiges of earlier cultures or fragments of earlier
traditions often survive to cast light on earlier migration history and to reflect the
different origins and culture of earlier migrants. The persistence of a Lapita matrilineal social structure in New Zealand, with land ownership by matrilineal descent,
is a good example. The preservation in Hawaii of place names derived from the
Spice Islands and Spice Island region similarly harks back to a Spice Island origin
for the earliest settlers in Hawaii.
Keywords Cultural diffusion · Cultural overlay · New Zealand · Hawaii · Cultural
vestiges
10.1 Introduction
One way of studying ancient migration paths and migration sequence is by considering the diffusion and evolution of technologies (material culture) and of
cultural and spiritual beliefs and practices (non-material culture). The study of
both can be difficult because of the cumulative effects of later migrations overlaying and so changing, distorting or destroying earlier cultural practices. The
intensification of voyaging and migration within tropical Polynesia in the Medieval
Climatic Optimum (c. AD 1100–1400) led to significant cultural change and to
the loss of local traditions, knowledge and cultural practices especially in islands
subject to invasion and conquest. Hawaii and Easter Island, as we shall see in
Chapters 16 and 19, are examples of cultures, long preserved in distant and isolated islands, being submerged by the cultural prerogatives of medieval migrants or
conquerors.
161
C.E.M. Pearce, F.M. Pearce, Oceanic Migration,
DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-3826-5_10, C
Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010
Studying the History of Spice Island Migration
Through Cultural Diffusion
The Value of Consilient Evidence
Abstract One way of studying ancient migration paths and migration sequence is
by considering the diffusion and evolution of technologies (material culture) and
of cultural and spiritual beliefs and practices (non-material culture). The study of
both can be difficult because of the cumulative effects of later migrations overlaying
and so distorting or destroying earlier cultural practices. Yet, as this chapter demonstrates, even though throughout the Pacific earlier cultures were often overlaid by
the cultures of later migrants, vestiges of earlier cultures or fragments of earlier
traditions often survive to cast light on earlier migration history and to reflect the
different origins and culture of earlier migrants. The persistence of a Lapita matrilineal social structure in New Zealand, with land ownership by matrilineal descent,
is a good example. The preservation in Hawaii of place names derived from the
Spice Islands and Spice Island region similarly harks back to a Spice Island origin
for the earliest settlers in Hawaii.
Keywords Cultural diffusion · Cultural overlay · New Zealand · Hawaii · Cultural
vestiges
10.1 Introduction
One way of studying ancient migration paths and migration sequence is by considering the diffusion and evolution of technologies (material culture) and of
cultural and spiritual beliefs and practices (non-material culture). The study of
both can be difficult because of the cumulative effects of later migrations overlaying and so changing, distorting or destroying earlier cultural practices. The
intensification of voyaging and migration within tropical Polynesia in the Medieval
Climatic Optimum (c. AD 1100–1400) led to significant cultural change and to
the loss of local traditions, knowledge and cultural practices especially in islands
subject to invasion and conquest. Hawaii and Easter Island, as we shall see in
Chapters 16 and 19, are examples of cultures, long preserved in distant and isolated islands, being submerged by the cultural prerogatives of medieval migrants or
conquerors.
161
C.E.M. Pearce, F.M. Pearce, Oceanic Migration,
DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-3826-5_10, C
Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010