10.5 Studies with an Illuminating Singular Focus
171
10.5 Studies with an Illuminating Singular Focus
In circumstances such as we find in Hawaii and New Zealand, whose erosion and
tectonic histories suggest that early material evidence will be deep-buried, absent or
unlikely ever to be retrieved, studies with an illuminating singular focus can be especially helpful for verifying information recorded in oral traditions. A good example
is the recent work of Kenneth Collerson and Marshall Weisler [12] which authenticates Hawaiian oral histories recording voyages during the medieval warm period of
several thousand kilometres from Hawaii to Tahiti and back via the Tuamotus. The
authors show that the trace element and isotope chemistries of a stone adze recovered from the Tuamotu archipelago are similar to Kaho’olawe Island hawaiite in the
Hawaiian Islands and that other adzes collected from the Tuamotus have sources
in the Marquesas, Austral and Society Islands and the Pitcairn Group, confirming
that there was widespread trade within Eastern Polynesia during the medieval warm
period. The authors suggest that this trade “continued until 1450 when most voyaging ceased in eastern Polynesia”. In this example a very specific focus has been used
to illuminate an issue of some significance: the trading range and trading history of
Eastern Polynesia during the Medieval Climatic Optimum.
Where Collerson and Weisler’s study focuses on the scientific analysis of material evidence, Fornander [13] uses non-material evidence to establish a Spice Island
origin for the first Hawaiians. He does so through a study which also has a singular
focus: a study of place names in Hawaii which clearly originated in the Spice Island
region.
A guide to migration history can often be found in place names. It is common
practice for migrants to name places in a new homeland after places in the land they
have left. Improbable place names like “New South Wales” and “New Zealand”
have risen from the practice in recent times. Fornander establishes that a considerable number of place names from the Spice Islands and Spice Island region have
been preserved in the Hawaiian archipelago. The preservation of these ancient place
names not only points to a Spice Island origin for the earliest settlements in Hawaii
and for second-wave Spice Island settlements which preceded the southern incursions of 1096 (see Chapter 19) but also implies a largely isolated history for Hawaii
before that time. To have confirmation through Fornander’s analysis of place names
for early Spice Island settlement is important given the reluctance of many Pacific
prehistorians to consider anything other than a late Eastern Polynesian base for
Hawaiian prehistory and archaeology.
That Halmahera, other islands in the Spice Island archipelago, and some islands
in Island Southeast Asia featured directly in Hawaiian ancestral history is strongly
suggested by the naming of islands in the Hawaiian Group and places on those
islands after islands and places in the Spice Island region.
Abraham Fornander lists 31 such namings. Most obvious is the naming of
Molokai in Hawaii after Morotai, an island off the north coast of Halmahera. Oahu
island in Hawaii has the same name as a state in northern Borneo. Bora-bora, one
of the Society Group and Pola-pola, lands in Ewa, Oahu, in Kula, Molokai, and
in Llahaina, Maui of the Hawaiian Group, are named after Pulo-Pora, an island
171
10.5 Studies with an Illuminating Singular Focus
In circumstances such as we find in Hawaii and New Zealand, whose erosion and
tectonic histories suggest that early material evidence will be deep-buried, absent or
unlikely ever to be retrieved, studies with an illuminating singular focus can be especially helpful for verifying information recorded in oral traditions. A good example
is the recent work of Kenneth Collerson and Marshall Weisler [12] which authenticates Hawaiian oral histories recording voyages during the medieval warm period of
several thousand kilometres from Hawaii to Tahiti and back via the Tuamotus. The
authors show that the trace element and isotope chemistries of a stone adze recovered from the Tuamotu archipelago are similar to Kaho’olawe Island hawaiite in the
Hawaiian Islands and that other adzes collected from the Tuamotus have sources
in the Marquesas, Austral and Society Islands and the Pitcairn Group, confirming
that there was widespread trade within Eastern Polynesia during the medieval warm
period. The authors suggest that this trade “continued until 1450 when most voyaging ceased in eastern Polynesia”. In this example a very specific focus has been used
to illuminate an issue of some significance: the trading range and trading history of
Eastern Polynesia during the Medieval Climatic Optimum.
Where Collerson and Weisler’s study focuses on the scientific analysis of material evidence, Fornander [13] uses non-material evidence to establish a Spice Island
origin for the first Hawaiians. He does so through a study which also has a singular
focus: a study of place names in Hawaii which clearly originated in the Spice Island
region.
A guide to migration history can often be found in place names. It is common
practice for migrants to name places in a new homeland after places in the land they
have left. Improbable place names like “New South Wales” and “New Zealand”
have risen from the practice in recent times. Fornander establishes that a considerable number of place names from the Spice Islands and Spice Island region have
been preserved in the Hawaiian archipelago. The preservation of these ancient place
names not only points to a Spice Island origin for the earliest settlements in Hawaii
and for second-wave Spice Island settlements which preceded the southern incursions of 1096 (see Chapter 19) but also implies a largely isolated history for Hawaii
before that time. To have confirmation through Fornander’s analysis of place names
for early Spice Island settlement is important given the reluctance of many Pacific
prehistorians to consider anything other than a late Eastern Polynesian base for
Hawaiian prehistory and archaeology.
That Halmahera, other islands in the Spice Island archipelago, and some islands
in Island Southeast Asia featured directly in Hawaiian ancestral history is strongly
suggested by the naming of islands in the Hawaiian Group and places on those
islands after islands and places in the Spice Island region.
Abraham Fornander lists 31 such namings. Most obvious is the naming of
Molokai in Hawaii after Morotai, an island off the north coast of Halmahera. Oahu
island in Hawaii has the same name as a state in northern Borneo. Bora-bora, one
of the Society Group and Pola-pola, lands in Ewa, Oahu, in Kula, Molokai, and
in Llahaina, Maui of the Hawaiian Group, are named after Pulo-Pora, an island