44
3 The Oceanographic Context
WPWP. We begin by considering early Spice Island maritime history in the light
of the scant available archaeological evidence for maritime trading in the region in
the last Ice Age and early Holocene. We then explore evidence for major geological
and oceanographic changes to the WPWP in the mid-Holocene and show how these
triggered significant changes in the range and scope of Spice Island exploration and
trading activities, leading eventually to the Spice Islanders’ discovery and settlement
of the largest uninhabited islands in two oceans.
3.4 Early Evidence for Maritime Trading in the Spice
Island Region
The Spice Islanders’ maritime history was to a considerable extent determined
by the unique geography and horticultural history of the archipelago in which
they lived. Joanna Hall Brierley describes the Spice Islands as a “volcanic miniarchipelago of around a thousand islands”. She comments that its islands seem to
have been unusually interdependent, with Spice Islanders relying on inter-island
trade for their survival. She notes that
The early inter-island trade in Moluccan spices was linked to the primary food source of
the islands, the sago palm Metroxylon sagu. This enormously productive palm provided
essential food for the small, volcanic, inner islands of the Moluccan archipelago on which
spices and coconuts were all that could grow. These inner islands profitably traded their
spices for the sago grown on the outer islands of Halmahera, Seram, Kei and Aru [7].
With maritime trade integral to survival at a subsistence level from the first settlement of the inner islands, local subsistence maritime trading in the Spice Islands
may have a time depth of close to 40,000 years. But living in an archipelago where
rare spices grew in unique microclimates may have prompted very early development of the maritime skills and technologies appropriate to more extended regional
trading. To find archaeological evidence dating back 30,000–40,000 years to establish this is, of course, improbable when dealing with the archaeologically fragile
dried flowers and bark that we recognize as cloves and cinnamon.
The first evidence for regional maritime trading in the region dates back 33,000
years, an estimate for the time depth involved for the sea crossing to the Bismarck
archipelago from Sahul [8]. This crossing has been taken to be a measure of
early maritime sophistication and possibly also of evidence for early chert-trading.
Patrick Kirch [8] comments that “The discovery of chert-flaking floors dated at
35,000–33,000 years ago at Yombon in the interior of New Britain (35 kilometres
from the coast) dispels any simple notion that the Pleistocene colonists confined
their activities to the shoreline.” Exploration and an interest in tool-making materials
to use and trade may have gone hand in hand.
Thirteen to fifteen thousand years later, that is 20,000 years ago at the Last
Glacial Maximum, there is archaeological evidence that obsidian was being traded
from the same area, the Talasea and Mopir areas of New Britain, to Matenbek and
Buang Merabak, a distance of some 350 km involving a sea crossing [9]. That
3 The Oceanographic Context
WPWP. We begin by considering early Spice Island maritime history in the light
of the scant available archaeological evidence for maritime trading in the region in
the last Ice Age and early Holocene. We then explore evidence for major geological
and oceanographic changes to the WPWP in the mid-Holocene and show how these
triggered significant changes in the range and scope of Spice Island exploration and
trading activities, leading eventually to the Spice Islanders’ discovery and settlement
of the largest uninhabited islands in two oceans.
3.4 Early Evidence for Maritime Trading in the Spice
Island Region
The Spice Islanders’ maritime history was to a considerable extent determined
by the unique geography and horticultural history of the archipelago in which
they lived. Joanna Hall Brierley describes the Spice Islands as a “volcanic miniarchipelago of around a thousand islands”. She comments that its islands seem to
have been unusually interdependent, with Spice Islanders relying on inter-island
trade for their survival. She notes that
The early inter-island trade in Moluccan spices was linked to the primary food source of
the islands, the sago palm Metroxylon sagu. This enormously productive palm provided
essential food for the small, volcanic, inner islands of the Moluccan archipelago on which
spices and coconuts were all that could grow. These inner islands profitably traded their
spices for the sago grown on the outer islands of Halmahera, Seram, Kei and Aru [7].
With maritime trade integral to survival at a subsistence level from the first settlement of the inner islands, local subsistence maritime trading in the Spice Islands
may have a time depth of close to 40,000 years. But living in an archipelago where
rare spices grew in unique microclimates may have prompted very early development of the maritime skills and technologies appropriate to more extended regional
trading. To find archaeological evidence dating back 30,000–40,000 years to establish this is, of course, improbable when dealing with the archaeologically fragile
dried flowers and bark that we recognize as cloves and cinnamon.
The first evidence for regional maritime trading in the region dates back 33,000
years, an estimate for the time depth involved for the sea crossing to the Bismarck
archipelago from Sahul [8]. This crossing has been taken to be a measure of
early maritime sophistication and possibly also of evidence for early chert-trading.
Patrick Kirch [8] comments that “The discovery of chert-flaking floors dated at
35,000–33,000 years ago at Yombon in the interior of New Britain (35 kilometres
from the coast) dispels any simple notion that the Pleistocene colonists confined
their activities to the shoreline.” Exploration and an interest in tool-making materials
to use and trade may have gone hand in hand.
Thirteen to fifteen thousand years later, that is 20,000 years ago at the Last
Glacial Maximum, there is archaeological evidence that obsidian was being traded
from the same area, the Talasea and Mopir areas of New Britain, to Matenbek and
Buang Merabak, a distance of some 350 km involving a sea crossing [9]. That