This thesis examines methodological issues in the analysis of fishbone assemblages from the Pacific. A review of the literature on Pacific fishing raises questions about methodology in Pacific fishbone analysis. Recent work in Pacific fishbone analysis at the Otago Archaeology Laboratory and other international laboratories has shown that different identification and quantification methods have significant...

This study focused on prehistoric pottery production patterns in the Lapita and plainware periods from the islands of 'Upolu and Manono, Samoa. Incorporating a holistic approach to excavated pottery assemblages, stylistic, temper and clay analysis was undertaken to identify whether initial production technology matched a larger regional signature and to test how production strategies changed...

It is only in the last decade that much archaeological research has been carried out in Micronesia and that studies of prehistoric human remains have emerged in any quantity. In this study human skeletal material from eight sites in the Marianas Islands is analysed with particular reference to the health of the individuals. Research on...

Rakiura Māori (New Zealand's southern-most group of indigenous peoples) have harvested the chicks of burrow-nesting sooty shearwaters (Tītī; Puffinus griseus) for generations. As part of the harvest process some families have maintained annual harvest diaries, some of which date back to the 1950s. Throughout this thesis I investigated how these diaries could be used to...

The importance of marine versus terrestrial foods in prehistoric Pacific and New Zealand diets, and the adaptation of the Polynesian diet to new enviroments, is examined through the analysis of the ratios in human bone of the stable isotopes of carbon, nitrogen and sulphur.