Voyages of Discovery: The Archaeology of Islands

Voyages of Discovery is the first major synthesis of island archaeological research worldwide. The work brings together experts in the field who are concerned with analyzing islands and island societies from a variety of different archaeological and anthropological perspectives. Major topics include interaction spheres, exchange, human impacts, and theoretical models. Over the past few decades there has been an increased interest in the archaeology of islands. Archaeological approaches to studying islands and island societies have often mirrored those of biologists because islands are relatively isolated, contain unique species or remnant populations, have an impoverished terrestrial ecology, provide opportunities to investigate the effects of animals (e.g., humans) on ecosystems, lend themselves to manipulative experiments, and have implications for helping us understand environmental and social changes on a global level from a microcosmic view. Although islands can be considered somewhat unique compared to mainland environments, environmental and cultural factors played important roles in how islands and islanders developed over time. The field of island archaeology contributes to understanding the fluid boundaries (both physical and mental) that existed for islanders prehistorically and how they adapted to their island world. This book explores a wide range of issues including the impacts humans have had on island ecosystems, the intentional movement of goods, resources, and animals across vast distances, and ways in which archaeologists analyze islands and island societies methodologically and theoretically.

Table of Contents:
Preface List of Contributors Introduction Synthesizing Island Archaeology by Scott M. Fitzpatrick Humans and Their Island Environments Flexible Strategies for Resource Defense on the Northern Channel Islands of California: An Agent Based Model by Douglas J. Kennett and Robert A. Clifford Human Impacts on Ancient Environments: A Case Study from California's Northern Channel Islands by Jon M. Erlandson, Torben C. Rick, and Rene Vellanoweth Prehistoric Resource Depletion in the Northern West Indies by Lisbeth A. Carlson and William F. Keegan Island Interregional Interaction Population Dynamics in the Prehistory of Okinawa by Hiroto Takamiya Inter-Island Exchange in Micronesia: A Case of Monumental Proportions Scott M. Fitzpatrick and Brian Diveley Where the Wild Things Are: Prehistoric Animal Translocation in the Circum New Guinea Archipelago by J. Peter White Island Societies Aren't Always Insular: Tlingit Territories in the Alexander Archipelago and the Adjacent Alaska Mainland by Madonna Moss Methodological, Theoretical, and Historical Approaches to Island Archaeology Island Archaeology and Units of Analysis in the Study of Ancient Caribbean Societies by L. Antonio Curet Island Models of Reticulate Evolution: The "Ancient Lagoons" Hypothesis by John Edward Terrell Insularity in the Crossroads of Island Southeast Asia by Peter Lape Mediterranean Island Prehistory: What's Different and What's New? by John Cherry The Study of Islands and Island Societies Islands of Ambivalence by Atholl Anderson Islands Out of Time? Toward an Analytical Framework by Colin Renfrew

About the Author :
SCOTT M. FITZPATRICK received his Ph.D in Anthropology from the University of Oregon. He has conducted fieldwork and research in the Pacific (Palau, Pohnpei, American Samoa, Easter Island), Caribbean (Barbados, Carriacou) and East Asia (Okinawa). His primary interests include archaeology, colonization and migration, maritime adaptations, trade and exchange systems, culture contact, and the evolution of complex societies. Dr. Fitzpatrick has published articles in Antiquity, Archaeology in Oceania, Journal of Archaeological Science, Journal of Ethnobiology, and Radiocarbon.

Review :
?[A] few simple but powerful models drive much research in this field....[i]nsularity is a mutable concept; as much of the mind as of community and economy.?-Times Literary Supplement ?This book makes a major contribution towards contextualising the archaeology of islands within a global frame of reference, as it brings together some of the leading thinkers involved in the island archaeology debate and demonstrates the relevance of different approaches. It also shows that island archaeology has become a well-established subject in its own right, by accommodating the growing variety of ways in which the island can be conceptualised. We believe that this book goes a long way towards showing how the world island research community has recognised this diversity and is developing increasingly effective ways of approaching it.?-Papers from the Institute of Archaeology ?This superb collection is a cogent statement of much current thinking on the subject that should find its way into university libraries worldwide, and hopefully some of those on islands. Maybe one day it will stimulate islanders' interest in the archeology of their homelands.?-Island Studies Journal ?This thought-provoking volume on a relevant field of anthropological research can be recommended to maritime archaeologists.?-International Journal of Nautical Archaeology ?Voyages of Discovery: The Archaeology of Islands is by no means comprehensive; it is in every way engaging and a step in the right direction. Should your conceptual framework be in desperate need of enlargement, then this is the book for you. If there is bad news in Fitzpatrick's tome, it is this; you must make room in your already crowded shelf for this volume.?-International Journal of Maritime History "This superb collection is a cogent statement of much current thinking on the subject that should find its way into university libraries worldwide, and hopefully some of those on islands. Maybe one day it will stimulate islanders' interest in the archeology of their homelands."-Island Studies Journal "ÝA¨ few simple but powerful models drive much research in this field....Ýi¨nsularity is a mutable concept; as much of the mind as of community and economy."-Times Literary Supplement "[A] few simple but powerful models drive much research in this field....[i]nsularity is a mutable concept; as much of the mind as of community and economy."-Times Literary Supplement "This thought-provoking volume on a relevant field of anthropological research can be recommended to maritime archaeologists."-International Journal of Nautical Archaeology "Voyages of Discovery: The Archaeology of Islands is by no means comprehensive; it is in every way engaging and a step in the right direction. Should your conceptual framework be in desperate need of enlargement, then this is the book for you. If there is bad news in Fitzpatrick's tome, it is this; you must make room in your already crowded shelf for this volume."-International Journal of Maritime History "This book makes a major contribution towards contextualising the archaeology of islands within a global frame of reference, as it brings together some of the leading thinkers involved in the island archaeology debate and demonstrates the relevance of different approaches. It also shows that island archaeology has become a well-established subject in its own right, by accommodating the growing variety of ways in which the island can be conceptualised. We believe that this book goes a long way towards showing how the world island research community has recognised this diversity and is developing increasingly effective ways of approaching it."-Papers from the Institute of Archaeology