Conny Waters – AncientPages.com – Prehistoric Polynesian seafarers have been exceptionally expert navigators, identified for embarking on a number of the longest and most technically difficult voyages in prehistory. Nevertheless, there’s ongoing debate amongst students about whether or not they ever ventured into very excessive latitudes to make landfall in Antarctica.
Fieldwork localities at Sandy Bay: Places X, A–C, Y and options S5, A, B, C in Space S. Brown specks on the seaside and dunes are sea lion adults and pups. Credit score: Archaeology in Oceania (2024). DOI: 10.1002/arco.5337
This query stays a subject of analysis and dialogue throughout the tutorial neighborhood.
A world workforce of archaeologists and paleoecologists centered on an investigation to handle this inquiry by meticulously inspecting materials proof of prehistoric, particularly pre-European-era, voyaging. The researchers centered on archaeological middens, or refuse deposits, positioned within the distant subantarctic area of the southwest Pacific.
The workforce labored inside an archaeological web site at Sandy Bay, Enderby Island, 500 km south of Stewart Island. Enderby Island, the northernmost of the Auckland Islands group at 51°S, is the southernmost identified prehistoric landfall, regardless of intensive searches for such websites additional south close to Antarctica.
Hawaiian navigators crusing multi-hulled canoe, c. 1781. Picture upploader: Makthorpe – Artist: John Webber, artist aboard Prepare dinner’s ship. Supply: Scanned from web page 20 of the next guide. Grant, Glenn (2004) Hawai`i Wanting Again: An illustrated Historical past of the Islands, Mutual Publishing,
The Sandy Bay web site, the place eroding dunes uncovered skinny layers with Polynesian middens and ovens, was first found and explored by Atholl Anderson and Gerard O’Regan. It was radiocarbon dated in 1998, with extra investigations in 2003, offering the primary proof of pre-European Polynesian occupation at Sandy Bay.
In 2020, the newly assembled workforce of researchers undertook a re-excavation of the location. By this time, additional erosion had uncovered extra bone and charcoal supplies appropriate for radiocarbon courting, thereby permitting the development of a extra exact timeline than beforehand achievable.
Subsequently, the researchers employed Bayesian statistical evaluation on all obtainable radiocarbon dates to mannequin the possible graduation and conclusion dates of prehistoric human occupation on the web site.
The mixed outcomes present that the Sandy Bay web site was most likely first occupied about AD 1250–1320, per identified ages for a similar colonizing occasion in New Zealand and different distant islands of East Polynesia,” Dr. Wilmshurst says.
The historic data from Sandy Bay point out that the realm was occupied intermittently for about 100 years. Supporting this idea of sporadic occupation is the pollen evaluation performed on samples taken meters away from the Sandy Bay middens, in addition to different areas on the primary Auckland and Campbell Islands additional south.
This evaluation revealed no indicators of prehistoric human influence on the island’s vegetation, suggesting restricted and non-continuous human presence throughout that interval.
World cooling through the Little Ice Age probably compelled retreat to Stewart Island (47°S), and the Auckland Islands weren’t reoccupied till Europeans rediscovered them in 1806.
In response to claims that prehistoric voyagers reached Antarctica, researchers talk about quite a few bodily and sensible constraints.
The researchers give attention to a number of vital components just like the phenomenon of human physique warmth loss and the requisite calorie consumption, the provision of latest clothes, developments in boat and sail expertise, and the shortage of appropriate wooden or fiber for boat repairs.
Most notably, there stays a further 2000 kilometers of frigid, high-breaking oceanic waters and sea ice to navigate south of Sandy Bay earlier than a possible Antarctic landfall may very well be achieved.
Even with fashionable expertise, the Southern Ocean is troublesome to navigate safely.
Prof. Anderson acknowledges ongoing debate concerning the southern limits of Polynesian seafaring, stating that “The courting outcomes from Sandy Bay now make Enderby Island the southernmost identified web site for prehistoric Polynesian habitation.”
Polynesian exploration into excessive latitudes showcases exceptional seafaring expertise. Nevertheless, radiocarbon courting proof reveals they stopped about 2, 000 kilometers wanting Antarctica.
“This analysis reveals the adaptability and resilience of early Polynesian navigators on this distant and harsh sector of the South Pacific Ocean, in addition to the numerous limitations to profitable return journey that will have arisen if ventures any additional south had occurred, the researcher stated.”
Supply – Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Analysis
Written by Conny Waters – AncientPages.com Employees Author
