Vastly Ingenious: The Archaeology of Pacific Material Culture in Honour of Janet M. Davidson

Author(s): Atholl Anderson

Pacific Islands

Reflecting in 1769 on the manners and customs of the South Sea islands, Joseph Banks remarked that 'in every expedient for taking fish they are vastly ingenious.' Hence the title of this book on Pacific material culture, past and present, with broad themes of origins, the movement of peoples and the development of their technologies. Bringing together an impressive group of scholars of Pacific archaeology, the editors have designed the book as both a thoroughly up-to-date and wide-ranging survey and as a festschrift for museum archaeologist Janet Davidson, until recently based at The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Contributors: Atholl Anderson, J. Stephen Athens, Helene Martinsson-Wallin and Karen Stothert, Susan Bulmer, David V. Burley and Richard Shutler Jr, Geoffrey Clark and Duncan Wright, Peter Gathercole, Roger C. Green, Geoffrey Irwin, Rod Wallace and Stephanie Green, Kevin L. Jones, Adrienne L Kaeppler, Foss Leach, Helen Leach, Sean Mallon, Nigel Prickett, Paul Rainbird, Yoshiko H. Sinoto, Ian Smith, Jim Specht, Katherine Szabo, and Moira White. Contents: Contents 1 Introduction 2 Early Maori disc pendants 3 Gourd artefacts from the Kohika lake village 4 Cooking with pots - again 5 Metal Pa Kahawai 6 A cache of fi shhooks from Serendipity Cave 7 Horticultural site complexes on stony soils of the eastern North Island 8 Arthur of HMS Adventure and Veryan, Cornwall 9 Me'a lalanga and the category Koloa 10 Ancestral Polynesian fishing gear 11 Reading Pacific pots 12 The rise of the Saudeleur 13 A study of gorges from the Gogna-Cove Beach Site, Guam 14 The role of fi shing lure shanks for the past people of Pohnpei 15 Shell fishhooks of the Lapita cultural complex 16 The material culture of Makira 17 Shaft-hole stone implements of New Britain 18 Pottery styles at Wanelek, Papua New Guinea 19 Still vastly ingenious? Globalisation and the collecting of Pacific material cultures First published September 2007.


Product Information

Introduction; Early Maori disc pendants; Gourd artefacts from the Kohika lake village; Cooking with pots -- again; Metal Pa Kahawai; A cache of fishhooks from Serendipity Cave; Horticultural site complexes on stony soils of the eastern North Island; Arthur of HMS Adventure and Veryan, Cornwall; Me'a lalanga and the category Koloa; Ancestral Polynesian fishing gear; Reading Pacific pots; The rise of the Saudeleur; A study of gorges from the Gogna-Cove Beach Site, Guam; The role of fishing lure shanks for the past people of Pohnpei; Shell fishhooks of the Lapita cultural complex; The material culture of Makira; Shaft-hole stone implements of New Britain; Pottery styles at Wanelek, Papua New Guinea; Still vastly ingenious? Globalisation and the collecting of Pacific material cultures.

General Fields

  • : 9781877372452
  • : Otago University Press
  • : Otago University Press
  • : 1.2247
  • : September 2007
  • : 255mm X 190mm
  • : New Zealand
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Atholl Anderson
  • : Paperback
  • : English
  • : 990
  • : 319
  • : Archaeology by period / region
  • : b/w photos, drawings & maps