AN ARCHAEOLOGY of the PACIFIC RIM Jon M. Erlandson Department

AN ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE PACIFIC RIM Jon M. Erlandson Department of Anthropology University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403 ABSTRACT In this paper, I discuss five themes that unite archaeological studies in the Pacific Rim region. These include (1) the Asiatic origins of indigenous Pacific Rim peoples; (2) the maritime or aquatic adaptations many of these cultures shared; (3) the similarity of many technological traditions of the Pleistocene/Holocene transition; (4) later parallels in the development of cultural complexity; and (5) similarities in the responses of many Pacific Rim peoples to European contacts. My purpose is to illustrate how archaeologists working in California are contributing to a range of anthropological issues with Pacific Rim -- and indeed global -- implications. In discussing similarities among the this vast region, emphaSizing the implications maritime cultures of the North Pacific, Watanabe for archaeologists working in California. My (1992:108) recently suggested that, "... there focus is on those areas and issues I know best. is a need to create a new framework of the coastal zones and the development of intercontinental studies to enlarge and combine maritime societies. the regional perspectives on which traditional anthropological and archaeological studies I begin with some basic definitions and have been based." I agree with this viewpoint, geography. What is the Pacific Rim, for but I also believe archaeologists and instance, what geographic variables are anthropologists have much to gain from an common to the area, and how do these differ even broader comparative perspective, one from other areas around the world? As I define that encompasses not just the North Pacific but it, the Pacific Rim region consists of those lands a larger Pacific Rim region. bordered by the Pacific Ocean. including the numerous islands of the Pacific Basin. Just During the last decade, a number of where the Pacific Rim stops and the "Atlantic American universities -- including the University Rim" or other regions begin is a more difficult of Oregon - have reoriented their programs to question, but for now I define the boundaries of reflect the growing importance of countries, the Pacific Rim region as the relatively markets, and students from across the Pacific mountainous zones that border the Pacific (Erlandson 1993:24). I first encountered this Ocean. Because of the nature of human "Pacific Rim" perspective in 1990 at the dispersals around the Pacific, a strong University of Alaska at Fairbanks, where I was argument could be made that a "Pacific Rim asked to teach a class in the archaeology of the cultural region" should include all of North Pacific Rim. This class gave me the opportunity America, South America, and Australia. This to ponder some of the geographic and larger area encompasses a much wider range of archaeological themes that link many Pacific Rim landscapes and habitats, however, which cultures. The more I thought about it, the more I detracts from the coherence of the was convinced that a coherent argument for a environmental and archaeological records "Pacific Rim Archaeology" could be discussed in this paper. constructed. In this paper, I discuss some environmental and cultural themes that unite Most flat world maps divide the globe 103 down the middle of the Pacific, reflecting the between Asia and the Americas also insured historical links between the Caucasian societies that biological similarities existed between many of Europe and the Americas, and an ancient terrestrial flora and fauna. cultural divide between European and Asian cultures. As these traditional cultural These ecological similarities led to many perceptions break down, it is worth adaptive convergences among Pacific Rim emphasizing that prior to European contact and societies. These may be most pronounced colonization the archaeological record of the around the North Pacific, but there are southern Americas clearly speaks of cultural links not to and northern environmental analogs, as well. Europe, but to Asia. The fjords and complex archipelagoes of southern Alaska, Tierra del Fuego, and New Geography Zealand, for example, are all areas where we might expect adaptive similarities to have The vast Pacific region is developed between widely separated and environmentally diverse, but the margins of the ethnographically diverse peoples. Pacific are united by regional concordances ultimately related to their geological origins. For Archaeology millions of years, processes of plate tectonics have fueled the formation of oceanic plates as I turn now to five general archaeological they moved inexorably outwards from the themes that link past Pacific Rim cultures. spreading centers of the mid-Pacific ridge. These include: (1) their common Asian origins; Around the Pacific "Ring of Fire," this oceanic (2) their general (but highly varied) reliance on crust collides with the western edge of North the exploitation of both aquatic (marine, and South America, and the eastern edges of estuarine, riverine, and lacustrine) and terrestrial Asia and greater Australia. The result is often resources; (3) broad similarities in technological plate subduction with intensive vulcanism, traditions of the Pleistocene/Holocene mountain building, and earthquake activity. transition (see Straus et al. 1996); (4) the Thus, the dramatic landscapes of the Pacific development of sociopolitical and economic Rim are geologically young, mountainous, and complexity during the latter half of the tectonically active, traits with important Holocene; and (5) the generally devastating implications for humans - past and present. effects of European contacts after about AD Topography is generally steep both on land and 1500. offshore, for instance, which tends to stack a variety of habitats close to the coast. Through Asian Origins much of the Pacific region, islands are also All the indigenous peoples of the Pacific relatively common. Both mountainous Rim are of Asian origin. Except for a small coastlines and islands are landscapes where number of Middle and Lower Paleolithic sites in cultures tend to develop in environmentally East Asia, the Pacific Rim archaeological record circumscribed areas, a key point I will return to. is also associated almost exclusively with anatomically modern humans. The antiquity of Another shared geographic trait is distinctively Asian peoples is still debated, with intuitively obvious but also very important: the ideas ranging from about 2 million years to entire region is bounded by the Pacific Ocean. 100,000 years or less. In this often polarized This leads to inevitable similarities in the marine debate, pitting advocates of "Multi-regional resources available to many Pacific Rim Evolution" vs. those of "African Origins" peoples: similar types of shellfish, fish, sea theories, I suspect that a synthetic model mammals, sea birds, etc. This is true even of marked by a more recent origin and spread of Australia, where dramatically different terrestrial Homo sapiens sapiens will eventually prove flora and fauna reside. In the North Pacific, the correct. Whatever the antiquity of modern periodic emergence of a Beringian land bridge 104 humans in East and Southeast Asia, however, destruction of early coastal sites. current evidence suggests that most of the Pacific Rim was settled well after 100,000 years During the Holocene, some Pacific Rim ago: "Greater Australia" (Sahul) about 40,000 peoples (e.g., the maritime Aleut and Koniag) to 60,000 years ago, the Americas most likely subsisted almost completely on aquatic between about 12,000 to 15,000 years ago, resources. Most Pacific Rim societies relied 0 n and much of Oceania between 5,000 and a mix of aquatic and terrestrial resources, 1,000 years ago. however, depending on the relative productivity, diversity, and accessibility of Thus, the Pacific Rim archaeological various aquatic and terrestrial resources. Rich record is overwhelmingly one of anatomically anadromous fish runs in coastal rivers of the modern humans, with the initial colonists of North Pacific sometimes extended the Australia, the Americas, and the Pacific Islands accessibility of marine resources hundreds of all originating in Asia. This means that the kilometers into interior regions. In other areas, indigenous cultures of the Pacific all derived seasonal movements of peoples or the trade of from common stock with virtually identical food and other goods allowed interior people to intellectual capabilities. The archaeology of the obtain marine resources and coastal peoples to Pacific, then, is about the different access terrestrial resources. Along relatively developmental trajectories of various Asian mountainous Pacific Rim coastlines, however, derived peoples and cultures through time. If the close spacing of marine and terrestrial the origin of anatomically modern humans habitats often allowed people to exploit a rich eventually proves to be an "Out of Africa" story, and productive variety of resources within the peopling of the Pacific will just as clearly be relatively small territories. This diversity and an "Out of Asia" story. productivity often led to relatively high population densities and the development of For the most part, therefore, the relatively complex cultures, topiCS I will return to. archaeology of the Pacific can focus 0 n similarities and differences in cultural Like the initial peopling of various Pacific developments through time, without significant Rim regions, aquatic adaptations developed

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