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Ritual House Posts, and "House Societies" in Polynesia: Modeling Inter- and Intra- Household Variability

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Ritual House Posts, and Rapa Nui Journal: Journal of the Easter Island Foundation Volume 22 Issue 1 May Article 3 2008 Ritual House Posts, and "House Societies" in Polynesia: Modeling Inter- and Intra- Household Variability Jennifer G. Kahn Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu Follow this and additional works at: https://kahualike.manoa.hawaii.edu/rnj Part of the History of the Pacific Islands Commons, and the Pacific Islands Languages and Societies Commons Recommended Citation Kahn, Jennifer G. (2008) "Ritual House Posts, and "House Societies" in Polynesia: Modeling Inter- and Intra- Household Variability," Rapa Nui Journal: Journal of the Easter Island Foundation: Vol. 22 : Iss. 1 , Article 3. Available at: https://kahualike.manoa.hawaii.edu/rnj/vol22/iss1/3 This Research Paper is brought to you for free and open access by the University of Hawai`i Press at Kahualike. It has been accepted for inclusion in Rapa Nui Journal: Journal of the Easter Island Foundation by an authorized editor of Kahualike. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Kahn: Ritual House Posts, and "House Societies" in Polynesia Ritual House Posts, and "House Societies" in Polynesia: Modeling Inter- and Intra- Household Variability* Jennifer G. Kahn Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu recent paper by Kahn and Coil (2006) publi hed data (Society Island Marque a Island, Hawaiian Island, and A on intra-site variation in late prehistoric Society Island New Zealand) is recon tructed by examining the available house tructures, focusing on the raw materials used to and relevant archaeological data and hypothese to be tested fashion house posts. Variation in the woods used to con- with future work are proposed. I clo e by turning to the truct po t differed both by site function and socio­ archaeological implications of thi data, specifically how economic tatu of the occupant . Hou e ite serving a greater attention to house post variation - either through elite dwellings or tho e used for specialized, ritual activitie detailed excavation recording techniques and/or wood char­ were constructed from ritually charged and economically coal identification of charred wood fragment in po thole valued tree species, while lower status sleeping hou e were fill - can be u ed a evidence for interpreting the ocial made from common tree species tbat lacked ritual or cos­ ignificance of inter- and intra-hou ehold variation in Poly­ mological association. This pattern was linked to the crea­ ne ia. tion of acred pace on the landscape for a well-defined ritual and social elite who controlled many key a pects of Ho SE POSTS AS RJT AL ATTRACTORS I agricultural production and the ritual calendar in the late TRO E IAN SE SOClETIES" prehi toric Society I land chiefdoms. A "Ho Thus, the wood type used to con truct ignificant architectural elements of hou e structures, such as house Levi-Strauss introduced the concept of the "hou e" a a posts, can have broad ramifications for Polyne ian archae­ social structure, or corporate body holding a landed e tate ology. In this paper, ethnohi torical and archaeological data made up of material and immaterial wealth, and perpetuated for Polyne ian hou e posts are reviewed, including ize and through the transmissions of right names, good, or privi­ hape, raw materials used in their con truction, po t em­ leges (1979:45, 51). Indone ia, Melane ia, and Polyne ia, placement practices, and evidence for their role in domestic were among the areas where Levi- trauss argued that cul­ ritual. Contemporary household archaeology studies in tures were organized as "hou e societie ". In modem Au ­ Polynesia and elsewhere share an innovative view of dwell­ tronesian-speaking cultures ofOceania and island Southeast ings, arguing that hou e structure had both functional, Asia, the role of "houses" as ocial groups i well­ ideational, and ritual meaning and that their architectural documented (Car ten and Hugh-Jone 1995a; Fox 1993a; element had social and co mological import (Kahn 2005; Macdonald 1987; McKinnon 1991, 1995; Reuter 2002' Wa­ Kirch 1996; Kirch and Sahlin 1992; Ladefoged 1998; Sut­ ter on 1990). The e tudie illu trate how dwellings and the ton 1990, 1991; Weisler and Kirch 1985; Oake 1994; ee daily activitie carried out in or around them uch a food also Deetz 1982; Marshall 2000; Me kell 1998; Robin preparation, food sharing feasting, and gift exchange, have 2003; Skyes 1989). Following from this, I argue that varia­ ritual and symbolic meaning. In modem Au trone ian tion in the architectural element of houses, including the "house societies" architectonic feature including architec­ wood u ed to fa hion hou e po t and the form and mor­ tural elaboration and spatial layout of hou e tructure , tem­ phology of house po t layout, can have ocial relevance. ples, and communities, often repre ent facets of social dif­ Using the "hou e ociety" theoretical per pective, I ferentiation linked to hierarchical rank, social status, and will elaborate on thi theme. Diver e ethnographic and eth­ wealth and gender difference (Fox 1995; McKinnon 1991; nohistoric data illustrate the spiritual significance of hou e 2000' Parmentier 1987; Reuter 2002; Waterson 1990; ee posts in modem Austronesian ocietie, particularly their al 0 Firth 1957). roles as ritual attractors. This ethnographic data i u ed as Argument have been put forth that Lapita cultures an analogy for exploring whether or not prehi toric Polyne­ were organized a "hou e ocietie" (Chiu 2005; Green sian societies, who e members poke language belonging 2002; Kirch 1997; Kirch and Green 1987, 200 I) and that to the Au tronesian family and who are regarded a ancient ance tral ocial grouping within Polyne ia dating to c. 2600-2000 BP (Ance tral Polyne ian Society or APS) are "socielie amai 011," shared the cultural idea ofhou e po ts best interpreted as "hou e ocieties" (Kirch and Green a ritual attractor . The main body of the paper reconstructs 2001:201-218). To date, the e studie have relied heavily on the myriad of ways in which the ritual treatment of hou e lingui tic reconstruction and a somewhat thin archaeologi­ posts was expressed in Polynesia at the time of European cal record, a we lack large cale excavations of Lapita or contact and in the historic era. The material nature of hou e APS residential sites. Green (1998, 2002) ha reviewed posts in four prehistoric Ea tern Polyne ian ocietie both archaeological and ethnohi toric evidence that ancient *This paper has been peer-reviewed. Received 8 December 2007; Accepted 4 January 2008; Revised version received March 3,200 . Rapa Nui Journal 14 Vol. 22 (1) May 2008 Published by Kahualike, 2008 1 Rapa Nui Journal: Journal of the Easter Island Foundation, Vol. 22 [2008], Iss. 1, Art. 3 Samoan ocieties were organized around the "house," while hou e po t , including the types of woods used in their con­ Tcherkezoff (in press) has made a similar argument for struction and their elaboration, through carving or other modem Samoa. Proto-historic Tokelau societies can al 0 be decoration, varies according to "hou e" rank. Drawing from interpreted as an example of Polyne ian "hou e ocie­ this, I hypothesize that in ancient Polyne ian dwelling struc­ tie" (see Green and Green 2007:238), while Kirch (1996) tures, house posts served, in part a material repre enta­ has highlighted the importance of the "house' at multiple tions of the "hou e s" ocio-economic, political, and piri­ cales of social organization in Tikopia, a Polynesian Out­ tual statu (much in the arne way that face motifs on Lapita lier. However, it is in Eastern Polynesia that archaeologists pottery may have functioned, after Chiu 2005), in addition have utilized the material record in addition to ethnohi toric to functioning as symbols of venerated ance tor and a and lingui tic evidence to argue most convincingly for the genealogical markers (see below). pre ence of ancient "societies amai on." Examples include The social significance of Au trone ian house po t , ca e tudies from Hawai'i (Ander on 2001); the Society particularly their embodiment of ance tor, is highlighted in Islands (Kahn 2005, 2007; Kahn and Kirch 2003); and ew domestic ritual in which po t playa central part. Varied Zealand and the Cook I lands (Walter 2004). As Polynesia Au trone ian "opening the hou e" rituals focus on hou e was ettled, we can expect the "hou e"-based APS societies post a important architectural features or ritual attractor . to have diverged along local pathways, retaining some key Po ts are' ritually planted" during hou e construction or are or basic components of social organization centered on the provided offerings during hou ehold rites (Bloch 1995:81­ "hou e," while transforming or losing others. 82; Car ten 1995: Ill; Waterson 1990: 124-125). [n highland A common characteristic of ethnographically studied Bali societies, tbe ancestors are called to live as guardian Austronesian "house societie "i that feature of buildings spirits within the dwelling tructure, once the first hou e serve symbolic rather than purely functional purposes. This post has been erected and offerings are made at its base i because the material construction and layout of the physi­ (Reuter 2002:262). In a imilar manner, Gibson (1995: 139­ cal house articulate the dwelling with symbolism and ritual 140, 141-143) de cribes how Ari dwellings are con tructed meaning (Kirch 1996; Water on 1990:91). Ethnographic under the upervision of ritual peciali ts. After conferring and lingui tic data from Au tronesian "house societies" with the ance tor and spirits, the specialists choo e the tree de cribe hou e po ts a 'ritual attractors," ignificant fea­ trunk to be cut down and incorporated into the hou e a ture or points of reference around which key activitie are po t , beam , and ridge poles.
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