The Marquesas Islands: Window into a lost world

In a unique transdisciplinary study of the Marquesan past, University of Auckland archaeologist Professor Melinda Allen, paleoentomologist Dr. Nick Porch and paleobotanist Tara Lewis of Deakin University's School of Life and Environmental Sciences investigated plant and arthropod remains, along with indicators of early Polynesian activity, at Ho'oumi Beach on the island of Nuku Hiva.

Professor Allen says radiocarbon dating of coconut shell and pandanus fruit fragments reveal the deposit formed around the mid-12th century AD, with discoveries of fine charcoal and an adzed timber pointing to a"The sheer variety is impressive, with a remarkable array of beetles, along with ants, flies, spiders, several types of mites, a fig wasp, and other arthropods," she says.

Their presence is further evidence that people were on the island and beginning to explore Nuku Hiva's many valleys, says Professor Allen. "Fragments of fruit from a native fan palm, Pritchardia, may represent a unique Nuku Hiva species. Marquesan Pritchardia were seen by early European visitors, but today all are extinct in the wild. Marquesans used the leaves as thatch for chiefly houses and in fine weaving."

A. Hypoponera cf. punctatissima ant head; B. Nylanderia sp. ant head; C. Tetramorium bicarinatum ant queen pronotum; D. Opopaea-type spider spider carapace; E, F. Cryptamorpha desjardinsii and prothorax . Scale bars all 0.25 mm. Credit: Allen et al.

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