Abstract

Geological analysis was conducted on a stone adze, which was accidentally dug up from an intertidal dredging site on a reef flat in Pohnpei Island, Micronesia in the 1980s. Detailed geological observations identified the material as metamorphic rock (schist), not basalt as originally reported. This result places its source in the continental rocks of Island Melanesia, most probably New Guinea. The location where it was recovered suggests an age that may well go back to when the island was first settled in the early centuries AD. The eastern Micronesian homeland is often thought to be eastern Melanesia based on linguistic and archaeological evidence. The adze, which may have functioned as a prestige good, was possibly brought from their homeland by early settlers or their immediate successors, or imported from New Guinea by them, suggesting that they still had interaction with the Lapita homeland region even after the decline of Lapita long-distance communications. This is the first artifact found at an early settlement site in Micronesia that is documented to be imported from Melanesia and sheds light on a possible early eastern Micronesian settlers’ interaction system.

摘要

对一块石锛进行了地质分析，该石锛是 1980 年代从密克罗尼西亚波纳佩岛礁滩的潮间带疏浚工地意外挖出的。详细的地质观察确定该材料为变质岩（片岩），而不是最初报道的玄武岩。这一结果将其来源置于美拉尼西亚岛的大陆岩石中，很可能是新几内亚。发现它的位置表明其年代很可能可以追溯到公元 20 世纪初期该岛首次有人定居的年代。根据语言和考古证据，密克罗尼西亚东部的故乡通常被认为是美拉尼西亚东部。锛，可能作为一种声望商品，可能是由早期定居者或他们的直接继承人从他们的家乡带来的，或者是由他们从新几内亚进口的，这表明即使在拉皮塔远距离通信衰落之后，他们仍然与拉皮塔家园地区有互动。这是在密克罗尼西亚早期定居点发现的第一件人工制品，据记载是从美拉尼西亚进口的，它揭示了早期密克罗尼西亚东部定居者可能的互动系统。