Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-25wd4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T05:35:01.265Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

CLARIFYING THE AGE OF INITIAL SETTLEMENT HORIZON IN THE MARIANA ISLANDS AND THE IMPACT OF HARD WATER: A RESPONSE TO CARSON (2020)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 April 2021

Fiona Petchey Open the ORCID record for Fiona Petchey [Opens in a new window]  and
Geoffrey Clark
Fiona Petchey*
Affiliation:
Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory, Te Aka Mātuatua – School of Science, University of Waikato, New Zealand ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, College of Arts, Society and Education, James Cook University, Cairns, QLD, Australia
Geoffrey Clark
Affiliation:
Archaeology and Natural History, College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University, Australia
*
*Corresponding author. Email: fpetchey@waikato.ac.nz
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper is a response to criticism by Carson (2020) concerning the age of the Unai Bapot archaeological site in the Mariana Islands. Of specific contention are supposed errors in the marine radiocarbon (14C) research reported by Petchey et al. (2017). According to Carson, this work produced marine reservoir offsets (ΔR) of “suspiciously wide variance from each other … and those results were incompatible with the site’s reported stratigraphy and dating (Carson 2008) as well as with other previously calculated marine reservoir corrections in the Mariana Islands (Carson 2010: 3).” This statement is misleading on all three points. Our reply discusses the problems encountered when dating shells from near-shore “marine” environments where terrestrial input, in particular hard water, may complicate date interpretation. We outline a cautionary tale relevant to any researcher using “marine” shell dates to develop regional archaeological chronologies in regions dominated by limestone.

Keywords

hard water effectMariana Islandsmarine reservoir effect
Type
Research Article
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 63 , Issue 3 , June 2021 , pp. 905 - 913
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press for the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Allen, MS, Huebert, JM. 2014. Short-lived plant materials, long-lived trees, and Polynesian 14C dating: considerations for 14C sample selection and documentation. Radiocarbon 56(1):257–276.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, AJ, Conte, E, Smith, I, Szabo, K. 2019. New excavations at Fa’ahia (Huahine, Society Islands) and chronologies of colonization in Central East Polynesia. Pacific Archaeology 10(1):1–14.Google Scholar
Ascough, PL, Cook, GT, Dugmore, AJ. 2005. Methodological approaches to determining the marine radiocarbon reservoir effect. Progress in Physical Geography 29:532–547.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baron, J, Clavier, J. 1992. Effects of environmental factors on the distribution of the edible bivalves Atactodea striata, Gafrarium tumidum and Anadara scapha on the coast of New Caledonia (SW Pacific). Aquatic Living Resources 5:107–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bayliss, A. 2015. Quality in Bayesian chronological models in archaeology. World Archaeology 47(4):677–700. doi: 10.1080/00438243.2015.1067640.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 2009a. Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates. Radiocarbon 51:337–360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 2009b. Dealing with outliers and offsets in radiocarbon dating. Radiocarbon 51:1023–1045 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broom, MJ. 1985. The biology and culture of marine bivalve molluscs of the genus Anadara. In: ICLARM Studies and Reviews. International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management, Manila, Volume 12.Google Scholar
Carruth, RL. 2003. Ground-water resources of Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 03-4178.Google Scholar
Clark, J, Quintus, S, Weisler, M, St Pierre, E, Nothdurft, L, Feng, Y, Hua, Q. 2016. Marine reservoir correction for American Samoa using U-series and AMS dated corals. Radiocarbon 58(4). doi: 10.1017/RDC.2016.53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carson, MT. 2008. Refining earliest settlement in Remote Oceania: Renewed archaeological investigations at Unai Bapot, Saipan. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology 3:115–139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carson, MT. 2010. Radiocarbon chronology with marine reservoir correction for the Ritidian archaeological site, northern Guam. Radiocarbon 52:1627–1638.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carson, MT. 2014. First settlement of Remote Oceania: earliest sites in the Mariana Islands. Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carson, MT. 2020. Peopling of Oceania: clarifying an initial settlement horizon in the Mariana Islands at 1500 BC. Radiocarbon 62(6):1733–1754. doi: 10.1017/RDC.2020.89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, G, Petchey, F, Winter, O, Carson, M, O’Day, P. 2010. New radiocarbon dates from the Bapot-1 site in Saipan and Neolithic dispersal by stratified diffusion. Journal of Pacific Archaeology 1(1):21–35.Google Scholar
Cloud, PE Jr, Schmidt, RG, Burke, HW. 1956. Geology of Saipan, Mariana Islands; Part 1. General Geology. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 280-A.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dye, T. 1994. Apparent ages of marine shells: implications for archaeological dating in Hawai‘i. Radiocarbon 36(1):51–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fitzpatrick, SM, Jew, NP. 2018. Radiocarbon dating and Bayesian modelling of one of Remote Oceania’s oldest cemeteries at Chelechol ra Orrak, Palau. Antiquity 92(361):149–164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gingerich, SB. 2002. Geohydrology and numerical simulation of alternative pumping distributions and the effects of drought on the ground-water flow system of Tinian, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 02-4077.Google Scholar
Hart, AM, Bell, JD, Foyle, TP. 1998. Growth and survival of the giant clams, Tridacna derasa, T. maxima and T. crocea, at village farms in the Solomon Islands. Aquaculture 165:203–220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heaton, TJ, Köhler, P, Butzin, M, Bard, E, Reimer, RW, Austin, WEN, Bronk Ramsey, C, Grootes, PM, Hughen, KA, Kromer, B, Reimer, PJ, Adkins, J, Burke, A, Cook, MS, Olsen, J, Skinner, LC. 2020. Marine20—the marine radiocarbon age calibration curve (0–55,000 cal BP). Radiocarbon 62(4):779–820. doi: 10.1017/RDC.2020.68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hung, H-C, Carson, MT, Bellwood, P, Campos, FZ, Piper, PJ, Dizon, E, Bolunia, MJLA, Oxenham, M. 2011. The first settlement of remote Oceania: the Philippines to the Marianas. Antiquity 85:909–826.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mink, JF, Vacher, HL. 1997. Hydrogeology of northern Guam. In: Vacher, HL, Quinn, T, editors. Geology and hydrogeology of carbonate islands. Developments in sedimentology 54. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science. p. 743–761.Google Scholar
Olsen, J, Ascough, P, Lougheed, BC, Rasmussen, P. 2017. Radiocarbon dating in estuarine environments. In: Gell, PA, Weckström, K, Skilbeck, GC, Saunders, KM, editors. Applications of Paleoenvironmental Techniques in Estuarine Studies 20. Dordrecht: Springer. p. 141–170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petchey, F. 2009. Dating marine shell in Oceania: Issues and prospects. In: Fairbairn, A, O’Connor, S, Marwick, B, editors. New directions in archaeological science. Terra Australis 28. Canberra: Pandanus Books, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, ANU.Google Scholar
Petchey, F. 2020. New evidence for a mid- to late-Holocene change in the marine reservoir effect across the South Pacific Gyre. Radiocarbon 62(1):127–139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petchey, F, Anderson, A, Zondervan, A, Ulm, S, Hogg, A. 2008. New marine ΔR values for the South Pacific subtropical gyre region. Radiocarbon 50(3):373–397.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petchey, F, Clark, G. 2011. Tongatapu hardwater: investigation into the 14C marine reservoir offset in lagoon, reef and open ocean environments of a limestone island. Quaternary Geochronology 6:539–554.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petchey, F, Kirch, PV. 2019. The importance of shell: Re-dating of the To’aga site (Ofu Island, Manu’a) and a revised chronology for the Lapita to Polynesian Plainware Transition in Tonga and Samoa. PLoS One. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0211990.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petchey, F, Clark, G, Winter, O, O’Day, P, Litster, M. 2017. Colonization of remote Oceania: new dates for the Bapot-1 site in the Mariana islands. Archaeology in Oceania 52:108–126. doi: 10.1002/arco.5108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petchey, F, Clark, G, Lindeman, I, O’Day, P, Southon, J, Dabell, K, Winter, O. 2018. Shellfish Isotopic insight into changing sea-level and associated impact on the first settlers of the Mariana Archipelago. Quaternary Geochronology 48:180–194. doi.org/10.1016/j.quageo.2018.10.002.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riegl, B. 2011. Mariana Islands, Coral reef geology. In: Hopley, D, editor. Encyclopedia of modern coral reefs. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Dordrecht: Springer. p. 663–670. doi: 10.1007/978-90-481-2639-2_91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reimer, RW, Reimer, PJ. 2017. An online application for ΔR calculation. Radiocarbon 59(5):1623–1627.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reimer, PJ, McCormac, FG, Moore, J, McCormick, F, Murray, EV. 2002. Marine radiocarbon reservoir corrections for the mid- to late Holocene in the eastern subpolar North Atlantic. The Holocene 12(2):129–135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reimer, PJ, Bard, E, Bayliss, A, Beck, JW, Blackwell, PG, Bronk Ramsey, C, Buck, C, Cheng, H, Edwards, RL, Friedrich, M, Grootes, PM, Guilderson, TP, Haflidason, H, Hajdas, I, Hatté, C, Heaton, TJ, Hoffmann, DL, Hogg, AG, Hughen, KA, Kaiser, KF, Kromer, B, Manning, SW, Niu, M, Reimer, RW, Richards, DA, Scott, EM, Southon, JR, Staff, RA, Turney, CSM, van der Plicht, J. 2013. IntCal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55(4):1869–1887. doi: 10.2458/azu_js_rc.55.16947.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rieth, TM, Athens, JS. 2017. Late holocene human expansion into near and remote Oceania: a Bayesian model of the chronologies of the Mariana islands and Bismarck archipelago. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology. doi: 10.1080/15564894.2017.1331939.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Romanek, CS, Grossman, EL, Morse, JW. 1992. Carbon isotopic fractionation in synthetic aragonite and calcite: effects of temperature and precipitation rate. Geochemica Cosmochimica Acta 56(1):419–430.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russell, N, Cook, GT, Ascough, PI, Scott, EM, Dugmore, AJ. 2011. Examining the inherent variability in R: New methods of presenting R values and implications of MRE studies. Radiocarbon 53(2):277–288.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spennemann, DHR. 1987. Availability of shellfish resources on prehistoric Tongatapu, Tonga: effects of human predation and changing environment. Archaeology in Oceania 22(3):81–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spennemann, DHR, Head, MJ. 1998. Tongan pottery chronology, 14C dates and the hardwater effect. Quaternary Geochronology 17:1047–56.Google Scholar
Spriggs, M. 2007. The Neolithic and Austronesian expansion within island Southeast Asia and into the Pacific. In: Chiu, S, Sand, C, editors. From Southeast Asia to the Pacific. Archaeological Perspectives on the Austronesian Expansion and the Lapita Cultural Complex. Academia Sinica. p. 104–125.Google Scholar
Stafford, KW, Mylroie, JE, Jenson, JW. 2002. Karst geology and Hydrology of Tinian and Rota (Luta), CNMI. A preliminary report. Technical report no. 96. Water & Environmental Research Institute of the Western Pacific. University of Guam.Google Scholar
Tanaka, N, Monaghan, MC, Rye, DM. 1986. Contribution of metabolic carbon to mollusc and barnacle shell carbonate. Nature 320:520–523.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilmshurst, JM, Hunt, TL, Lipo, CP, Anderson, AJ. 2010. High-precision radiocarbon dating shows recent and rapid initial human colonization of East Polynesia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108:1815–1820.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed