Seminar I: Phillipe Endicott
27 MARCH 23
IHP-EFEO Talk
Organized by the EFEO Taipei Center and the Research Archaeology, Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica
Speaker:
Dr. Phillip Endicott (Research Fellow, University of Tartu, Estonia/ National Museum of Natural History, Paris)
Topic:
Whence the Eastern Polynesians?
Overcoming the Orthodox Paradigm of ‘Out of Taiwan’ and its Focus on Samoa
Date:
Monday, April 10, 2023 at 2:30 pm
Venue:
Room 703, Research Building, IHP, Academia Sinica
Abstract:
The belief that Eastern Polynesia was settled from Samoa is strongly influenced by the ethnogenetic model of Kirch and Green, which argues that an Archaic East Polynesian cultural horizon derived from Ancestral Polynesian Society in western Polynesia prior to 2,000 BP. As such, it is an extension of the Out of Taiwan ‘fast train’ hypothesis, favouring relative isolation and cultural continuity. Crucially, it also requires a linguistic tree that has eastern Polynesian languages branching early from the Samoic and Outlier languages. However, subsequent revision of radiometric dates for eastern Polynesia now place settlement ~1,000 BP. Further, recent population genetic studies consistently find evidence for large-scale ongoing migration post-Lapita into the ancestors of today’s Polynesians, thereby invalidating the assumption of isolation. Moreover, the analysis of William (Pila) Wilson provides an alternative linguistic tree that predicted these late dates for the divergence of eastern Polynesian languages and places their origin, not in Samoa, but among the Polynesian speaking communities of the eastern Solomon Islands. These belong to the twenty-three so-called Outliers spread throughout Melanesia and Micronesia, which, as their collective noun implies, have historically had a marginal role in the history of Polynesian studies. Here, I review the recent genetic evidence from the leeward Society Isles, considered to be the ancient cultural hub of eastern Polynesia.
The talk will be chaired by Dr. Scarlett Chiu, Research Fellow, Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica & Prof. Frank Muyard, Head of EFEO Taipei Center
The talk will be given in English. Registration is not required.
lecture
Organized by the EFEO Taipei Center and the Research Archaeology, Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica
Speaker:
Dr. Phillip Endicott (Research Fellow, University of Tartu, Estonia/ National Museum of Natural History, Paris)
Topic:
Whence the Eastern Polynesians?
Overcoming the Orthodox Paradigm of ‘Out of Taiwan’ and its Focus on Samoa
Date:
Monday, April 10, 2023 at 2:30 pm
Venue:
Room 703, Research Building, IHP, Academia Sinica
Abstract:
The belief that Eastern Polynesia was settled from Samoa is strongly influenced by the ethnogenetic model of Kirch and Green, which argues that an Archaic East Polynesian cultural horizon derived from Ancestral Polynesian Society in western Polynesia prior to 2,000 BP. As such, it is an extension of the Out of Taiwan ‘fast train’ hypothesis, favouring relative isolation and cultural continuity. Crucially, it also requires a linguistic tree that has eastern Polynesian languages branching early from the Samoic and Outlier languages. However, subsequent revision of radiometric dates for eastern Polynesia now place settlement ~1,000 BP. Further, recent population genetic studies consistently find evidence for large-scale ongoing migration post-Lapita into the ancestors of today’s Polynesians, thereby invalidating the assumption of isolation. Moreover, the analysis of William (Pila) Wilson provides an alternative linguistic tree that predicted these late dates for the divergence of eastern Polynesian languages and places their origin, not in Samoa, but among the Polynesian speaking communities of the eastern Solomon Islands. These belong to the twenty-three so-called Outliers spread throughout Melanesia and Micronesia, which, as their collective noun implies, have historically had a marginal role in the history of Polynesian studies. Here, I review the recent genetic evidence from the leeward Society Isles, considered to be the ancient cultural hub of eastern Polynesia.
The talk will be chaired by Dr. Scarlett Chiu, Research Fellow, Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica & Prof. Frank Muyard, Head of EFEO Taipei Center
The talk will be given in English. Registration is not required.
lecture