1. The Last People Alive: Pitcairn & Henderson Islands
Hennie Kashiwa

2. Overview Only habitable islands in Southeast Polynesia
1,000 miles from Marquesas and Societies
Two volcanic and one reef
Settled around 800 A.D.
Co-dependent for survival
Environmental breakdown lead to breakdown of trade
Breakdown of trade lead to the extinction of islanders

3. Mangareva Largest and can support greatest population Pros: Cons:
Water and land for agriculture
Yams, taro, breadfruit, bananas
Trees for canoes
Marine life
Black lipped oyster
Coarse-grained basalt
Hub of greater trade system
Cons:
Lack of high-quality stone

4. Pitcairn Island Small volcanic island—cannot support large population
Pros:
Volcanic glass
Sharp tools
Dense basalt
Tools… adzes, for example
Trees for canoes
Cons:
Steep terrain
Difficult to cultivate
Little sea access
No place to live
Little marine life
Underwater geography unfavorable

5. Henderson Island Reef that has been pushed up by geological forces
Somehow supported a tiny population
Pros:
Abundance of seafood and birds… that’s it. That and sea turtles
A good picnic spot for travelers
Cons:
Little fresh water
No trees suitable for canoe-making
No usable stone
No soil for cultivation

6. Trade: Exports Mangareva Pitcairn Henderson
Black lipped oyster products
Vegetable peelers, fish hooks
Pitcairn
Basalt and volcanic glass
Adzes, cutting tools, oven stones
Henderson
Food, some agricultural products

7. Trade: Imports Mangareva Pitcairn Henderson
Pitcairn: volcanic glass, dense basalt
Henderson: sea turtles
Pitcairn
Mangareva: oyster products, people
Henderson: ?
Henderson
Everything!

8. How do we know this? Marshall Weisler Stone analysis Carbon dating
Physical attributes
Chemical composition
Carbon dating
Waste piles
Charcoal
Human/animal remains

9. It’s all downhill from here…
Interisland trade with the Marquesas “motherland” peaked between 1100 and 1300 A.D.
All trade stopped by 1500 A.D.

10. Henderson Island: Oh No!!!
Complete lack of trade lead to many shortcomings:
No stone for tools, cooking stones
Bird bones, giant clamshells used instead
No wood for canoes
Not much they could do about this one
No oysters
Purse shells used for limited hook making

11. Henderson Island struggles on… for a bit.
After loss of trade, a few dozen people survived for nearly a century
Human presence lead to over harvesting of wildlife
Six species of birds extinct along with sea creatures
All were gone by 1606

12. Pitcairn goes down HMS Bounty arrives in 1790 Finds island uninhabited
People probably disappeared much earlier
Massive deforestation

13. Mangareva gets ugly Deforestation Too many people, not enough to eat
No trees to make canoes; fishing & trade impossible
Erosion of topsoil
Unable to cultivate crops
Too many people, not enough to eat
Carrying capacity met and exceeded
Civil war between east & west… it’s a 5 mile island!
Breakdown in system of government
Cannibalism
Not only eating the freshly dead, but also buried corpses

14. So how did it all end?
Wars?

15. Dwindling Population?
A lone woman survived on San Nicolas Island for 18 years after everyone else died

16. Mass murder?
Fighting, cannibalism?

17. Mass suicide?
A choice of desperation

18. Just sitting around…
Everyone is related to each other… inbreeding taboos prevail

19. Inbreeding…
Ignoring incest taboos, generations begin to become defected… and die off

20. What can we learn? Globalization= increasing worldwide interdependence
Oil, for instance
What would happen if trade broke down with major sources of import?