An Archaeology of first European contact in the Pacific

• Applicant: Dr. María Cruz Berrocal
• Subject Area: Prehistory and World Archaeology
• Term: from 2017 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 395237127

This project gives shape to an Archaeology of first contacts in the Pacific to characterize the first direct contact and indirect effects -mainly caused by the introduction of new species into the local environments- between Europeans (Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch) and local populations, and their consequences for the latter, in the 16th and 17th centuries. By showing that these early contacts did shape the history on my case study, this project will also show that the region was more affected than previously thought and that the Pacific was a player in global history in parallel with other world regions. This challenges traditional historiography, which considers the 18th century as the time of the first relevant European presence in the Pacific and has neglected the existence and extent of earlier entanglements between indigenous populations and Europeans.Particular goals of the project are: 1) vegetation and plant-related diet changes. 2) demographic changes, through the study of changes in land use -including reshaping of agricultural practices- and burial practices.3) determination of introduced disease through the study of human remains in search for markers of infectious illness.The project is bound to the Western Pacific, the main scenario of the European activities at the time. Within this region, the project focusses on one exceptional archaeological case study: the small island of Alofi (Wallis and Futuna, French Overseas Collectivity, France), included in the Austronesian universe. Alofi is at the Melanesia-Polynesia boundary, and its exposure to foreign agents was null until a Dutch expedition spent there 13 days in 1616. Apparently as a consequence, this 8 km-long island was abandoned and only used for agricultural purposes afterwards, which makes it unique for the study of demographic impacts. Published archival information is available, as well as previous archaeological research (by applicant and project members) which has attested that contact and its material consequences can be studied through archaeology.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants