This article questions how surface stone architecture and site proxemics can inform on the pre-contact use of house structures on Rurutu Island (Austral archipelago) and their relationship to residential social status and/or occupational specialization. After exploring available linguistic and ethnohistoric accounts to understand emic conceptions of Rurutuan houses, I turn to a survey of the archaeological data, using specific site characteristics, like house form, house size, and architectural elaboration, to understand Rurutuan house types in later prehistory, both at the island-wide scale and with a case study focusing on the Tehaumatea chiefly center in Vitaria. Results demonstrate that Rurutuan house architecture varies substantially, with both house form, size, and architectural elaboration signaling house function and site status. While both residential and specialized house forms have been identified, their specific associations with class types are still murky, as most sites heretofore studied are from elite contexts. In terms of chronological shifts in house form through time, there are hints that Rurutuan houses both get larger and their surface architecture becomes more elaborate. These shifts may be due to social factors, like the accumulation of power by diverse social personae (chiefs, warriors, priests, and perhaps craft specialists) and increased chiefly competition through time, although this proposition must be tested with additional fieldwork.

Addison and Matisoo-Smith (2010) challenged the widely accepted model regarding the settlement history of Polynesia, specifically the Lapita only origin of East Polynesia, and identified possible drivers for the resumption of the eastward expansion of Pacific peoples around 1500 BP. In the last 15 years, there have been some significant advances in our understanding of the events that have led to the biological, cultural and linguistic variation we currently see in the Pacific. Here we will review the evidence, particularly the genetic and genomic evidence, related to Pacific settlement history that has accumulated since the publication of Addison and Matisoo-Smith. We then fully investigate these genomic data to see if we are any closer to understanding and reconstructing Pacific settlement history, and to identify any gaps that still exist.

Marine paleoclimate records for the last 1,000 years are scarce in the southwest Pacific, limiting our understanding of complex environmental changes that may have affected Māori seascapes and fisheries. We seek to begin filling this knowledge gap by studying stable oxygen (δ18O) and carbon (δ13C) isotopes in archaeological and modern otoliths from tāmure (Australasian snapper, Chrysophrys auratus), which provide information about water temperature, salinity, and fish diet and metabolism. Our results show that fourteenth and fifteenth century tāmure otoliths recorded environmental conditions that are comparable to twentieth century temperatures, with some evidence for anomalously warmer seas and/or higher precipitation during the fifteenth century. These findings are concordant with previous reconstructions of terrestrial climatic conditions in northern Aotearoa and of central west Pacific Ocean sea surface temperatures, providing additional evidence that Māori experienced a warm climatic period during their first centuries of habitation and fishing in the North Island.

The Watinglo rockshelter provides an occupation record from the central north coast of New Guinea from 13 ka to the last few hundred years, with a hiatus in the later Holocene. Examination of the lithic artefacts from this sequence suggests that within a paradigm of technological continuity and local resource procurement, there were notable fluctuations in the use of particular materials and the intensity with which the site was used. This suggests a pattern of small range size and population fragmentation that may have contributed to the unparalleled linguistic diversity of the wider region.

The use of stable isotope analysis (SIA) has contributed significantly to our understanding of the diets of people who lived in Oceania in the past. While this work has relied extensively on Pacific-wide baselines, in this study, we demonstrate the importance of understanding local isotopic ecologies for the application of SIA to the interpretation of past human diets across the Pacific Islands. We expand on previous isotopic analysis from Waya Island, Fiji, by analysing additional human (n = 3) and faunal (n = 15) remains using δ13C and δ15N data from bone collagen. The analysed samples come from human and faunal individuals excavated from two different sites, Y2-25 “Olo” (2800-2400BP) and Y2-39 “Qaranicagi” (760-660 BP). We used a multispecies approach to SIA to capture aspects of the local isotope ecology of Waya Island, informing our interpretation of the human isotopic data. Through a re-analysis of previously published data alongside these new contributions, we demonstrate how intra-regional isotopic variation in marine environments may complicate the use of Pacific-wide baselines for understanding past human diets.

The Queen Street Gaol Site (R11/1559) excavation in 1987 was one of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland’s earliest large-scale archaeological investigations of a 19th-century colonial site. However, one of its significant findings related to much earlier Māori occupation along the Waihorotiu Stream. Despite over 40 years of work in Auckland, the site remains the only securely dated Māori site in the Auckland Central Business District. Redating samples from the site confirmed the likelihood of human presence in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland as early as AD1280. This discovery aligns with evidence from other early settlement sites around the Waitematā Harbour and the Hauraki Gulf. The Gaol site also provided evidence of Māori occupation in the AD1500s–1600s, including kō (digging stick), ketu (weeding stick), ochre, woven flax, and shell midden deposits which suggest an established community engaged in gardening and marine resource exploitation. These results offer insights into the landscape history of the Horotiu Valley, a topic that has received little attention despite the increasing number of excavations in the region. The redating of material from the Queen Street Gaol underscores its significance in debates over the timing and environmental impact of early Polynesian settlement in Aotearoa New Zealand.

This paper explores the history of Hartley Ferrar’s early 20th-century geological maps to identify the location of Māori pā sites in Te Tai Tokerau Northland, Aotearoa New Zealand. Although in regular use, Ferrar’s maps represent an underexplored resource, revealing over 530 potential pā sites, including many not recorded in the national ArchSite database. The research leverages modern techniques such as georeferencing, manual digitisation, machine learning, and LiDAR analysis to locate sites and suggest possible locations for future surveys to identify unrecorded sites. It highlights the significance of combining historical cartographic data with advanced spatial technologies. The findings underscore the value of Ferrar and his team’s meticulous mapping and use of local informant knowledge for understanding the region’s cultural landscape, while also addressing challenges posed by landscape change, data quality, and evolving definitions of pā. The ongoing work contributes to heritage management, offering robust tools for site preservation and emphasising the need for continued field validation and collaboration with iwi and hapū. Ferrar’s legacy persists through the enduring relevance of his maps for archaeological and cultural research in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Previous palaeo-starch studies in Australia, almost all using stone tool analysis, have yielded a considerable body of information on Indigenous plant processing. Here we build on this work with starch analysis of 58 sedimentary samples from Carpenters Gap 1 and 3 rockshelters, Kimberley, Western Australia. Starch of two species native to the region, supported by calcium oxalate crystal and xylem evidence, was identified at both sites: cf. Dioscorea transversa (pencil yam) tuber, dated from 30,372-27,846 cal BP; and cf. Colocasia esculenta (taro) corm, dated from 26,202-25,143 cal BP. The taro material has not previously been reported in Australian archaeological contexts. We discuss other possible sources of this starch type that have similar, relatively tiny sized grains, showing several differentiating features of taro starch. Results show promise for isolating starch and associated material from archaeological sedimentary records in Australia, which can provide a complimentary line of evidence alongside stone tools. The presence of another microfossil type, euglenoid cysts, provides evidence for gathering wetland/aquatic resources.

The Pahautane chert, which occurs as isolated pockets within Oligocene bioclastic limestone on the West Coast of the South Island, New Zealand, was exploited by indigenous Māori communities over a period of at least 500 years. Thin-section petrography of samples from two localities reveals that the chert is composed predominantly of quartz (85-90% SiO2) and calcite (10-15% CaCO3) with common silicified fossil remains, mainly of benthic foraminifera and sponge spicules, but including a variety of other fauna. Wavelength-dispersive XRF analyses indicate a slightly higher silica content (91-95 weight % SiO2), and very low concentrations of all other elements except calcium. The visually similar Gordon’s Valley chert in South Canterbury, some 260 km to the south, has an almost identical composition. Examination of artefact collections at Canterbury Museum, and other records, shows the Pahautane chert was more widely dispersed than previously thought, and distributed along the western coast of the South Island over a total distance of at least 300 km. This distribution pattern reflects the use of well-established communication routes for the export of nephrite (pounamu) from the West Coast, probably beginning in the late 13th or early 14th century. On the West Coast, Pahautane chert was being used for drilling holes in nephrite up until the middle 1840s.

Between 2013 and 2017 the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) constructed an 18 km expressway along the Kapiti Coast, north of Wellington, called the MacKays to Peka Peka Expressway. The project is abbreviated to M2PP. A large archaeological programme was undertaken during the construction earthworks. 233 new archaeological sites were recorded during the M2PP archaeological programme. The majority of these sites were shell middens. No evidence of gardening was revealed. The data showed that the physical environment was the primary factor in determining both the nature of archaeological sites present and their location. The physical environment of the Kapiti Coast underpinned the subsistence economy – the environment determined the resources and opportunities available to the people.