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1000 AD

Over the course of the 1st Millenium AD, several Polynesian groups migrated to the Hawaiian islands. The first colonists brought in a wide range of livestock including pigs, dogs, and chicken. Along with these sources of food, the polynesians living on the Hawaiian Islands also shifted to agricultural food production as wild game eventually began to get scarce.

Cultural Evolution:
The migration of Polynesians onto islands further and further away from Taiwan allowed for a greater diversity of foraging and new species of animals and plants.

Source:
"Australia and the Pacific Basin During the Holocene" The Human Past, edited by Chris Scarre, 295-297. 3rd ed. London: Thames and Hudson.

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One partiularly unique form of art/religious association on Easter Island are the Moai Statues.

These statues reached up to 40 feet in height and are made of volcanic rock. It is said that these statues represented deceased chiefs or deities.

Cultural Evolution:
The most fascinating part of these statues is the upright stature of them. Some of them weighed up to 86 tons, and something so heavy would require remarkable technology to erect. How the Rapa Nui people did this is still unknown, but it shows the ingenuity that they had.

Source:
"Australia and the Pacific Basin During the Holocene" The Human Past, edited by Chris Scarre, 295-297. 3rd ed. London: Thames and Hudson.

Image Source:
https://www.easterisland.travel/easter-island-facts-and-info/moai-statues/

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300 AD

Many of the larger islands in Oceania were able to develop quite complex societies, with chiefs, social rank and warfare. Some of these islands also show some of the earliest examples of social collapse in Oceania.

The gradual depletion of natural resources brought Rapa Nui into an ecological crisis. By the time Europeans discovered the island in the 18th century trees were almost completely absent and the remaining inhabitants were living in horrible conditions.

Cultural Evolution:
The downfall of the Rapa Nui people serve as one of the first examples of overpopulation and overuse of natural resources leading to rapid extinction.

Source:
"Australia and the Pacific Basin During the Holocene" The Human Past, edited by Chris Scarre, 295-297. 3rd ed. London: Thames and Hudson.

"Rapa Nui National Park." - UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Accessed August 25, 2016. http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/715.

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1350 BC

The migration of Austronesian colonists to islands as far as Samoa exhibited some unique cultural growth by a group of people known as the Lapita. Named after their distinctive shell-tempered pottery, the Lapita culture show widespread use of pots and bowls. Much of the pottery also had intricate and artistic designs.

Lapita economy was very similar to that of other cultures living in Oceania. They primarily obtained their food through fishing along the coast and agriculture that involved growing crops such as bananas and coconuts.

Cultural Evolution:
The Lapita Culture serves as a great example of using art in their daily tools and items. Furthermore, it shows that the general sources of food they used were common among people all over Oceania.

Source:
"Australia and the Pacific Basin During the Holocene" The Human Past, edited by Chris Scarre, 287-290. 3rd ed. London: Thames and Hudson.

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Austronesians and the Spread of Language

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Austronesians and the Spread of Language

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The first Austronesians developed in Taiwan, and it was here where the origins of Austronesian languages first grew and spread. Migration patterns in Oceania allowed a variety of Austronesian-based languages to develop to as far as New Zealand.

Cultural Evolution:
Further examination of lexical artifacts done by archaeologists also enable use to see the cultural development of Austronesian societies. Proto-Austronesians who lived in Taiwan were discovered to be growing several different types of crops ranging from sugarcane to rice. They also used technologies such as boats, looms and pottery.

Source:
"Australia and the Pacific Basin During the Holocene" The Human Past, edited by Chris Scarre, 280-281. 3rd ed. London: Thames and Hudson.

Image Source:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v512/n7514/fig_tab/512262a_F1.html

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1800 BC

The same climate change affecting the Aborigines also affected the people living on Tasmania. By around 1800 BC,  fishing was completely absenting in their methods of obtaining food.

Since the island was smaller, Tasmanian people found more sources of food at the center of the island, including game such as wallabies and birds.

Cultural Evolution:
The change exhibited in Tasmania is quite opposite from how Aborigines developed. Rather than retreating to the coastlines, the Tasmians begand to expand inwards and hunt animals that were rich in fat.

Source:
"Australia and the Pacific Basin During the Holocene" The Human Past, edited by Chris Scarre, 270-272. 3rd ed. London: Thames and Hudson.

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4000 BC

Since the majority of the groups living in south east Oceania were hunter-gatheres, they had to develop stone tools in order to obtain their food sources. There was widespread use of flake and pebble tools, as many cave sites were found with artifacts from the massive pebble tool industries developed during the time.

Cultural Evolution:
This time period marked the widespread use of tools, though there were some groups in parts of the Moluccas that used hardly any stone tools. Nonetheless, there were large stone tool industries developed to meet the demand in order to find a sufficient amount of food to survive.

Source:
"Australia and the Pacific Basin During the Holocene" The Human Past, edited by Chris Scarre, 277. 3rd ed. London: Thames and Hudson.

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7000 BC

Farming practices at a site known as Kuk in New Guinea show the growth and prominence of agriculture in Oceania. At this site, the first signs of human impact on the land was shown by the redeposited soil, showing that the land was cleared for farming. In addition to land clearance, raised garden beds used as a rudimentary form of irrigation were found.

Cultural Evolution:
This time period in essence marked the earliest signs of life around Oceania. It also shows the first signs of agricultural technology being used by people to take care of and harvest crops.

Source:
"Australia and the Pacific Basin During the Holocene" The Human Past, edited by Chris Scarre, 277. 3rd ed. London: Thames and Hudson.

Image Source:
http://www.landolia.com/papua-new-guinea/kuk-early-agricultural-site/41245/

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Aborigines Subsistence following Climate Change.

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Aborigines Subsistence following Climate Change.

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The disappearance of many food sources towards the center of the mainland forced many Aborigines to rely on food sources coming from the sea and along the coastlines. Bits of seafood such as mollusks, sea grass, and fish were commonly found in the remains of many archaelogical artifacts along the coastline. In order to exploit these resources, the Aborigines developed a method of transporting stone tools to different islands to extend their reach and capacity to forage.

Cultural Evolution:
The one thing to note during this time period was the development and widespread use of stone tools for marine resources, as well as the transportation method that was used to get stone tools to encircling islands. This shows the human development of advanced stone tools such as scrapers and flakes, and the possibly some of the first examples of humans using organized transportation for goods.

Source:
"Australia and the Pacific Basin During the Holocene" The Human Past, edited by Chris Scarre, 268-269. 3rd ed. London: Thames and Hudson.

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Development during Rapid Rise in Sea Level

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Development during Rapid Rise in Sea Level

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2000 BC

The first humans living in Australia were forced to be extremely adaptable, as they entered during a time when Australia was undergoing immense climactic change.

At the end of the Pleistocene Era, large ice sheets in the Northern Hemisphere began metling, raising sea levels. This ultimately split up Australia, turning hills and valleys into a variety of islands. A few of the bigger islands such as Tasmania were large enough for prehistoric humans to live, but as the sea levels continued to rise, the people stranded on the smaller islands lost their means of living and eventually died out. This highlights the extreme climate change occuring during this time.

Cultural Evolution:
The human struggle to survive during the transition period away from the Ice Age highlights their eventual shift from hunting tundra creatures such as mammoths to fishing and sticking to the coastline.

Source:
"Australia and the Pacific Basin During the Holocene" The Human Past, edited by Chris Scarre, 266-268. 3rd ed. London: Thames and Hudson.
Image Source:
http://joannenova.com.au/2012/10/australian-sea-levels-have-been-falling-for-7000-years/