Hawaiki, Ancestral Polynesia: An Essay in Historical Anthropology

by Patrick Vinton Kirch, Roger C. Green

In this innovative book, Kirch and Green develop the theory and method of an anthropological approach to long-term history. Combining archaeology, comparative ethnography, and historical linguistics, they advance a phylogenetic model for cultural diversification, and apply a triangulation method for historical reconstruction. Through an analysis of the history of Polynesian cultures they present a first-time detailed reconstruction of Hawaiki, the Ancestral Polynesian culture that flourished some 2,500 years ago. This book will be essential reading for any anthropologist, prehistorian, linguist, or cultural historian concerned with the study of long-term history.

Genres: History

394 pages, Paperback

First published March 14, 1997

About the author

Patrick Vinton Kirch, Director of the Oceanic Archaeology Laboratory, holds the Class of 1954 Professorship in Anthropology at the University of California at Berkeley.