The Last People Alive: Pitcairn & Henderson Islands

The Last People Alive:Pitcairn & Henderson Islands Hennie Kashiwa 9.22.05

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

Mangareva • Largest and can support greatest population • Pros: • 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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

Mangareva gets ugly • Deforestation • 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

So how did it all end? • Wars?

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

Mass murder? • Fighting, cannibalism?

Mass suicide? • A choice of desperation

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

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

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

The Last People Alive: Pitcairn & Henderson Islands