On the Road of the Winds: An Archaeological History of the Pacific Islands before European Contact

by Patrick Vinton Kirch

The Pacific Ocean covers one-third of the earth's surface and encompasses many thousands of islands, the home to numerous human societies and cultures. Among these indigenous Oceanic cultures are the intrepid Polynesian double-hulled canoe navigators, the atoll dwellers of Micronesia, the statue carvers of remote Easter Island, and the famed traders of Melanesia. Recent archaeological excavations, combined with allied research in historical linguistics, biological anthropology, and comparative ethnography, have begun to reveal much new information about the long-term history of these Pacific Island societies and cultures. On the Road of the Winds synthesizes the grand sweep of human history in the Pacific Islands, beginning with the movement of early people out from Asia more than 40,000 years ago, and tracing the development of myriad indigenous cultures up to the time of European contact in the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries.

Questions that scholars have posed and puzzled over for two centuries or more are illuminated here: Where did the Pacific Islanders come from? How did they discover and settle the thousands of islands? Why did they build great monuments like Nan Madol on Pohnpei Island in Micronesia or the famous Easter Island statues? This book provides an up-to-date synthesis of archaeological and historical anthropological knowledge of these fascinating indigenous cultures.

In particular, Kirch focuses on human ecology and island adaptations, the complexities of island trading and exchange systems, voyaging technology and skills, and the development of intensive economic systems linked to the growth of large populations. He also draws on his own original field research conducted on many islands, ranging from the Solomons to Hawai'i, as he takes us on an intellectual voyage into the Oceanic past.

Genres: History, Archaeology, Anthropology, Nonfiction, Prehistory, Nature, Science

446 pages, Paperback

First published April 24, 2000

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.

Reviews

[Conrad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chew on this for a second: if you need to get from Egypt to Vietnam, you can walk. You need a boat to get from Southeast Asia to Papua New Guinea, but you will never be out of sight of land. So how did anyone settle Easter Island, Pitcairn, Vanuatu? They're all tiny islands isolated by hundreds of miles of water. When they were settled, how did anyone know they were there in the first place? Did people just get in a boat, sail around for a couple of weeks, and come back if they didn't find land? Well, how do they find the place they came from if they've been floating around the Pacific without a compass for days at a time? What did they eat in the meantime? Did they just wait around for rain? If you think about it, the settling of Melanesia, Polynesia, and Micronesia is one of the most amazing accomplishments of any group of people ever, and the Lapita culture did it without using compasses, without ships that were nailed together, without metal.

Sorry, but that's amazing. And yet who the Lapitans were - their beliefs, how they lived, how they managed to occupy a larger share of the world than any other culture, past or present, is mostly a mystery. Yet Lapitan pottery has been found on atolls with nothing but hundreds of miles of water on all sides. Kirch pieces together evidence (archaeological and sometimes cultural) from Hawaii, Rapa Nui, and the endless array of islands to describe the political organization of precolonial Pacific islanders, their practices, technologies, and habits. It's a great book on a neglected topic that deserves more attention.

[Will · Rating 3 out of 5]

The subtitle and other reviews are rather misleading. This is a book about pottery. Mostly pottery. And for a long stretch, only pottery. "Lapita" pottery. Page after page. It's not a history of the Pacific Islands (migrations, settlements, wars) as told through archaeological evidence, but a history of excavation findings. I was curious but Vinton Kirch's interest seems to flag halfway and the chapters become repetitive and tedious, especially on Lapita pottery, fishhooks and shells. When he takes a break from all things Lapita to discuss latte structures in the Marianas I'm thrilled; I get excited reading about the construction of Nan Madol, but then back to Lapita we go, again.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a brilliant book. Patrick Kirch, the preeminent Oceanic archaeologist of our day, has written the definitive (at least until more evidence is uncovered) history of Oceania, beginning with a tiny exodus out of Southeast Asia 40,000 years ago through the incredible colonization of almost every habitable piece of land in the Pacific, some of which were colonized as recently as 1,000 years ago. While the book is primarily an archaeological history, Kirch also deftly weaves in linguistic analysis, biological analysis, and indigenous oral histories to provide an interdisciplinary look at the myriad of cultures that developed in the Pacific. It is absolutely amazing to me that so much can be pieced together about cultures that left no written record. In my view, the colonization of the Pacific region is one of the greatest achievements in human history, and Kirch does a wonderful job bringing this accomplishment to life.

A couple comments on other reviews:

“This is a book about pottery. Mostly pottery.” We clearly did not read the same book. Perhaps this reviewer read the much earlier first edition?

“Definitely reads like a textbook.” Well yes, if you mean one of the best written and most engaging textbooks I've ever read.

[Bramble · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once, on a list-serve, someone asked what historical event you would most like to witness. U.S. Civil War & WWII battles were popular, natch. I said: the Polynesian diaspora. Can you imagine what that felt like? Years later, I stumbled on this (no doubt because it was assigned to local undergrads). It's the next best thing to being there: all the facts so far known are synthesized nicely. Rich food for the imagination.

[Jeff Greason · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found the book an excellent survey of what is (and is not) known about the human settlement of the Pacific and the economic and social structures of the societies involved. A modern treatment that blends archaeological, linguistic, and cultural evidence with sediment dating, it still avoids any sense of being ‘trendy’ and is not shy about tracing back prior theories and picking out ones which are now clearly contradicted by evidence, as well as those which have stood the test of time. I found it an invaluable background for some of the information I was looking for on Polynesian settlement of the Eastern Pacific.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a raw newcomer to Pacific archaeology, I sometimes felt buried in a welter of pottery shards. Kirch makes his readers see why they matter, though. His passion for his subject infuses this meticulously documented, beautifully written, and fascinating history. The opening and concluding chapters were especially informative and powerful.

[Robert Bonville · Rating 4 out of 5]

Because no written language existed in ancient Polynesia, the meticuluous job of discovering the oceanic past interms of the great migrations of the Polynesian people, their skills and motivations for such migrations and exploration is well documented and detailed in this wonderful book.

[Ageless Tailoress · Rating 4 out of 5]

First off, I read this book in conjunction with a class at UHM that Dr. Kirch taught about Pacific archaeology, which was amazing. He is one of the most famous archaeologists in the field for a reason and (fun fact) was named a Living Treasure by the state of Hawaiʻi last year. This book is a really good history that goes chronologically as well as geographically, starting in New Guinea, then to the Solomons, then to Micronesia, then Samoa/Tonga, then broader Polynesia, and ending at Hawaiʻi. It has enough info that an anthropology student like myself, will get a great deal of information from the book. However, it is not so full of info and jargon that a lay person just interested in the subject will be bored to death. Dr. Kirch is also interested in a holistic approach to archaeology, taking into account the biological, linguistic, environmental, cultural, oral traditions, geological, and historical aspects into account. This is seen throughout the entire book. As you read through the book you get to see themes of human settlement develop which is really interesting to think about.

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Accessibly written, straightforwardly organised summary of current archaeology of the Pacific Islands. This has been very comprehensively revised for the expanded edition, with alterations made to the original text as well as additional summaries in relevant places - a much better job that I have come to expect from updates. It also covers Melanesia in some depth, which was nice (especially those west of PNG). The latter part of the book details every discovery, less interesting for the enthusiast than useful for the student, but it is easy to just keep moving.
Kirch is relatively (small c) conservative, taking a middle view on many of the emerging debates. At times, especially in discussing Rapa Nui, some more detail on why he takes his view would have been nice. But on the whole I very much appreciated this summary of what we know of the Lapita and after.

[Gary Reger · Rating 5 out of 5]

The archaeology of the Pacific islands is one of the more difficult pursuits. Shallow soils often frustrate efforts to dig stratigraphically, and the remoteness and subsequent cost of exploration has often impeded serious work. Kirch has brought together in a thorough, well-illustrated, and up-to-date volume the archaeology done over a vast area -- to which he himself made crucial contributions. The Lapita culture is especially well treated. Anyone fascinated by the pre-colonial world of the Pacific islands will find much here to reflect on.

[Adam Neve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely reads like a textbook, but the name Patrick Kirch came up in nearly every scholarly article, documentary, and piece of reference material I found while taking this course. So, if you're curious about this genuinely fascinating section of our world, our history, and our development, you've picked the right author.

[Ben Rosamond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent general history of pre-colonisation Pacific Islands

[AskHistorians]

Massive in scope both chronologically and geographically, this work manages to give a fairly detailed survey of Oceanic archaeology while remaining readable, although some basic knowledge of archaeology is assumed. It begins with the earliest human colonization of Sahul and goes all the way to the full flowering of Polynesian kingship in Hawaii. An excellent introduction to the topic.

[Flora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good but for students or academics even though the author does put all the footnotes in a large section at the end. Still, I learned a lot about the current thinking about migration and settlement of Oceania. I look forward to reading more by this author.