Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand abstracts
A possible early muttonbirder’s fire on Poutama, a Rakiura titi island,
New Zealand
David Hawke
School of Applied Science, Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology,
P.O. Box 540, Christchurch 8015, New Zealand.
Email: hawked@cpit.ac.nz
Jamie Newman, Henrik Moller
Department of Zoology, University of Otago,
P.O. Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand.
John Wixon
P.O. Box 8400, Havelock North, New Zealand.
Abstract Muttonbirding for sooty shearwaters (Puffinus
griseus) on islands around Rakiura is an ongoing traditional activity
of local Maori. There is little archaeological evidence to pinpoint the onset
of large-scale birding, so some researchers have suggested that widespread
systematic muttonbirding only began in protohistoric times. We present AMS
radiocarbon data from an archaeological fire found 65 cm subsurface on Poutama,
an island off Rakiura. Duplicate analyses of charcoal and a single analysis
of underlying peat were used to date the fire, constrained by C accumulation
calculations and chemical and isotopic analysis. By comparing C:N ratios and
C accumulation calculations with literature values, the peat result (176 ±
55 BP) was shown to be invalid because of contamination via bioturbation.
The combined charcoal radiocarbon data were consistent with being estimates
of a single value (326 ± 42 BP). After calibration, the fire was dated
at AD 1470-1660 (95% confidence interval). Carbon-13 analysis was consistent
with charcoal from different individual plants. The C accumulation rate (61-96
g C m-2 yr-1) was at the upper end of literature values,
consistent with a high nutrient and well-oxygenated soil environment. Our
results highlight the need for more systematic data collection and experimentation
to better assess the time of onset of systematic muttonbirding.
Keywords procellariid; sooty shearwater; fowling; Maori;
archaeology; carbon dating and accumulation
R02008 Received 7 March 2002; accepted 1 November 2002; published 18 June
2003
© Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Volume 33, Number
2, June 2003, pp 497-507
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