Jolie Liston - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Jolie Liston

Archaeology in Oceania, 2021

Archaeological Perspectives on Conflict and Warfare in Australia and the Pacific, 2022

Ethnobotany of Palau: Plants, People and Island Culture, 2020

International Archaeological Research Institute, Inc, 2001

These cultural properties include: two traditional Palauan burial caves containing human skeletal... more These cultural properties include: two traditional Palauan burial caves containing human skeletal remains (OR-3:30) and two Japanese defensive complexes (OR-3:29 and 3:31). The project area, located at the northeastern tip of Koror state, measures ca. 220 m by 85 m, and rises 32 m above sea level.

Subsistence strategies of early colonisers in the Pacific and settlement locations of Lapita site... more Subsistence strategies of early colonisers in the Pacific and settlement locations of Lapita sites in close vicinity of freshwater streams have been employed to develop predictive models about potentials of different geomorphological settings to produce archaeological sites. It was concluded that islands with depauperate environments might have been actively avoided by the earliest colonisers because of lack of access to surface freshwater. This paper presents results from recent excavations on the Rock Islands of Palau where two ceramic containers with broken bases were found in stratigraphic levels associated with freshwater lenses in a beach setting. Radiocarbon age determinations of around 2800 cal. BP place the vessels into the early colonisation phase of the Rock Islands of Palau. It is suggested that these containers might have functioned as sumps tapping the freshwater lens, providing evidence that colonising populations were able to sustain settlements on small islands without surface freshwater.

Materialization of religious authority through monumental architecture legitimizes the dominant i... more Materialization of religious authority through monumental architecture legitimizes the dominant ideology to play an important role in the development of sociopolitical complexity. Ritual behaviour has just been archaeologically identified in the monumental earthwork landscape on Babeldaob, in the Palauan archipelago of western Micronesia. After discussing these new finds, the trajectory of Babeldaob's sociopolitical transformations is tracked through the leadership strategies expressed in earthwork ritual activity.

Archaeological investigations in the Republic of Palau, Micronesia, have produced 409 radiocarbon... more Archaeological investigations in the Republic of Palau, Micronesia, have produced 409 radiocarbon age deter-minations from cultural contexts, indicating a range of Palauan occupation from about 3000 yr ago into the modern era. However, these dates are scattered among numerous sources (many difficult to obtain) and are presented in a number of different formats and calibrations. The goal of this paper is to compile a usable, systematic database of all of these Palauan cultural 14 C assays. This database will be suitable for developing and evaluating chronological models, an effort being undertaken as a separate paper. Prior to constructing prehistoric colonization and cultural chronologies for Palau, the validity of each assay and the relative adequacy in sample size per cultural and environmental zones must be examined. After systematic recalibration, the reliability of the dates is evaluated in light of sample material, cultural context, and site formation processes. A method for dating monumental earthwork complexes through site formation analysis is presented. Sets of 237 valid and 58 potentially valid 14 C dates remain to develop chronological models. The representation of Palau's environmental zones, site types, and regions within the dating pool is examined and compared to ensure meaningfulness in these chronological models. Newly obtained 14 C age determinations are also provided.

In: Liston, J., Clark, G., Alexander, D. (Eds.), Pacific Island Archaeology in the 21st Century: Relevance and Engagement. pp. 85-100. ANU E Press, Terra Australis 35, Canberra., 2011

In this paper, we discuss approaches and issues raised by the nomination of cultural properties i... more In this paper, we discuss approaches and issues raised by the nomination of cultural properties in the Pacific Islands to the World Heritage List. The World Heritage Committee in 2003 acknowledged the under-representation of the Pacific region on the World Heritage List. In response, the action plan World Heritage Pacific 2009 (UNESCO World Heritage Centre 2004) was launched to build capacity in the region and encourage nomination of sites to the Tentative List through identification of properties of potential outstanding universal value (OUV), including transboundary and serial site nominations. Since 1992, Pacific cultural-heritage research has taken an active role in reshaping notions of cultural significance and OUV criteria traditionally employed to achieve World Heritage status. Archaeological expertise in partnership with traditional knowledge and local community involvement is increasingly relied on to provide the material necessary for World Heritage site nomination and heritage management in the Pacific. Emerging issues include tensions between traditional/community structures and government/federal organisations over World Heritage cultural and mixed properties, and the means by which Pacific nations can accumulate the resources and expertise necessary for a World Heritage nomination.

Biological Conservation, Jan 1, 2012

The need for a global priority list for threatened plants has been widely recognized by the conse... more The need for a global priority list for threatened plants has been widely recognized by the conservation community, yet the threatened status of the majority of the world's plants species remains poorly known. This is especially true in the tropics and the oceanic islands of the Pacific, where progress towards the targets of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) 2011-2020 is hindered by the paucity of complete species distribution data. Here we outline a new methodology to undertake threatened species assessments where detailed contemporary population data is lacking. This new interdisciplinary methodology draws upon the synthesis of archaeological and botanical data to calculate a percentage of longterm decline in habitat quality. We use this method to assess the threatened status of the endemic flora of Palau, Micronesia, a Pacific island nation known for its high levels of plant diversity and endemism, by utilizing data extending back to human colonization of the archipelago. For Palau, we calculate the percentage of a long-term decline in habitat quality to be 31-39% of the total available range of 55% of the endemic plant species. These data are also used to address a long debated question in the western Pacific: Are the origins of the savanna vegetation anthropogenic? Strong evidence for anthropogenic savannas in Micronesia support the estimated extent of historic deforestation in Palau. This new method worked well in our case study, and can be used in other locations with incomplete species distribution data to establish a first basis for conservation prioritization.

The islands of Palau in western Micronesia have a rich artistic heritage of weaving, woodworking,... more The islands of Palau in western Micronesia have a rich artistic heritage of weaving, woodworking, performing arts, pottery production, oral narratives, stone statuary, and costume and body art. Extant iconography is found in the form of pictographs on limestone ...

Archaeology in Oceania, 2009

ABSTRACT Earth architecture is ubiquitous on Palau's volcanic islands, yet by European co... more ABSTRACT Earth architecture is ubiquitous on Palau's volcanic islands, yet by European contact the often massive interior structures lay unoccupied and were conspicuously absent from the archipelago's rich body of oral traditions. To place these structural remains into Palau's cultural sequence, a suite of 131 radiocarbon dates representing 31 interior earthwork sites is combined with paleoenvironmental and material culture data. The resulting chronological model indicates that substantial interior use was underway by ca. 3100 BP with the initiation of earthwork construction by ca. 2400 BP or a little earlier. This marks the beginning of the Earthwork Era, which is divided into Early, Middle, and Late Phases corresponding to the growth, zenith, and decline of interior earthwork occupation. Between ca. 2050 and 1750 BP extensive clusters of modified terrain, each defining a sociopolitical district, contained earth structures reaching monumental proportions. This is centuries before monumental architecture appeared in most other Pacific island societies. By ca. 1200 BP, earthwork districts were no longer the cultural focal point, although minor construction of inland earthworks continued into the historic period.

Quaternary international, 2006

The Palau archipelago is a sizeable and geologically diverse set of volcanic and coralline limest... more The Palau archipelago is a sizeable and geologically diverse set of volcanic and coralline limestone islands in equatorial western Micronesia. Recent archeological fieldwork, pollen analyses, and radiocarbon assays have expanded our understanding of more than 3000 years of culture history in Palau, providing a potentially unique window on the relationship between climate, environment, human adaptation, and culture change in the tropical western Pacific. Our focus is on the period of AD 1200-1600, particularly as relates to the transition between the Medieval Warm Period and the onset of the Little Ice Age. This period encompasses the establishment of stonework villages throughout the archipelago, and ultimately their abandonment in the limestone islands. Paleoenvironmental and archeological data, including settlement pattern analyses, provide mixed but intriguing messages regarding the role of climate in Palauan culture change. Archeological deposits in Uchularois Cave contain domestic pig, Sus scrofa, large-eyed bream, Monotaxis grandoculis, parrotfish, Scarus sp., and the humped conch, Strombus gibberulus gibbosus, that together provide evidence of environmental degradation or overharvesting and the potential effects of climate change on culture. Our data suggest that a greater emphasis on highresolution data is necessary to properly evaluate the role of climate in Pacific island culture change. r

Thesis Chapters by Jolie Liston