title: Stone tools from the ancient Tongan state reveal prehistoric interaction centers in the Central Pacific.
abstract: Tonga was unique in the prehistoric Pacific for developing a maritime state that integrated the archipelago under a centralized authority and for undertaking long-distance economic and political exchanges in the second millennium A.D. To establish the extent of Tonga's maritime polity, we geochemically analyzed stone tools excavated from the central places of the ruling paramounts, particularly lithic artifacts associated with stone-faced chiefly tombs. The lithic networks of the Tongan state focused on Samoa and Fiji, with one adze sourced to the Society Islands 2,500 km from Tongatapu. To test the hypothesis that nonlocal lithics were especially valued by Tongan elites and were an important source of political capital, we analyzed prestate lithics from Tongatapu and stone artifacts from Samoa. In the Tongan state, 66% of worked stone tools were long-distance imports, indicating that interarchipelago connections intensified with the development of the Tongan polity after A.D. 1200. In contrast, stone tools found in Samoa were from local sources, including tools associated with a monumental structure contemporary with the Tongan state. Network analysis of lithics entering the Tongan state and of the distribution of Samoan adzes in the Pacific identified a centralized polity and the products of specialized lithic workshops, respectively. These results indicate that a significant consequence of social complexity was the establishment of new types of specialized sites in distant geographic areas. Specialized sites were loci of long-distance interaction and formed important centers for the transmission of information, people, and materials in prehistoric Oceania.
authors.affiliation: Archaeology and Natural History, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia; geoffrey.clark@anu.edu.au.
authors.forename: Geoffrey R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.affiliation: Archaeology and Natural History, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia;
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Reepmeyer
authors.affiliation: Lapaha Town Council, Lapaha Village, Tongatapu, Kingdom of Tonga;
authors.forename: Nivaleti
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Melekiola
authors.affiliation: School of Earth Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia;
authors.forename: Jon
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Woodhead
authors.affiliation: Department of Geoscience, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721; and.
authors.forename: William R
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Dickinson
authors.affiliation: Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Gotland Campus, Uppsala University, 75105 Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Helene
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Martinsson-Wallin
mesh_terms: D005843:Geography; D019015:Geologic Sediments; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D062312:Islands; D010140:Pacific Ocean; D018947:Samoa; D014058:Tonga; D053001:Tool Use Behavior
keywords: Polynesian archaeology; complex societies; geochemical sourcing