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ABSTRACT
Radiocarbon dates are presented and discussed for two sites with deep stratigraphy on Ua Huka Island, Marquesas. The lowest layer at the Hokatu site dates to the eleventh to thirteenth centuries A.D. At Hatuana, earlier radiocarbon-age estimates extended to the sixth to ninth centuries A.D. New results from the Waikato and Oxford Radiocarbon laboratories indicate that the lower levels at Hatuana are no older than about the fourteenth century. KEYWORDS: radiocarbon dates, East Polynesia, Marquesas, French Polynesia, archaeology.
DISCUSSION ABOUT THE COLONIZATION ERA IN THE MARQUESAS has been dominated by reference to sites excavated during the 1950s and 1960s, such as Hane, Ha'atuatua, and Hanatekua. The two former sites have been reinvestigated chronologically (Anderson and Sinoto 2002; Rolett and Conte 1995), producing results indicating rather later occupation than was earlier envisaged. This is also true of Anapua (Leach et al. 1990), and since Hanamiai, dated to the eleventh century A.D. and later, appears to represent a colonization phase (Rolett 1998), it is pertinent to record two additional cases where circumstances suggested a potentially early age of occupation. These are Hatuana and Hokatu, both coastal sites on Ua Huka.
HATUANA
Hatuana Valley is located at the southwestern extremity of Ua Huka, close to a promontory used traditionally to watch for hostile parties from Nuku Hiva. As a result the vicinity may have been occupied continually or frequently through the prehistoric era. There is fresh water in Hatuana Valley and, in addition to the sand-dune sites, there are petroglyphs on the side and top of the promontory. These signs of settlement led Conte and Poupinet (1998) to explore the locality and test-excavate the sand dunes in two places in 1997.
Five test pits were excavated in the dunes that border the coast of the bay at two different places (Fig. 1). Test Pit 1 was near the beach front of a small dune (29-by-20 m) located against the hill slope, while the other four test pits were in another dune system located at the east end of the bay. Test Pits 2 and 3, on top...