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Central Pacific Islands: Sea-Level Change and Sites
Encyclopedia entry   Peer reviewed

Central Pacific Islands: Sea-Level Change and Sites

Mike T Carson and Patrick Nunn
Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology, 2nd Edition
Springer International Publishing, 2nd Edition
2018
url
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51726-1_2860-1View
Published Version

Abstract

Environmental Science and Management
Archaeological and paleo-landscape records from the Pacific Islands offer material examples of how people have sustained themselves through several centuries or millennia of fluctuating sea level affecting their island habitats, access to freshwater sources, resource ecology, and capacity to sustain growing populations. The lessons from the past bear relevance for understanding future management challenges around sustainable livelihoods in the face of unprecedentedly rapid climate change. The factual records have revealed what was successful or unsuccessful about how people in the past responded to the changing sea-level conditions over a long time span. These records invariably transcend periods of different sea levels and climates that affected the entire Pacific region, and therefore they are suitable for identifying cross-regional correlations between specifically attested natural processes and cultural behavioral responses.

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