Tropical Agroforestry, Coastal Lagoons, and Holocene Prehistory in Greater Near Oceania

A fundamental concern in archaeology and anthropology is understanding the relationships between population growth, the development of complex societies, and the shift in prehistoric times from foraging to food production. That there are connections between these historical processes has long been apparent. Precisely how they are interrelated is controversial. Frequently discussed is the lack of agreement on what characterizes complex or simple societies. It is less widely recognized that the subsistence practices of many communities in the region that van Steenis called eastern Malesia (the Celebes, Moluccas, and New Guinea) cannot be positioned unambiguously along a typological spectrum between hunter-gatherers and agriculturalists. Modern research indicates that people in this region have long been following broad-spectrum approaches to subsistence that have made agriculture or horticulture the mainstay only where (and when) local circumstances have narrowed their subsistence strategies. ...JCAS Symposium Series 1