Fa'ahia
Coordinates: 16 ° 42 ′ 34 ″ S , 151 ° 2 ′ 16 ″ W
Faʻahia , sometimes referred to as Vaitoʻotia , is an archaeological and palaeontological site in the north of the island of Huahine in the Society Islands , French Polynesia . It is located 600 m northwest of the capital Fare in the Baie de Cook. Its stratigraphic age is dated between 700 and 1200 AD. Because most of the site is underwater, the artifacts , which are made of organic material, have been well preserved. These include ax handles, canoe parts and patus . Faʻahia also enjoys an international reputation as a paleontological site. Sub fossil bird bones are well preserved and provided new information about the avifauna on Huahine Island at the time it was colonized by humans. Several excavations were conducted between 1973 and 1984 by the American anthropologist Yosihiko H. Sinoto of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum , who was able to show that even small islands had a great wealth of bird species.
Avifauna
The subfossil remains of various species of birds represent those that were hunted by the early Polynesian settlers for their meat, bones, and feathers. Worldwide extinct species known from the Faʻahia site include the rail species Gallirallus storrsolsoni and Porphyrio mcnabi , the pigeon species Gallicolumba nui and Macropygia arevarevauupa , the parrot species Vini sinotoi and Vini vidivici , the Huahine starialis ( Aplonis ) and the gull ( Chroicocephalus utunui ). To the remains of locally missing types include the Langschnabel warbler ( Acrocephalus caffer ), the Scarlet Macaw ( butorides striata ), the South Sea Sumpfhuhn ( Porzana tabuensis ) which Tahiti Taube ( Gallicolumba erythroptera ) which Marquesasfruchttaube ( Ducula galeata ), the Aurora Fruchttaube ( Ducula aurorae ), the wedge-tailed Shearwater ( Puffinus pacificus ), the Christmas Shearwater ( Puffinus nativitatis ), the Audubonsturmtaucher ( puffinus lherminieri ), the Tahiti Petrel ( Pseudobulweria rostrata ), of Phoenix Petrel ( Pterodroma alba ), the Trinidad Petrel ( Pterodroma arminjoniana ), the brown booby ( Sula leucogaster ), the red-footed booby ( Sula sula ), the banded frigate bird ( Fregata minor ), the ariel frigate bird ( Fregata ariel ) and the white-headed noddi ( Anous minutus ).
Individual evidence
literature
- Sinoto, Yosihiko H. (1979): Excavations on Huahine , French Polynesia. In: Pacific Studies Vol. III (1): p. 1-40. On-line
- Kirchman, Jeremy J .; & Steadman, David W . (2006). New Species of Rails (Aves: Rallidae) From an Archaeological Site on Huahine, Society Islands. Pacific Science 60 : 281. doi : 10.1353 / psc.2006.0007
- Steadman, David W .; & Pahlavan, Dominique S. (1992). Extinction and biogeography of birds on huahine, society islands, French Polynesia. Geoarchaeology 7 (5): 449-483. doi : 10.1002 / gea.3340070503