Pohnpei's Position in Eastern Micronesian Prehistory

Ayres, William (1990). "Pohnpei's Position in Eastern Micronesian Prehistory". Micronesica. Mangilao, GU: University of Guam (Suppl. 2): 187–212. ISSN 2374-801X.

• Has attachment: File:EXWP2KJI.pdf

Abstract: Ayres synthesizes archaeological, linguistic, and ecological evidence to place Pohnpei within a broader Central-Eastern Micronesian prehistory, arguing against older notions of Micronesia as culturally uniform and instead emphasizing significant western and eastern divergence; reconstructs a long sequence from initial settlement through the development of Nan Madol and the Saudeleur polity, noting the eventual disappearance of pottery before monumental construction; highlights shell tools, limited stone use, yam and breadfruit agriculture, lagoon exploitation, and settlement hierarchy culminating in Nan Madol as a regional primate center; interprets social evolution in terms of increasing population density, resource control, ideological centralization, and chiefly stratification rather than simple coercion; compares Pohnpei with Kosrae, Truk, and surrounding atolls to show shared origins but later divergence; argues that Pohnpei’s ancestry lies primarily in direct settlement by Lapita-derived populations from Southeast Melanesia rather than diffusion from western Micronesia; and concludes that Eastern Micronesian development was shaped by early colonization, relative isolation, and later local political intensification.