Chapter I Intro & Objectives - SPREP

PHOENIX ISLANDS PROTECTED AREA MANAGEMENT PLAN
Chapter III. Background, 2. Human Activities
Draft 1 March 2007
Carson (1998) noted that Phoenix architecture had close affinity with prehistoric Polynesian
culture, especially that of eastern Polynesia (the Society Islands) (see also Rainbird 2004).
Human occupation in the Phoenix Islands may not have been a long-term, or large-scale
endeavour. Human occupation was dependent on the scarcity and unpredictable supply of
freshwater. Carson (1998) concluded that structures in the Phoenix Islands were made
between AD 950 to 1500.
During the Little Ice Age (about 1400 AD), there were more storms, thus making sailing
difficult (Crocombe 2001). McCall (1993) suggested that the great Polynesian sweep around
the Pacific declined due to the Little Ice Age not unlike the Vikings voyages in the Northern
Hemisphere. Crocombe (2001) noted that the Little Ice Age was cooler and dryer and could
have made many central Pacific Islands (like the Phoenix Islands) uninhabitable due to severe
droughts. Polynesian settlers either died out or abandoned them long before European
contact (Crocombe 2001).
Pierce et al (2006) noted that Maude (1937) and Garnett (1983a, b, or c not specified) both
reported that the Phoenix Islands were visited and/or settled by Melanesian and/or Polynesia
peoples.
ABARIRINGA (CANTON, KANTON)
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