Terry Hunt

Professor

Background
Research Interests
On-Going Research
Selected Articles
Courses Taught
Awards

Background:

BA, University of Hawai'i (1976); MA University of Auckland (First Class Honors, 1980); Ph.D., University of Washington (1989).

I have conducted archaeological field work and related research in Hawai'i, Samoa, Fiji, Rapa Nui (Easter Island), New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea.

I joined the faculty at University of Hawai'i in 1988. I have current affiliations with Bishop Museum, Center for Pacific Islands Studies, and the Evolution, Ecology, and Conservation Biology Program at University of Hawai'i.

Research Interests:

My research is focused on the archaeological history of the Pacific Islands. I have framed questions concerning the origins of social and cultural diversity and the role history - constructed through archaeology - would necessarily play in disentangling the processes involved. This research demands multiple lines of complementary data in such domains as human biology, linguistics, material culture, ethnology, and archaeology. Explaining human diversification requires that we understand aspects of emerging social complexity, subsistence, relative investments in cultural elaboration, and other dynamic trajectories. Indeed, the focus must be on ecological and evolutionary dimensions of human history. Addressing such questions requires a theoretical framework, models to construct our expectations and hypotheses, as well as a lot of hard work to acquire the necessary data.

I have devoted some of my interests to developing methodological and theoretical aspects of the discipline as they articulate with empirical sufficiency, as outlined in our book Posing Questions for a Scientific Archaeology. While mindful of the deductive role of theory, I believe that our ability to explain the processes of history and cultural change must rest on a solid substantive foundation. Thus, I see our primary goal as building accurate, reliable, and valid case histories (e.g., islands) where particular research problems are best addressed. Such a goal has led me to rather diverse research throughout the Pacific.

I have directed archaeological field schools in Fiji (1999-2003) and on Rapa Nui (2001-present). In Fiji we have addressed multiple dimensions of population history, social interaction, and evolutionary divergence. On Rapa Nui we are critically examining many aspects of prehistory, but especially questions concerning the evolution of cultural elaboration.

On-Going Research:

I am conducting archaeological research and direct an annual archaeological field school on Rapa Nui (Easter Island). Our field work is designed to investigate multiple aspects of this small and remote island's prehistory. This work involves several graduate students, and we envision many additional research opportunities. We will continue to offer an archaeological field school in collaboration with the P. Sebastian Englert Anthropological Museum on Rapa Nui. We are also working to train Native Rapanui high school students in archaeological field methods.

Selected Articles:

In press "Top-down archaeology: High resolution satellite images of Rapa Nui on Google Earth (T.L. Hunt and C.P. Lipo), Rapa Nui Journal, in press.

In press "A publicly available database of archaeological resources on Easter Island using Google Earth" (F. Torres-Hochstetter, S. Rapu, C.P. Lipo, and T.L. Hunt), Latin American Antiquity, in press.

2007 "Chronology, deforestation, and "collapse:" Evidence vs. faith in Rapa Nui prehistory" (T.L. Hunt and C.P. Lipo), Rapa Nui Journal 21 (2): 85-97.

2007 "Radiocarbon and DNA evidence for a pre-Columbian introduction of Polynesian chickens to Chile" (A. Storey, J. Ramirez, D. Quiroz, D. Burley, D. Addison, R. Walter, A. Anderson, T. Hunt, J. Athens, L. Huynen, E. Matisoo-Smith). Proceedings of the National Academy (USA) 104:10335-10339.

2007 "Human foraging and impacts to near shore environments: A case study from the Hawaiian Islands" (A. Morrison and T.L. Hunt). Pacific Science 61:325-345.

2007 "Rethinking Easter Island’s ecological catastrophe" Journal of Archaeological Science 34: 485-502

2006 "Ancient DNA of the Pacific rat (Rattus exulans) from Rapa Nui (Easter Island)" (S.S. Barnes, E. Matisoo-Smith, T.L. Hunt) Journal of Archaeological Science 33:1536-1540.

2006 "Rethinking the Fall of Easter Island: New evidence points to an alternative explanation for a civilization's collapse."  American Scientist 94:412-419.

2006    "Late Colonization of Easter Island" (T.L. Hunt and C.P. Lipo) Science 311:1603 - 1606. Link to: Abstract, Reprint

2005   "Mapping prehistoric statue roads on Easter Island" (C.P. Lipo and T.L. Hunt) Antiquity 79:158-168.

2005    "Archaeological Stratigraphy and Chronology at Nu'alolo Kai, Na Pali District, Kaua'i" Hawaiian Archaeology (Special Publication Number II), pp. 236-258.

2005    "Samoa's pre-contact relations with western Polynesia and beyond" (S. Barnes and T.L. Hunt), Journal of the Polynesian Society 114:227-266.

2005    "Recent geophysical and archaeological studies at Anakena." (C. Lipo, T. Hunt, and S. Rapu) In C.M. Stevenson, J.M. Ramierez, F.J. Morin, and N. Barbacci, Eds. The Renaca Papers: VI International Conference on Rapa Nui and the Pacific, Easter Island Foundation, Los Osos, pp. 97-105.

2005    "The use of satellite imagery to study prehistoric agricultural features (manavai) on Rapa Nui." (I. Ayala, C. Lipo, and T. Hunt) In C.M. Stevenson, J.M. Ramierez, F.J. Morin, and N. Barbacci, Eds. The Renaca Papers: VI International Conference on Rapa Nui and the Pacific, Easter Island Foundation, Los Osos, pp. 113-123.

2003    "El Niño/Southern Oscillation and Rapa Nui Prehistory" (J. Genz and T.L. Hunt), Rapa Nui Journal 17:7-14.

2002    "On the location of the Proto-Oceanic homeland" (J.E. Terrell, T.L. Hunt, and J. Bradshaw).  Pacific Studies 25:57-93.

2001    "Cultural Elaboration and Environmental Uncertainty in Polynesia" (T.L. Hunt and C.P. Lipo), In C.M. Stevenson, G. Lee, and F. Morin, Editors, Pacific 2000: Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Easter Island and the Pacific, Easter Island Foundation, Los Osos, pp. 103-115.

2000    "A preliminary report on archaeological research in the Yasawa Islands, Fiji" (T.L. Hunt, K.F. Aronson, E.E.Cochrane, J.S. Field, L. Humphrey, and T. Rieth). Domodomo: Fiji Museum Quarterly 12:5-43.

1998    "Language steamrollers?" (J. Terrell, J. Hines, T. Hunt, C. Kusimba, C. Lipo).  Nature 391:547.

1997    "The Historical Ecology of Ofu Island, American Samoa, 3000 B.P. to the Present."   In P.V. Kirch and T.L. Hunt, Editors, Historical Ecology in the Pacific Islands: Prehistoric Environmental and Landscape Change.  Yale University Press, New Haven.  pp. 105-123.

1997    "A new Lapita-Associated Skeleton from Fiji" (M. Pietrusewsky, T.L. Hunt, and R.M. Ikehara-Quebral).  Journal of the Polynesian Society106: 284-295.

1997    "The Dimensions of Social Life in the Pacific: Human diversity and the myth of the primitive isolate" (J.E. Terrell, T.L. Hunt, and C. Gosden).  Current Anthropology 38:155-195. 

1993    "Ceramic provenance studies in Oceania: Methodological issues."   In B. Fankhauser and J. Bird, Editors, Archaeometry: Current Australasian Research.  Occasional Papers in Prehistory, No. 22.  Australian National University, Canberra.

1993    "A reappraisal of evidence for subsistence change at the Hane Dune Site, Marquesas, French Polynesia" (M. Sweeney, M.W. Graves, and T.L. Hunt).  Asian Perspectives 32(2): 225-238.

1991    "The early radiocarbon chronology of the Hawaiian Islands"  (T.L. Hunt and R. Holsen).  Asian Perspectives 29(3):147-161.

1990    "Elemental composition as a basis for inferring ceramic vessel function"  (R.C. Dunnell and T.L. Hunt).  Current Anthropology 31:330-336.

1990    "Some methodological issues of exchange in Oceanic prehistory"  (T.L. Hunt and M.W. Graves).  Asian Perspectives 29(2):107-115.

1990    "Ceramic production as a measure of late prehistoric interaction in the Mariana Islands"  (M.W. Graves, T.L. Hunt, and D. Moore).  Asian Perspectives 29(2):211-233.

1990    "An ancestral Polynesian Occupation at To'aga, Ofu Island, American Samoa" (P.V. Kirch, T.L. Hunt, L. Nagaoka, and J. Tyler).  Archaeology in Oceania 25(1):1-15.

1988    "An archaeological survey of the Manua Islands, American Samoa" (T.L. Hunt and P.V. Kirch).  Journal of the Polynesian Society 97(2): 153-183.

1987    "Patterns of human interaction and evolutionary divergence in the Fiji Islands."  Journal of the Polynesian Society 96(3): 299-334.

Edited Books (Selected)

2001    Posing Questions for a Scientific Archaeology (T.L. Hunt, C.P. Lipo, and S. Sterling, Editors).  Scientific Archeology for the Third Millennium Series, Greenwood Press, Westport.

1997    Historical Ecology in the Pacific Islands: Prehistoric Environmental and Landscape Change (P.V. Kirch and T.L. Hunt, Editors), Yale University Press, New Haven.

1993    The To'aga Site: Archaeological Investigations at an Early Polynesian Site in the Manu'a Islands, American Samoa (P.V.  Kirch and T.L. Hunt, Editors).  Contributions of the University of California Archaeological Research Facility, U.C., Berkeley.

1988    Archaeology of the Lapita Cultural Complex:  A Critical Review (P.V. Kirch and T.L. Hunt, Editors).  Burke Museum Special Research Report No. 5.

Media:

List, 2005-2008

Awards:

2005    Regents' Medal for Excellence in Teaching, University of Hawai'i (University system-wide award for excellence in teaching)

1991    Presidential Citation for Meritorious Teaching, University of Hawai'i (University-wide award for excellence in teaching)

Courses Taught:

Anth 210 Archaeology

This is a critical and synthetic introduction to archaeological history, theory, method, and technique. Case studies from American and Pacific archaeology illustrate some of the topics covered.

Anth 321 & 322 World Archeology I & II

Archaeology of the origins of human culture, population dispersals (Out of Africa vs. Multiregional models), evolution of agriculture, social complexity/urbanism (worldwide survey), and processes of historical European expansion. These courses were taught in the University of Hawai'i Study Abroad Program in London using resources at the British Museum.

Anth 323 Pacific Island Archaeology

This course covers the origins and expansion of Pacific populations, including Greater Australia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Problems of chronology, human diversity, and patterns of interaction are the focus of some analysis. The course considers environmental and landscape change, the evolution of social complexity, and other current research questions in critical light.

Anth 380 Archaeological Laboratory Techniques

An introduction to basic laboratory methods and techniques for archaeological sediments, fauna, flora, ceramics, lithics, and other artifacts. Students learn skills useful for publication of archaeological finds.

Anth 464 Hawaiian Archaeology

This is a critical and synthetic overview of archaeology and prehistory in the Hawaiian Islands. The course examines the Oceanic context of Hawai'i, Hawaiian origins and migrations, environmental change, systems of agricultural and aquacultural production, landscape use, the evolution of social complexity, historic preservation and Native Hawaiian activism, and consequences of European contact. This course usually includes a neighbor island field trip to see archaeological sites in their landscape context.

Anth 472 Ceramic Analysis in Archaeology

This course is an intensive introduction to the theory, methods, and techniques used in the analyses of archaeological ceramics. The course examines ceramics in terms of variability in 1) raw materials, 2) production technology, 3) style, 4) function, and 5) post-depositional diagenesis. Students consider these dimensions of ceramic variability with a survey of compositional analyses, ceramic technology (relations of material and production), classification and stylistic analyses, residue detection, and other physical properties of archaeological ceramic specimens. Thematic foci of the course include problems of specialist and domestic production, pottery trade, technological change and abandonment, use and functional roles of pottery, and style in historical and spatial contexts.

Anth 474 Geoarchaeology

This is a field and laboratory course on the analyses of sediment and soils in archaeological context. The course examines principles of sedimentology, environments and mechanisms of deposition, and post-depositional alterations (including soil formation). A variety of laboratory and field techniques are taught. Special attention is given to geoarchaeological problems in Hawaii and other Pacific Island environments. Some emphasis is placed on prehistoric landscape change and its reconstruction.

Anth 485 Pre-European Hawai'i

This course is a survey of the ethnohistorical (and sometimes archaeological) sources on social and cultural aspects of Hawai'i prior to the profound impacts of European contact. We consider aspects of political history, religion, and gender.

Anth 603 Archaeology (Graduate Theory Core)

This is the graduate core (seminar) in archaeological theory. The course covers developments from culture history, the New Archaeology, postprocessual critique, to evolutionary archaeology. The literature on theory and disciplinary goals is critically analyzed with special reference to archaeologists' desire to be science. Exploring problems of agricultural origins and the evolution of social complexity illustrate differing theoretical approaches used by archaeologists.

Anth 620/418 Anthropology of Homosexualities

This course is a survey of anthropological and other social science perspectives on homosexualities. Same-sex relationships are widespread--indeed probably universal among human societies--yet the subject remains poorly researched and under theorized in anthropology, and the social sciences in general. Recent research and publication, however, are bringing this important topic "out of the closet." A theme of the course is the nature/nurture debate as expressed in recent scientific and social constructionist writing on homosexualities.

Anth 640(C) Environmental Archaeology

Environmental archaeology is a seminar on the theory, methods, and techniques that inform upon palaeoenvironmental remains in archaeological research. The course explores the theoretical basis for palaeo-environmental research in archaeology. The course then examines 1) geoarchaeology (brief coverage only, as it the topic of a separate course); 2) faunal studies (e.g., vertebrate remains, marine shell, land snails); 3) archaeometric applications (e.g., residue analysis); 4) paleobotany (e.g., pollen, phytolith, and macrofossil analyses); 5) problems of field sampling; and 6) several issues of quantification and hypothesis testing (e.g., patterns of environmental change, diversity, and subsistence).

Anth 750(B) Graduate Research Seminars: Evolutionary Theory in Anthropology

Research in the evolution of culture has had a checkered history in anthropology. Evolutionary theory based on Darwin's original formulation of "descent with modification" has often been conflated with unilineal schemes of social development or progress, and in recent years with the "biologicization" of anthropology. Over the past decade archaeologists and ethnographers have begun to explore the potential of Darwinian evolutionary theory to understand historical change and the origins of cultural diversity. This seminar examines 1) the historical relationship of evolution in biology and anthropology; 2) the epistemological basis of Darwinian theory and its applicability to cultural change; and 3) the development and recent applications of evolutionary theory in archaeology and ethnography, including a critical evaluation of its shortcomings. Emphasis is on theoretical work that has seen substantial anthropological application.

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