La Pratique De L'espace En Oceanie Decouverte, Appropriation Et Emergence Des Systemes Sociaux Traditionnels

Archaeological fieldwork in the Marquesas took place in two types of landscapes complementary to each other: the interior valleys and the coastal dunes. Located between sea and terrestrial environments, the dunes participate in the ideal free distribution model and, as such, they have been considered by archaeologists as favorable places for recovering ancient remains from the first human settlements. However, our investigations on Ua Huka Island, in the northern group, demonstrate that the nature of human occupation on the dunes has changed through time. By excavating large areas, we recovered many remains that testified to various human activities: fishing hamlets, cemeteries, observation posts, and ceremonial sites. In this article, we propose a comparative approach of several dune systems on Ua Huka with chronological sequences that are now well-documented. We highlight their temporal and functional variability, which allow us to assess the nature of these locations in the Marquesas environment.