Norfolk Island and the Polynesian Narrative: New Evidence from a Marginal Mystery Island

Abstract

Norfolk Island was settled by Polynesian voyagers between c. 13th-15th centuries CE (Anderson & White 2001a), but the island is frequently omitted from many broader discussions of pre-European migration, settlement, and interaction in the Pacific. With limited material evidence, no extant population at the time of European arrival, and no formal incorporation into existing regional Pacific frameworks, this omission from broader discussions is understandable. Pre-European habitation on Norfolk Island is not a novel concept but systematic archaeological investigation has been relatively limited over the past several decades (Anderson & White 2001b; Specht 1984). To date our understanding of the Polynesian settlement has been almost exclusively based on information from a single settlement site on the island’s south coast (Anderson & White 2001b). This limits interpretations of the settlement’s nature and extent, and of how Norfolk Island fits within the broader Polynesian narrative. This thesis seeks to address two main factors limiting Norfolk Island’s inclusion into broader Pacific discussions: scarce material evidence and lacking regional classification. Regarding the former, this document reports on a previously unrecorded stone-working site and several unreported stone artefacts from local private collections. This research utilises a multi-method investigatory approach, including archaeological survey and excavation, techno-typological lithic analysis and non-destructive geochemical analysis using a portable X-ray Fluorescence (pXRF) spectrometer. Based on the results from these lines of enquiry, it is proposed that Norfolk Island is best classified as part of a new Pacific subregion: the Southern Margin Mystery Islands. Encompassing Norfolk Island, the Auckland Islands and the Snares Islands, this subregion is temporally, geographically and culturally associated with Polynesia but sits outside of the region’s generally accepted boundaries.