The polynesian outliers: Continuity, change, and replacement ∗

ALONG THE FRINGES OF MELANESIA, AND ESPECIALLY ON THE SMALLER HIGH islands and atolls lying to the east of the main island arcs, are some 18 societies known collectively as the Polynesian Outliers (Fig. 1). Unknown ar chaeologically until very recently, these oudiers have nonetheless stimulated theories and arguments about Polynesian origins for three quarters of a cen tury. William Churchill, in his 1911 monograph The Polynesian Wanderings, argued that the Oudiers were relict settlements that marked the trail of the Polynesian migrations from west to east, a viewpoint sustained more recently by the linguist A. Cappel.1 Thilenius on the other hand maintained that these Polynesian enclaves in a Melanesian sea represented east-to-west back migra tions and drift voyages, and suggested that the settlement histories of these islands might be quite complex.2 This view was upheld by Sir Peter Buck,3 who saw in it support for his thesis that the Polynesians had migrated through Micronesia.