Status, Health, and Ancestry of a Late Prehistoric Burial from Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands
Weisler M, Lum JK, Collins SL, Kimoto WS. 1999. Status, Health, and Ancestry of a Late Prehistoric Burial from Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands. Republic of the Marshall Islands Historic Preservation Office
Abstract: "A bioarcheological study is presented for a chronometrically-dated human burial from the Marshall Islands. Associated with 151 grave goods, the artifacts imply the individual's relatively high status and point to prehistoric long-distance contacts between the Kwajalein community and distant islands groups. The burial is a male, about 30 to 40 years of age at time of death, and in generally good health. There is no evidence for cause of death. MtDNA analysis, applied to prehistoric human remains from the Marshalls for the first time, raises the possibility that lineages similar to the dominant one from the Marianas may have been more widespread in other parts of Micronesia. This may indicate a recent expansion of Lineage Group I, currently the most common throughout Micronesia, and confirms the complexity of Micronesian colonization and post-settlement histories." Project funding was provided by a Historic Preservation Fund grant to the Republic of the Marshall Islands Historic Preservation Office, administered by the Interior Regions 8, 9, 10, and 12, National Park Service, U.S. Department of Interior.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Weisler, Marshall; Lum, J.; Collins, Sara; Kimoto, Wayne
- Date of Issue
- 1999
- Publisher
- Republic of the Marshall Islands Historic Preservation Office
- Units
- HPF