PROCESSES OF INCREASING SOCIAL COMPLEXITY ON KOSRAE, MICRONESIA

Increasing social complexity through time from an evolutionary viewpoint has been one of the crucial topics among archeologists. The research goal is to shed light on how "complex society" emerged through a process of evolutionary change from two to four echelons in a Pacific island situation. The main question treated is whether we can archeologically, with the help of ethnohistorical information, demonstrate how, when, and possibly why sociopolitical changes involving increases in the complexity of social stratification occur in physically and socially circumscribed settings. Kosrae (108 km ('2)), one of Micronesia's volcanic islands, was chosen to pursue this problem.;The following is my major hypothesis: In a circumscribed island setting, the force of increasing population pressure and local conflict tend to bring about the emergence of three and eventually four echelons of society. On Kosrae, this occurred within the comparatively short span of several hundred years, as powerful local groups struggled to increase the tribute they received in the form of food and to consolidate their military superiority over one another.;Three specific hypotheses were generated based on the above major hypothesis concerning population pressure, local conflict, and the existence of three-echelon society, and these were tested in the field.;The Utwa District was selected to test the three specific hypotheses because it is the most intact district archeologically and is traditionally known to have played an important political role on the island. Three to ten crew members worked with me for four full months to reveal 150 habitation and other types of site in five fal (a traditional land unit). Locational analysis and statistical analysis (SPSS) were employed to evaluate the data and test the hypotheses. Several types of evidence considered supportive of the hypotheses were found.;Previous archeological research with very limited excavation on Kosrae has suggested a course of increasing social complexity from a stage of multiple two-echelon societies restricted to one or two valleys to a lesser number of three-echelon societies incorporating several adjacent valleys and finally to a stage of four-echelon society, within which the entire island was unified under a single ruler around A.D. 1400.