Evolutionary process in an Oceanic chiefdom: Intergroup aggression and political integration in traditional Rotuman societ

This study adopts a multidisciplinary approach to address some of the limitations of previous explanations concerning intergroup aggression and political integration in Oceania. An interpretation that is based on evolutionary ecology and political economy is presented that distinguishes between the factors involved in the emergence of intergroup aggression and political integration from the factors that perpetuated these behavioral strategies. Instead of merely describing the behavioral strategies, the study offers an explanation of how and why they developed and were maintained. In particular, the study focuses on the natural and social constraints where specific behavioral strategies would have conferred benefits to the people who employed them.;Three kinds of data are used as evidence for the proposed explanation. Archaeological data from the hilltops of Rotuma are used to determine the nature and distribution of monumental architecture throughout the island. A geographic information system (GIS) is used to analyze environmental data to determine the heterogeneous nature of potential resource productivity throughout Rotuma. The third kind of data comes from an analysis of recorded Rotuman myths and ethnohistorical accounts of the island. The myths and ethnohistorical accounts are used to delineate some of the societal norms that characterized Rotuma during the late prehistoric and early historic eras.;The study suggests that during this time the pan-Rotuman sauship was not a rotational position, rather was dominated by the elite from the relatively less productive eastern side of the island. The integration of the island provided the eastern chiefs with socially and materially defined benefits. Because of these benefits, the eastern chiefs employed behavioral strategies to perpetuate the political structure. People from other districts participated in the hegemonic political structure because there were long term benefits to the structure, minimal costs, and relatively fewer advantages for them to obtain the pan-Rotuman positions. By evaluating the environmental and social constraints of traditional Rotuman society it is possible to determine the costs and benefits conferred on populations who participated in interdistrict aggression and political integration.