Dryland Horticulture in Maupiti: An Ethnoarchaeological Study

Maupiti (Society Islands,Fr ench Polynesia) is a small high island where dry and nonmechanized horticulture is still practiced. These practices can be seen in small orchard-gardens on the coastal plain and on mountainsides. Dryland cultures can seldom be organized in larger fields in the mountain,wher e staple species such as taro and bananas can be mixed among fallow. A quasi-exhaustive archaeological survey has been made in Maupiti and no evidence of prehistoric horticultural remains were found. This lack of archaeological remains and the presence of several dryland orchard-gardens were the beginning of a study whose main purpose was to try to understand how dryland horticulture should appear in the archaeological record.