THE TRANSIENT VILLAGE IN SOUTHERN NEW-ZEALAND

Southern New Zealand is a cool-temperate insular region, first coloniz ed about 800 BP by hunter-gatherers, Archaeological data, particularly from the site at Shag River Mouth, show that small villages, establis hed early in the settlement sequence, were occupied only briefly and t hat by about 400 BP village habitation had ceased. Ethnographic observ ations and some archaeological evidence show that villages were re-est ablished late in the sequence, by about 200 BP. It is argued that thes e phases of sedentary settlement largely reflect different responses t o relative scarcity of resources. In the early phase, transient villag es were established close to rich resource clumps, notably of seals an d moas, and these were depleted serially until that settlement mode wa s no longer practical. In the later phase, villages were sustained by long-distance movement of dispersed resources, in a system facilitated by new socio-political conditions.