Geoffry R Clark, MA Dist. (Otago), PhD (ANU)
Research Fellow, Department of Archaeology and Natural History

Email: geoffrey.clark@anu.edu.au

Biographical Statement

My MA thesis at the University of Otago was a zooarchaeology study of the Kuri - the prehistoric and now extinct dog of the New Zealand Maori - followed by doctoral research at ANH in RSPAS looking at mid-sequence change in the archaeological record of Fiji. I received an ARC post-doctoral appointment in the School of Archaeology and Anthropology at ANU investigating the colonization of the Palau Islands in western Micronesia, followed by a lectureship at the University of Otago teaching Pacific and New Zealand prehistory and advanced material culture analysis. I joined ANH at the end of 2005, with research on Tonga, east Fiji, and Palau-Mariana Islands.

Research Interests

Neolithic colonization of Oceania, especially of western Micronesia and Lapita occupation of the Central Pacific. A current large project investigates the Tongan maritime empire and its expansion to east Fiji and Samoa with archaeology, traditional history and geophysical techniques. I have research interests in monumental architecture, zooarchaeology and historical archaeology with ongoing projects in each of these areas.

Key Publications

• 'Osteology of the Kuri Maori: the prehistoric dog of New Zealand'. Journal of Archaeological Science 24: 113-126. 1997.
• (co-edited with A.J. Anderson and T. Vunidilo), The Archaeology of the Lapita Dispersal in Oceania. Canberra: Pandanus Books. 2001.
• (with A. Anderson) 'The pattern of Lapita settlement in Fiji'. Archaeology in Oceania 36: 77-88. 2001.
• (ed.) 'Dumont d'Urville's divisions of Oceania: Fundamental Precincts or Arbitrary Constructs?' Journal of Pacific History 38(2). 2003.
• 'Shards of Meaning: archaeology and the Melanesia-Polynesia distinction'. Journal of Pacific History 38(2): 197-213. 2003
• 'A 3000-year culture sequence from Palau, western Micronesia'. Asian Perspectives 44: 349-380. 2005.

Career Highlights

ARC Postdoctoral Fellowship (2001-2004). Discovery and excavation of colonization phase sites in Palau and Fiji. Research on monuments of the Tui Tonga dynasty in the Kingdom of Tonga.