A Consilience of Evidence

Abstract

Evidence of many kinds has been assembled in the course of the book in support of the central paradigm that the Spice Island ancestors of the Polynesian peoples followed three major currents flowing out of the West Pacific Warm Pool to their limits in two oceans and that they did so before 1000 BC when a global cold period halted transoceanic voyaging for 600 years. We show that their descendants after 400 BC, adopting the same sailing and exploration strategies, re-established the remarkable range and scale of their ancestors’ transoceanic exploration, trading and migration. In this final chapter we offer an overview of the evidence gathered in support of this paradigm. And we reflect on the methodology employed to create a synthesis of insights from diverse sources. As the title of the book proclaims, empowering this synthesis is a recognition of the fundamental roles of oceanography and of global climate change in determining the paths, sequence, timing and range of prehistoric migration in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.