Roger Curtis Green
Encyclopedia
Roger Curtis Green (March 15, 1932 - October 4, 2009) was an American
born, New Zealand
-based archaeologist, Professor Emeritus at The University of Auckland, and member of the National Academy of Sciences
and Royal Society of New Zealand
. He was awarded the Hector
and Marsden Medal
s and was an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit
for his contributions to the study of Pacific culture history.
, New Jersey
, and expressed an interest in archaeology at an early age . At sixteen, his family relocated to Albuquerque, New Mexico
, where his interest in North American prehistory flourished.
Following a field season on Pueblo
sites in the region under the tutelage of Frank Hibben, Green attended the University of New Mexico
. While there, he undertook coursework in geology
and linguistics
in addition to anthropology
, while at the same time being engaged in officers training. He was particularly influenced by the work of linguist Edward Sapir
during this period , which likely contributed to his subsequent works in Polynesian linguistics. During this period, Green continued to work on local field projects, resulting in his first published works .
His talents were recognized early on by his professors at New Mexico, and before completing his Masters
study there, Green was encouraged to enroll in a doctorate
program at Harvard. While there he studied closely under Gordon Willey
and Cora du Bois. It was also there that he was first introduced to Pacific prehistory by Douglas Oliver, who helped arrange a Fulbright fellowship that took him to New Zealand
and on to conduct research in French Polynesia
on the islands of Moorea
and Mangareva
. His Ph.D. dissertation focused on the prehistoric sequence of the Auckland
region.
as a senior lecturer of Anthropology at The University of Auckland from 1961 to 1966 . In 1966, he was promoted to associate professor, and worked for the next three years at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa
. From 1970 to 1973, he worked on an extensive research project with Douglas Yen in the Solomon Islands
funded by a Captain James Cook Fellowship, after which he returned to Auckland
for the remainder of his teaching career. He retired from teaching in 1992, at which time he was made Professor Emeritus.
In addition to teaching at Auckland and Hawaii, Green periodically held active teaching and research positions at the American Museum of Natural History
in New York
, the Bernice P. Bishop Museum in Honolulu, and Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi in Whakatane
, New Zealand. He also oversaw the funding of numerous research projects through the Green Foundation for Polynesian Research .
During his teaching career, Green taught a number of students who would later make significant contributions to New Zealand and Pacific archaeology, including Janet Davidson
, Les Groube, Andrew Pawley
, Lisa Matisoo-Smith.
phase of the Pueblo Native Americans. He conducted several excavations at various sites in New Mexico as part of academic and salvage projects .
In the Pacific, Green contributed to the individual culture histories of New Zealand
, Hawaii
, Samoa
, Fiji
, Tonga
, Papua New Guinea
, French Polynesia
, the Solomon Islands
, New Caledonia
, and Easter Island
. He worked extensively on the general prehistory of the Pacific
, contributing to a myriad of topics including:
Among his methodological contributions, Green was well known for his work on obsidian dating and provenance, an invaluable tool in Pacific archaeology. Additionally, he made significant contributions to settlement pattern archaeology, particularly with his work in Moorea and Samoa.
The Green Foundation, established in 1984 by Green and his wife, Valerie, was an initiative which was started with diverted earnings from fee paying work Green was involved in. The Foundation supports multidisciplinary research in New Zealand and the Pacific.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
born, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
-based archaeologist, Professor Emeritus at The University of Auckland, and member of the National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
and Royal Society of New Zealand
Royal Society of New Zealand
The Royal Society of New Zealand , known as the New Zealand Institute before 1933, was established in 1867 to co-ordinate and assist the activities of a number of regional research societies including the Auckland Institute, the Wellington Philosophical Society, the Philosophical Institute of...
. He was awarded the Hector
Hector Memorial Medal
The Hector Memorial Medal is awarded annually for outstanding contribution to the advancement of the particular branch of science. It is awarded by the Royal Society of New Zealand in memory of Sir James Hector...
and Marsden Medal
Marsden Medal
The Marsden Medal is a yearly award given by the New Zealand Association of Scientists. It honors "a lifetime of outstanding service to the cause or profession of science, in recognition of service rendered to the cause or profession of science in the widest connotation of the phrase." It rivals...
s and was an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit
New Zealand Order of Merit
The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order established in 1996 "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rendered meritorious service to the Crown and nation or who have become distinguished by their eminence, talents, contributions or other merits."The order includes five...
for his contributions to the study of Pacific culture history.
Early life and education
Roger Green was born in RidgewoodRidgewood, New Jersey
Ridgewood is a village in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the village population was 24,958. Ridgewood is an affluent suburban bedroom community of New York City, located approximately northwest of Midtown Manhattan.The Village of Ridgewood was...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, and expressed an interest in archaeology at an early age . At sixteen, his family relocated to Albuquerque, New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
, where his interest in North American prehistory flourished.
Following a field season on Pueblo
Pueblo
Pueblo is a term used to describe modern communities of Native Americans in the Southwestern United States of America. The first Spanish explorers of the Southwest used this term to describe the communities housed in apartment-like structures built of stone, adobe mud, and other local material...
sites in the region under the tutelage of Frank Hibben, Green attended the University of New Mexico
University of New Mexico
The University of New Mexico at Albuquerque is a public research university located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the United States. It is the state's flagship research institution...
. While there, he undertook coursework in geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
and linguistics
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
in addition to anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
, while at the same time being engaged in officers training. He was particularly influenced by the work of linguist Edward Sapir
Edward Sapir
Edward Sapir was an American anthropologist-linguist, widely considered to be one of the most important figures in the early development of the discipline of linguistics....
during this period , which likely contributed to his subsequent works in Polynesian linguistics. During this period, Green continued to work on local field projects, resulting in his first published works .
His talents were recognized early on by his professors at New Mexico, and before completing his Masters
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
study there, Green was encouraged to enroll in a doctorate
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
program at Harvard. While there he studied closely under Gordon Willey
Gordon Willey
Gordon Randolph Willey was an American archaeologist famous for his fieldwork in South and Central America as well as the southeastern United States...
and Cora du Bois. It was also there that he was first introduced to Pacific prehistory by Douglas Oliver, who helped arrange a Fulbright fellowship that took him to New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and on to conduct research in French Polynesia
French Polynesia
French Polynesia is an overseas country of the French Republic . It is made up of several groups of Polynesian islands, the most famous island being Tahiti in the Society Islands group, which is also the most populous island and the seat of the capital of the territory...
on the islands of Moorea
Moorea
Moʻorea is a high island in French Polynesia, part of the Society Islands, 17 km northwest of Tahiti. Its position is . Moʻorea means "yellow lizard" in Tahitian...
and Mangareva
Mangareva
Mangareva is the central and most important island of the Gambier Islands in French Polynesia. It is surrounded by smaller islands: Taravai in the southwest, Aukena and Akamaru in the southeast, and islands in the north...
. His Ph.D. dissertation focused on the prehistoric sequence of the Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
region.
Academic career
Following his doctoral work in the Pacific, Green replaced Jack GolsonJack Golson
Jack Golson is an archaeologist who has done extensive field work in Melanesia, Polynesia and Micronesia. He has made important and pioneering contributions to the world of archaeology....
as a senior lecturer of Anthropology at The University of Auckland from 1961 to 1966 . In 1966, he was promoted to associate professor, and worked for the next three years at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa
University of Hawaii at Manoa
The University of Hawaii at Mānoa is a public, co-educational university and is the flagship campus of the greater University of Hawaii system...
. From 1970 to 1973, he worked on an extensive research project with Douglas Yen in the Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
funded by a Captain James Cook Fellowship, after which he returned to Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
for the remainder of his teaching career. He retired from teaching in 1992, at which time he was made Professor Emeritus.
In addition to teaching at Auckland and Hawaii, Green periodically held active teaching and research positions at the American Museum of Natural History
American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, the Bernice P. Bishop Museum in Honolulu, and Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi in Whakatane
Whakatane
Whakatane is a town in the eastern Bay of Plenty Region, in the North Island of New Zealand, and is the seat of the Bay of Plenty Regional Council. Whakatane is 90 km east of Tauranga and 89 km north-east of Rotorua, at the mouth of the Whakatane River.The town has a population of , with...
, New Zealand. He also oversaw the funding of numerous research projects through the Green Foundation for Polynesian Research .
During his teaching career, Green taught a number of students who would later make significant contributions to New Zealand and Pacific archaeology, including Janet Davidson
Janet Davidson
Janet M. Davidson is a pioneering New Zealand archaeologist who has carried out extensive field work in the Pacific Islands throughout Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia.-Honoured:...
, Les Groube, Andrew Pawley
Andrew Pawley
Andrew Kenneth Pawley , MA, PhD , FRSNZ, FAHA, is Emeritus Professor at the School of Culture, History & Language of the College of Asia & the Pacific at the Australian National University...
, Lisa Matisoo-Smith.
Contributions
Green's earliest work was focused primarily on the Largo-GallinaGallina
The Gallina or Largo-Gallina culture was an occupation sequence during the pre-hispanic period in the American Southwest from approximately 1050 to 1300...
phase of the Pueblo Native Americans. He conducted several excavations at various sites in New Mexico as part of academic and salvage projects .
In the Pacific, Green contributed to the individual culture histories of New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, Samoa
Samoa
Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...
, Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
, Tonga
Tonga
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga , is a state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over of ocean in the South Pacific...
, Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
, French Polynesia
French Polynesia
French Polynesia is an overseas country of the French Republic . It is made up of several groups of Polynesian islands, the most famous island being Tahiti in the Society Islands group, which is also the most populous island and the seat of the capital of the territory...
, the Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
, New Caledonia
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
, and Easter Island
Easter Island
Easter Island is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian triangle. A special territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888, Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early Rapanui people...
. He worked extensively on the general prehistory of the Pacific
History of the Pacific Islands
History of the Pacific Islands covers the history of the islands in the Pacific Ocean.-Easter Island – Rapanui:Easter Island is one of the youngest inhabited territories on Earth, and for most of the History of Easter Island it was the most isolated inhabited territory on Earth...
, contributing to a myriad of topics including:
- Polynesian origins Green helped to develop a phylogenetic model of the Pacific using a combination of linguistic, ethnological, biological, and archaeological analysis ; this work was complemented by ethnohistorical research of the ancestral Polynesian homeland, HawaikiHawaikiIn Māori mythology, Hawaiki is the homeland of the Māori, the original home of the Māori, before they travelled across the sea to New Zealand...
. - Evolution of Polynesian languagesPolynesian languagesThe Polynesian languages are a language family spoken in the region known as Polynesia. They are classified as part of the Austronesian family, belonging to the Oceanic branch of that family. They fall into two branches: Tongic and Nuclear Polynesian. Polynesians share many cultural traits...
From the 1960s, Green worked to classify Polynesian languages and identify common terms. - The LapitaLapitaLapita is a term applied to an ancient Pacific Ocean archaeological culture which is believed by many archaeologists to be the common ancestor of several cultures in Polynesia, Micronesia, and some coastal areas of Melanesia...
cultural complex Green was among the first to identify Lapita pottery and material culture with the Austronesian-speaking ancestors of the Polynesians. His excavations in the ReefReef IslandsThe Reef Islands are a loose collection of 16 islands in the northwestern part of the Solomon Islands province of Temotu. These islands have historically also been known by the names of Swallow Islands and Matema Islands....
and Santa Cruz IslandsSanta Cruz IslandsThe Santa Cruz Islands are a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean, part of Temotu Province of the Solomon Islands. They lie approximately 250 miles to the southeast of the Solomon Islands Chain...
, as well as Watom IslandWatom IslandWatom Island is an inhabited island in the Bismarck Sea in Papua New Guinea, located just off the mainland of the northern coast of New Britain, near Rabaul. It lies to the northeast of Urara Island. The island is almost entirely forested except for a few scattered settlements. The highest point of...
in Papua New Guinea furnished significant data for this interpretation. - Settlement patterns in Oceania Green pioneered the settlement pattern approach in the Pacific, which examined the archaeological landscape holistically rather than focus on sites with rich deposits. This was used to good effect by Green on Moorea, New Zealand, Samoa , and by others elsewhere.
- Radiocarbon and stratigraphic sequences Green worked closely with a number of archaeologists to develop the sequences for a number of island groups, and emphasised the importance of using archaeological context in addition to chronometric data.
- Long-distance voyaging and exchange Green's work with obsidian provenance and Lapita sites helped to develop ideas about prehistoric voyaging and exchange between island groups.
Among his methodological contributions, Green was well known for his work on obsidian dating and provenance, an invaluable tool in Pacific archaeology. Additionally, he made significant contributions to settlement pattern archaeology, particularly with his work in Moorea and Samoa.
The Green Foundation, established in 1984 by Green and his wife, Valerie, was an initiative which was started with diverted earnings from fee paying work Green was involved in. The Foundation supports multidisciplinary research in New Zealand and the Pacific.
Selected publications
- Green, Roger C., 1956. A pit house of the Gallina phase. American Antiquity 22:10-16.
- Green, Roger C., 1961. Mo'orean archaeology. Man 61:169-173.
- Green, Roger C., 1962. Obsidian, its applications to archaeology. New Zealand Archaeological Association Newsletter 5:8-16.
- Green, Roger C., 1963a. A review of the prehistoric sequence in the Auckland Province. Auckland Archaeological Society Publication 1 and New Zealand Archaeological Association Monograph 2. Auckland: University Bindery Press.
- Green, Roger C., 1963b. Site preservation. New Zealand Archaeological Association Newsletter 6:57-69
- Green, Roger C., 1963c. A suggested revision of the Fijian sequence. Journal of the Polynesian Society 72:235-253.
- Green, Roger C., 1966. Linguistic subgrouping with Polynesia: the implications for prehistoric settlement. Journal of the Polynesian Society 80:355-370.
- Green, Roger C., 1967. The immediate origins of the Polynesians. In Polynesian Culture History: Essays in Honor of Kenneth P. Emory, edited by G. H. Highland et al. Bernice P. Bishop Museum Special Publication 56. Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press.
- Green, Roger C., K. Green, R. A. Rappaport, and J. M. Davidson. 1967. Archaeology on the island of Mo'orea, French Polynesia. Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History 51, 2. New York.
- Green, Roger C. and J. M. Davidson, eds. 1969. Archaeology in Western Samoa, Volume I. Auckland: Auckland Institute and Museum.
- Green, Roger C. and M. M. Kelly, eds. 1970. Studies in Oceanic Culture History, Volume I. Pacific Anthropological Records 11. Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press.
- Green, Roger C., 1972. Revision of the Tongan Sequence. Journal of the Polynesian Society 81:79-86
- Green, Roger C., 1973. Lapita pottery and the origins of Polynesian culture. Australian Natural History 17:332-37.
- Green, Roger C., 1977. A First Culture History of the Solomon Islands. Auckland: University of Auckland Bindery.
- Green, Roger C., 1979. Lapita. In The Prehistory of Polynesia, edited by J.D. Hennings. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
- Green, Roger C., 1980. Makaha before 1880 A.D. Makaha Valley Historical Project Summary Report No. 5. Pacific Anthropological Records 31. Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press.
- Green, Roger C. and J.S. Mitchell, 1983. New Caledonian culture history: a review of the archaeological sequence. New Zealand Journal of Archaeology 5:19-67.
- Kirch, Patrick V. and R. C. Green, 1987. History, phylogeny, and evolution in Polynesia. Current Anthropology 28: 431-443, 452-456.
- Kirch, Patrick V. and R. C. Green, 2001. Hawaiki, Ancestral Polynesia, An Essay in Historical Anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Green, Valerie J. and R. C. Green, 2007. An accent on atolls and approaches to population histories of Remote Oceania. In The Growth and Collapse of Pacific Island Societies: Archaeological and Demographic Perspectives, edited by P. V. Kirch and J.-L. Rallu. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
See also
- LapitaLapitaLapita is a term applied to an ancient Pacific Ocean archaeological culture which is believed by many archaeologists to be the common ancestor of several cultures in Polynesia, Micronesia, and some coastal areas of Melanesia...
- History of the Pacific IslandsHistory of the Pacific IslandsHistory of the Pacific Islands covers the history of the islands in the Pacific Ocean.-Easter Island – Rapanui:Easter Island is one of the youngest inhabited territories on Earth, and for most of the History of Easter Island it was the most isolated inhabited territory on Earth...
- Archaeology in SamoaArchaeology in SamoaArchaeology of Samoa began with the first systematic survey of archaeological remains on Savai'i island by Jack Golson in 1957. Since then, surveys and studies in the rest of Samoa have uncovered major findings of settlements, stone and earth mounds including star mounds, Lapita pottery remains and...
- Polynesian languagesPolynesian languagesThe Polynesian languages are a language family spoken in the region known as Polynesia. They are classified as part of the Austronesian family, belonging to the Oceanic branch of that family. They fall into two branches: Tongic and Nuclear Polynesian. Polynesians share many cultural traits...