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I'm looking for institutions that might be interested in participating in an
international program of historical archeology, probably specifically
historical household archaeology, on the island of Nikumaroro in the
Republic
of Kiribati.  The island was the site of the last new colony of the British
Empire, established in 1938 and abandoned in 1963.  The archaeological
leavings of the colony comprise an extensive collection of government
building ruins and housesites associated with individual families of I
Kiribati (Gilbertese Micronesian) and Tuvaluan (Ellice Islands Polynesian)
people, each house site represented by artifact scatters associated in some
cases with small-scale structural remains.  There's an extensive body of
historical, ethnographic, and anecdotal data on the colony, and veterans of
it remain alive in Kiribati and in the Solomon Islands.  It appears to offer
interesting possibilities for studies (at least) of household archaeology,
transformation processes, differentiating archeologically between ethnic
groups (Micronesian/Polynesian) and processes of site abandonment under
non-emergency conditions.

Over the last 12 years the site has been visited six times by The
International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, which is studying the
island as the possible landing and death site of Amelia Earhart.  TIGHAR has
carried out small-scale reconnaissance in the village, together with an
intensive surface study of one house site (See "Amelia Earhart's Shoes," by
T.F. King et al, Altamira Press 2001).  TIGHAR's interest in the village
lies
primarily in the fact that aircraft aluminum was used by its residents in
the
manufacture of handicrafts and tools, but TIGHAR is not equipped to conduct
a
full-scale investigation of the village, and its interests are relatively
narrow; we believe that the village should be investigated in the context of
a broader body of research interests.  The site is currently experiencing
significant erosion along its SW side due to rising sea levels, and may soon
be destroyed.

Institutions in Canada and the U.K. have expressed interest in collaborating
on a project proposal; I am hoping to find U.S. collaborators.  Working on
the island is expensive because of its extremely remote location, near the
dead center of the Pacific.

Anyone interested in discussing possible participation in a grant proposal
to
support work on Nikumaroro should contact me at [log in to unmask]

Thanks,
Tom King
Project Archaeologist, TIGHAR Amelia Earhart Project
410 Windsor Street
Silver Spring MD 20910