Thursday, Sept. 12, 1963 University Daily Kansan F
Expedition Takes KU Professor To Islands of French Polynesia
Carlyle S. Smith, professor of anthropology, and family are in the Southwest Pacific where he will lead a five-month archaeological expedition to the Atuona Valley on Hiva Oa in the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia.
"THE VALLEY is rich in archaeological remains such as ceremonial platforms, statues, village sites and graves." Prof. Smith said. "It was settled as early as the second century B.C."
The Atuona Valley, where the French artist Paul Gauguin did his last painting and is buried, is the legendary site of the first settlement of the Marquesas. Slightly south of the equator, it is 850 miles northeast of Papeete in Tahiti, about 3,500 miles southwest of Los Angeles and the same distance west of Panama.
The valley, with 125 residents, is the most populous part of the island.
which rises sharply to an elevation of about 4,000 feet.
"The natives, some of whom are descendants of Gauguin, have a very efficient subsistence economy." Prof. Smith explained. "They sell copra, the white meat of the coconut, and some wild coffee but harvest their own fresh fish, vegetables and fruit."
The expedition is a joint project of the Kon Tiki Museum in Oslo, Norway, and KU. The Bishop Museum of Honolulu, Hawaii, is co-operating.
PROF. SMITH is leader of the expedition. Others from KU are Roger Rose of Lindsborg, who received the A.B. degree in anthropology in June; Mrs. Smith, and children Evan, a seventh grader, and Pamela, a third grader.
Others are Dr. Yosihiko Sinoto of the Bishop Museum and Marimari Kellum of the island of Morrea near Tahiti, a student at the University of Hawaii.
Small motor vessels operating out of Tahiti call at Hiva Oa irregularly about twice a month. There is radio contact between the island and Papeete.
"French is the language the natives use with outsiders and is used in the schools," Prof. Smith explained. "Our children will attend
the native schools and will soon learn French on a 'must' basis."
The French Polynesian currency is the oceanic franc which has an on-the-spot exchange of 83 to the dollar.
"We have rented two small 'furnished' houses," Dr. Smith said. "But we have no idea what furnished means, so we are taking the same equipment as for a field expedition in the United States."
EARLY THIS MONTH the expedition will go to Hiva Oa by motor vessel, a week's voyage with cargo stops among the coral atolls of the Tuamotu Archipelago.
This is Prof. Smith's second visit to the Marquesas Islands. He was there in 1956 as a member of the Thor Heyerdahl expedition, which concentrated on the Easter Islands, far to the east toward South America.
About 1200 pounds of equipment was shipped ahead by water and air freight.
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