Historical ecology of Ofu Island revisited: new data for an island‐wide model

ABSTRACT Case studies offer an opportunity to examine and highlight relationships among variables in a way that cannot be done through broad comparison. Ofu Island has served as one such case study for understanding human–environment relationships. Here, we use three decades of archaeological investigations – past work of others as well as our own recent research – to formulate a revised model of the historical ecology of the island. We argue that Ofu still holds important clues to understanding the complexity of human–environment relationships, chiefly serving to illustrate the structuring effects of environmental history.