Courses

ARCH201 Archaeological Methods
ARCH402 Material Culture Studies
ARCH403 Oceanic Prehistory

Projects

I am a founding Director of Southern Pacific Archaeological Research (SPAR), the Department's archaeological consultancy unit, providing research-led heritage management services for the community.

Selected Publications

Books

Walter, R., C. Jacomb and E. Brooks. 2010. Archaeological Investigations at Omaio, Eastern Bay of Plenty. Whakatane and District Historical Society. Memoir 10. ISBN 1 86940 315-0.

Anson, D., Walter, R. and R.C. Green, 2005. A Revised and Redated Event Phase Sequence for the Reber-Rakival Lapita Site, Watom Island, East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea. University of Otago Studies in Prehistoric Anthropology. No 20. ISBN 0-473-10233-1

Walter, R.K. and A. Anderson. 2002. The Archaeology of Niue Island, West Polynesia. Bishop Museum Bulletin in Anthropology No. 10. Honolulu, Bishop Museum Press. (167 pages) ISBN 1-58178-018-4

Walter, R.K. and R. Moeka’a. 2000. The Rarotongan Traditions of Te Ariki Tara Are. Polynesian Society Memoir. No. 51. (202 pages) ISBN 0-908940-03-3.

Walter, R.K., 1998. Anai’o: the Archaeology of a fourteenth century Polynesian community in the southern Cook Islands. New Zealand Archaeological Association Monograph No. 22. (125 pages)
ISBN 0-9597915-5-8

Book Chapters

Sheppard, P., R. Walter and K. Roga. 2010. Friends, Relatives, and Enemies: The Archaeology and History of Interaction Among Austronesian and NAN Speakers in the Western Solomons. In, J. Bowden and N. Himmelmann (eds). A Journey through Austronesian and Papuan Cultural Space: A Festschrift for Andrew Pawley. Pacific Linguistics. Canberra: Australian National University. Pp 95 - 112.

Sheppard, P., R. Walter, 2009. Inter-tidal Late Lapita Sites and Geotectonics in the Western Solomon Islands. In, Sheppard, P. and T. Thomas (eds). Lapita, Antecedents and Successors. Auckland, University of Auckland Press. Pp 35-72.

Walter, R. and P. Sheppard, 2009. Fifty years of archaeology in the Solomon Islands. In, Sheppard, P. and T. Thomas (eds). Lapita, Antecedents and Successors. Auckland, University of Auckland Press. Pp 73-100.

Sheppard, P. and Walter, R. 2008. The sea is not land: comments on the archaeology of islands in the western Solomons. In Conolly, J. and Campbell, M. (eds.). Comparative Island Archaeologies, pp. 167-178. Oxford: BAR International Series 1829. ISBN: 978 1 4073 0313 0

Walter, R.K. and C. Jacomb, 2008. New Zealand. In, Pearsall, D. (ed.) Encyclopaedia of Archaeology. New York; Academic Press. Vol 3:1738-1747.

Walter, R.K. and P. Sheppard. 2006. Archaeology in Island Melanesia: A case study from the Western Province of the Solomon Islands. In, Lilley, I. (ed.) Blackwell Guide to Archaeological History in Oceania: Australia and the Pacific Islands. London, Blackwell Press. Pp 137-159.

Walter, R.K. 2004. New Zealand Archaeology and its Polynesian Connections. In, Furey, L. and S. Holdaway (eds). Change Through Time, 50 years of New Zealand Archaeology. New Zealand Archaeological Association Monograph, 26. Pp 125-146.

Sheppard, P.J., Walter, R.K, and S. Aswani. 2004. Oral Tradition and the Creation of Late Prehistory in Roviana Lagoon, Solomon Islands. In, Attenbrow V. and R. Fullagar (eds). A Pacific Odyssey: Archaeology and Anthropology in the Western Pacific. Papers in Honour of Jim Specht. Records of the Australian Museum. Supplement 29. Pp 123 – 132.

Anderson, A. and R.K. Walter, 2002. Landscape and culture change on Niue Island West Polynesia. In, Ladefoged, T. and M. Graves (eds) Pacific Landscapes: Archaeological Approaches. Honolulu, Easter Island Foundation, Bearsville Press. Pp 153 –172.

Sheppard, P.J., Walter, R.K, T. Nagaoka, and S. Aswani. 2002. Cultural sediment: The nature of a cultural landscape in Roviana Lagoon. In, Ladefoged, T. and M. Graves (eds) Pacific Landscapes: Archaeological Approaches. Honolulu, Easter Island Foundation, Bearsville Press. Pp 35 – 61.

Walter R.K. and P.J. Sheppard. 2001. Cook Island Basalt Sourcing: Current Issues and Directions. In, Jones M. and P.J. Sheppard (eds) Australasian Connections and New Directions: Proceedings of the 7th Australasian Archaeometry Conference. Research in Anthropology and Linguistics No. 5. Department of Anthropology, University of Auckland. Pp. 383-397.

Walter, R.K. and M. Campbell, 1999. Prehistoric marine adaptation on a windward, raised reef island, Mitiaro, Southern Cook Islands. In, Katayama, K. and N. Shibota (eds). Prehistoric Cook Islands: People, Life and Language. Rarotonga, Cook Islands Library and Museum Society. Pp 135-148.

Sheppard, P.J., Felgate, M. Roga, K., Keopo, J. and R. Walter, 1998. A ceramic Sequence from Roviana Lagoon, (New Georgia, Solomon Islands).In, Galipaud, J.C. and I. Lilley, (eds) Le Pacifique de 5000 ý 2000 avant le present. Supplements ý líhistoire díune colonisation. Noumea, ORSTORM, Institut de recherche pour le dÈveloppement collection Colloques et sÈminaires. Pp 313 ñ 322.

Sheppard, P.J., R. Walter and R. Parker, 1997. Basalt Sourcing and the Development of Cook Island Exchange Systems. In M.I. Weisler (ed.), Prehistoric Long-Distance Interaction in Oceania: An Interdisciplinary Approach. New Zealand Archaeological Association Monograph, No 21. Pp 85-110

Walter, R.K. 1996. What is the East Polynesian 'archaic'?: A view from the Cook Islands. In, Davidson, J.M., Irwin G., Leach, B.F. Pawley, A. and D. Brown (eds) Oceanic Culture History: Essays in Honour of Roger Green. New Zealand Journal of Archaeology, Special Publication. Wellington, New Zealand Archaeological Association. Pp 513-530.

Walter, R.K. 1994. The Cook Island-New Zealand Connection. In, Sutton, D.G.(ed.) The Origin of the First New Zealanders. Auckland, Auckland University Press. Pp 220-229.

Walter, R.K. 1993. The community in Ma'uke prehistory. In, The Evolution of Late Prehistoric Social System. Graves, M. W. and R. C. Green (eds.). Asian and Pacific Archaeology Series. Pp 72 - 86.

Journal Articles

Walter, R. and M. Reilly 2010. A Prehistory of the Mangaian Chiefdom. Journal of the Polynesian Society. 119(4):335-375.

Brook, F., Walter, R., and J. Craig. 2010. Changes in the terrestrial molluscan fauna of Mitiaro, Southern Cook Islands. Tuhinga. 21: 75-98.

Jacomb C., Walter, R., and C. Jennings. 2010. A review of the Archaeology of Foveaux Strait. Journal of the Polynesian Society. 110(1):25-59.

Walter, R., Jacomb, C. and S. Bowron-Muth. 2010. Colonisation, mobility and exchange in New Zealand prehistory. Antiquity. 84(324):497-513.

Oskam, C.L., Haile, J., McLay, E., Rigby, P., Allentoft,M.E., Olsen,M.E., Bengtsson, C., Miller, G.H., Schwenninger, J-L., Jacomb, C., Walter, R., Baynes, A., Dortch, J., Parker-Pearson, M.M. Gilbert, T.P., Holdaway, R., Willerslev, E., Bunce, M. 2010. Fossil avian eggshell preserves ancient DNA. The Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Pp 1-10.

Jacomb, C., Walter, R. and E. Brooks. 2010. Living on pipi: rapid adaptation to resource depression at Karamea, West Coast, New Zealand. Journal of Pacific Archaeology. Vol 1(1):36-52.

Storey, A.A., Ramírez, J.M., Quiroz, D., Burley, D.V., Addison, D., Walter, R., T.L., Athens, J.S., Huynen, L. and E.A. Matisoo-Smith 2008, Pre-Columbian Chickens, Dates, Isotopes and mtDNA. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. Vol 105(48):E49.

Storey, A.A., Ramírez, J.M., Quiroz, D., Burley, D.V., Addison, D., Walter, R., Anderson, A., T.L., Athens, J.S., Huynen, L. and E.A. Matisoo-Smith. 2007. Radiocarbon and DNA evidence for a pre-Columbian introduction of Polynesian chickens to Chile. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. June 19, 2007. Vol. 104(25): 10335–10339.

Sheppard, P.J. and Walter R. 2006. A revised model of Solomon Islands culture history. Journal of the Polynesian Society. 115(1):47 –76.

Walter, R.K., Smith, I.W.G. and C. Jacomb. 2006. Sedentism, subsistence and socio-political organisation in prehistoric New Zealand. World Archaeology. 38(2): 274-290.

Jacomb, C., Walter, R., Easdale, S., Johns, D., O’Connell, D, Witter, D. and A. Witter. 2004. A 15th century Maori textile fragment from Kaitorete Spit, Canterbury, and the evolution of Maori weaving. Journal of the Polynesian Society. 113(3): 291-296.

Walter, R., Thomas, T. and P. Sheppard. 2004. Cult Assemblages and Ritual Practice in Roviana Lagoon, Solomon Islands. World Archaeology. 36(1):142-157.

Weisler, M.I. and Walter R.K. 2002. Form and function: an archaeological fishing assemblage from Kawa Kiu Nui, Molokai, Hawaii. Hawaiian Archaeology. Vol 8:42-61.

Walter, R.K. and P.J. Sheppard. 2001. Nusa Roviana. The Archaeology of a Melanesian chiefdom. Journal of Field Archaeology. 27(3):295-318.

Thomas, T., Sheppard, P. and R. Walter., 2001. Landscape, Violence and Social Bodies: Ritualized Architecture in a Solomon Islands Society. Journal of Royal Anthropological Institute. 7(3):545-572.

Sheppard, P.J., R. Walter and T. Nagaoka 2000. The archaeology of head-hunting in Roviana Lagoon, New Georgia, Solomon Islands. Journal of the Polynesian Society. 109(1):9-37.

Hamilton, R. and R. Walter, 1999. Indigenous ecological knowledge and its role in fisheries research design. A case study from Roviana Lagoon, Western Province, Solomon Islands. Traditional Marine Resource Management and Knowledge Bulletin. 11:13-26.

Walter, R.K. 1996. Settlement pattern archaeology in the Southern Cook Islands: A review. Journal of the Polynesian Society. 105(1):63-99.

Walter, R.K. and Peter Sheppard. 1996. The Ngati Tiare adze cache: further evidence of prehistoric contact between West Polynesia and the Southern Cook Islands. Archaeology in Oceania. 31(1):33-39.

Walter, R.K. and A. Anderson. 1995. Archaeology of Niue Island: Initial results. Journal of the Polynesian Society. 104(4):471-81.

Anderson, A., H. Leach and I. Smith and R. Walter, 1994. Reconsideration of the Marquesan sequence in East Polynesian prehistory, with particular reference to Hane (MUH1). Archaeology in Oceania. 29:29-52.

Walter, R.K. 1989. Lapita Fishing Strategies; A Review of the Archaeological and Linguistic Evidence. Journal of Pacific Studies. 13(7):127-149