The Polynesian “Long Pause” lasted 1,700 years. Then, around 900 CE, a mega-drought hit Samoa and Tonga just as rain increased eastward. New sediment data suggests thirsty islands, not myth, sent voyagers into the Pacific. #Archaeology #Polynesia #Paleoclimate https://www.anthropology.net/p/the-long-pause-that-ended-in-drought