The question of Early Lapita settlements in Remote Oceania and reliance on horticulture revisited: new evidence from plant microfossil studies at Reef/Santa Cruz, south-east Solomon Islands

Since the earliest discoveries of Lapita sites in Remote Oceania there has been ongoing debate about the nature of Pacific island colonisation. In the 1970s, based on the archaeological material from the SE-RF-2 and SE-RF-6 sites on the Reef Islands in the SE Solomons, Roger Green proposed that early Lapita communities there must have relied on horticulture as the mainstay of subsistence. Our analyses of phytoliths and starch in sediments and on pottery has found evidence for burning, food preparation and cooking in conjunction with a suite of wild and domesticated plants indicative of horticulture. Starch and phytoliths from seeded Australimusa (syn: Callimusa) bananas as well as domesticated Eumusa (syn: Musa) bananas were recovered, as well as Colocasia esculenta (taro) starch, and Metroxylon sp. (sago palm) phytoliths. Hence, Green’s early hypothesis finds support, but more analyses, together with more precise dating are needed to clarify the time taken to establish sustainable horticulture. The importation of selected plants is confirmed, with potential sources being the Bismarck region or stop-over islands along the way. This was followed by ongoing on-site breeding and/or new introductions from further human migrations into the region and establishment of trade and exchange networks.Introduction - Site locations and background Methods - Pottery - Sediments - Microfossil recording and identification Results - Starch Analysis - Phytolith Analysis SE-RF-2 SE-RF-6 Musaceae starch Musaceae phytoliths Discussion Conclusio

Phytoliths as a tool for investigations of agricultural origins and dispersals around the world

Agricultural origins and dispersals are subjects of fundamental importance to archaeology as well as many other scholarly disciplines. These investigations are world-wide in scope and require significant amounts of paleobotanical data attesting to the exploitation of wild progenitors of crop plants and subsequent domestication and spread. Accordingly, for the past few decades the development of methods for identifying the remains of wild and domesticated plant species has been a focus of paleo-ethnobotany. Phytolith analysis has increasingly taken its place as an important independent contributor of data in all areas of the globe, and the volume of literature on the subject is now both very substantial and disseminated in a range of international journals. In this paper, experts who have carried out the hands-on work review the utility and importance of phytolith analysis in documenting the domestication and dispersals of crop plants around the world. It will serve as an important resource both to paleo-ethnobotanists and other scholars interested in the development and spread of agriculture

Phytolith evidence for the terrestrial plant component at the Lapita Reber-Rakival site on Watom Island, Papua New Guinea

Analysis of phytoliths in sediments from Kainapirina (SAC) locality in the Reber-Rakival Lapita site on Watom Island, East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea, directly confirms and expands on the types of terrestrial plants, both domestic and natural, identified in the cultural and ashfall deposits of c. 400 cal. B.C. to A.D. cal. 650 found at the site. A significant new finding is that evidence for banana cultivation throughout that period can be associated with both former and additional confirmatory evidence for the growing of coconut and Canarium nut trees plus a range of new plants. Gardening activity alternating with fallow is also strongly suggested by the types of natural tree cover at the conclusion of that occupation sequence and the garden soils lying just below the primary seventh century A.D. Rabaul volcanic ashfall. Taken with the hypothesized existence of pig husbandry, which is based on a previous analysis of faunal remains, as well as information about diet derived from the study of stable isotopes and trace elements present in the human bones from the burials, there is a strong case that arboriculture and horticulture formed a major component of the late-Lapita and immediately post-Lapita economy at this site

Holocene volcanic activity, vegetation succession, and ancient human land use: Unraveling the interactions on Garua Island, Papua New Guinea

An integrated approach to the reconstruction of vegetation history and human land use during the Holocene on Garua Island, Papua New Guinea analysed sediments and plant microfossils (phytoliths and starch granules) together with archaeological data. The long-term record is punctuated by a series of volcanic disasters, where repeated cycles of massive destruction were followed by differing cycles of forest regeneration. The plant microfossil record shows that instead of long-term forest recovery, the overall pattern of regeneration was progressively more disrupted. Through time regeneration was halted earlier in the sequence and then reverted to increasingly open plant communities dominated by grasses. The temporal patterns of burning, stone artefact discard, and plant introductions demonstrate that the increased impact of human systems of land management was primarily responsible for the temporal patterning. Most notably, the study shows that human interference begins much earlier than expected given previous archaeological research and relatively intensive burning and landscape modification, possibly indicating cultivation, predates the introduction of Lapita pottery. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved