OBSIDIAN NETWORK PATTERNS IN MELANESIA – SOURCES, CHARACTERISATION AND DISTRIBUTION.

This paper provides an overview of the analysis of obsidian use and distribution within Melanesia by firstly, reviewing the source areas including the history of obsidian chemical characterisation, and secondly, by looking at 20,000 years of obsidian use and its distribution

AN AUSTRONESIAN PRESENCE IN SOUTHERN JAPAN: EARLY OCCUPATION IN THE YAEYAMA ISLANDS.

Archaeological research in the Yaeyama Islands, southern Japan, has a hundred year old history, yet little of it is known to those archaeologists working outside the immediate area. This area is of importance to those working in Southeast Asia and the Pacific as the colonisation of the Yaeyama Islands allows a closer assessment of the nature and timing of Austronesian movement out of Taiwan. This paper will examine the colonisation of the Yaeyama Islands and its archaeological signature, Shimotabaru pottery, by first reviewing the archaeological developments of this island group, followed by an examination of the timing of colonisation and the nature of Shimotabaru pottery production. It will be argued that the early occupation in the Yaeyama Islands characterised by Shimotabaru pottery is the signature of Austronesian colonisation from Taiwan, from between 4500 and 3900 years ago. Yet the colonising signature in the Yaeyama Islands is of a different character to the Austronesian presence in the islands south of Taiwan. This suggests that the nature of Austronesian expansion in general was more complex than is proposed in the prevailing model

OBSIDIAN NETWORK PATTERNS IN MELANESIA – SOURCES, CHARACTERISATION AND DISTRIBUTION.

This paper provides an overview of the analysis of obsidian use and distribution within Melanesia by firstly, reviewing the source areas including the history of obsidian chemical characterisation, and secondly, by looking at 20,000 years of obsidian use and its distribution

An Austronesian Presence in the Sakishima Islands : An Archaeological Update

新領域・次世代の日本研究, オタゴ, 2016年11月24日-25

Far Western, Western, and Eastern Lapita: A Re-Evaluation

Lapita assemblages from the western Pacific have been regionalized into stylistic boundaries or provinces, known as Far Western, Western, and Eastern, and it has been thought that differences between them are partly temporal (Far Western) and mainly a result of isolation after the initial colonization of the area (Western versus Eastern). This paper assesses these constructions by comparing dentate decorated Lapita pottery from assemblages in West New Britain, Papua New Guinea, with assemblages further afield. It is argued here that differences between these style provinces are primarily due to temporal factors and that the terms Far Western, Western, and Eastern should be replaced by Early, Middle, and Late Lapita. KEYWORDS: Lapita, West New Britain, Melanesian archaeology, pottery

Lolmo Cave: A Mid- to Late Holocene Site, the Arawe Islands, West New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea

Lolmo Cave on Kumbun Island in the Arawe Island group off the south coast of New Britain, Papua New Guinea, was occupied between 6000 B.P. and the present. It is therefore one of a small number of sites that spans the pre-Lapita, Lapita, and post-Lapita periods. The chronology of the cave derives partly from tephras from dated eruptions on the north coast of New Britain. The evidence from the cave shows elements of continuity between all three periods in the use of obsidian from Talasea sources and in the production of shell artifacts. The main change in material culture is in the introduction of pottery and the use of Mopir obsidian in the pre- and post-Lapita periods, but not in between. The bone assemblages indicate ephemeral use of the cave in all periods, as does the generally low level of artifact deposition. The first occupation of Lolmo 6000 years ago coincides with changes in the nature of the evidence elsewhere in the Bismarck Archipelago. Taken together, these sites provide evidence for continuity between the pre-Lapita and Lapita periods, providing empirical contradiction to the notion that Lapita assemblages represent the incursion of people from the west and thus a break with the past. KEYWORDS: Lapita, pre-Lapita, Melanesia, formation processes, continuity