Northern Vanuatu as a Pacific Crossroads: The Archaeology of Discovery, Interaction, and the Emergence of the "Ethnographic Present"

Northern Vanuatu is a significant crossroads region of the Southwest Pacific. This paper outlines current archaeological research being undertaken in the area, focusing on defining initial human settlement there some 3000 years ago and subsequent cultural transformations which led to the establishment of the ethnographic present. The study to date has contributed to a more detailed picture of inter- and intra-archipelago interaction, settlement pattern, subsistence, and cultural differentiation. The research contributes to regional debates on human colonization, patterns of social interaction, and the drivers of social change in island contexts

Birds on the rim: a unique Lapita carinated vessel in its wider context

This paper describes a decorated carinated vessel excavated at the Teouma Lapita site, on the south coast of Efate, central Vanuatu. The vessel contained human bones and, following reconstruction, was found to have had four modelled birds on its rim. Th

Introduced Dioscorea spp. starch in Lapita and later deposits, Vao Island, Vanuatu

Analysis of deposits at a Lapita site in Vanuatu revealed putative starch grains of Dioscorea nummularia in ∼2800-3100 cal. BP layers and of Dioscorea pentaphylla in a ∼2000 cal. BP layer, suggesting local cultivation of these tuberous crops. The Dio

Radiocarbon dating of burials from the Teouma Lapita cemetery, Efate, Vanuatu

The discovery of a cemetery at Teouma on the island of Efate in Vanuatu dated to c. 3000 years ago increased the number of early Pacific human remains available for study by nearly an order of magnitude and provided for the first time the ability to study the population dynamics of these early colonizers. The cemetery also provided an opportunity to investigate the chronological development of such a unique site. Although identified short-lived plant materials are favoured for dating archaeological sites, the reality of research in the Pacific region is that such materials are often rare, difficult to identify to species because of an absence of suitable reference collections, and dates on other materials often have greater potential to refine and focus ¹⁴C chronologies that deal with specific research questions. At Teouma, dates on the burial remains themselves are the best means to answer questions about the age and duration of the burial ground. Human bone, however, is one of the most complicated materials to date reliably because of dietary ¹⁴C offsets and bone preservation. One commonly used methodology for calibrating dates on human bone from Pacific human skeletal remains, based on linear interpolation between δ¹³C endpoints and δ¹⁵N values, is complicated by the wide range of foods available (marine, reef, C₄ and C₃), and remains largely untested in Pacific contexts. Radiocarbon dating of the Teouma site, including 36 Lapita-age burials, 5 dates on Conus sp. ring artefacts, and dates from the associated midden deposit, has enabled further evaluation of ¹⁴C dietary offsets and the reliability of calibrated radiocarbon ages on human bone. Bayesian evaluation of the ¹⁴C dates suggests the burial ground was in regular use by c. 2940-2880 cal BP, with the last interments occurring c. 2770-2710 cal BP. A number of burials could indicate possible earlier use, perhaps as early as 3110-2930 cal BP as indicated by the calibrated age range of Burial 57. This cannot be independently substantiated using other radiocarbon dates or context at the present time. Overall, these results suggest the burial ground was in use over a possible 150 to 240 years during the formative phase of Lapita expansion into Remote Oceania

Faces of the Teouma Lapita People: Art, Accuracy and Facial Approximation

In 2008 we completed facial approximations of four individuals from the early Lapita Culture, a seafaring people who were the first to settle the islands of the Western Pacific circa 3000 years ago. Typically an approximation is performed as a 3D sculpture or using computer graphics. We chose to sketch what we have been able to determine from the remains because the artistic conventions of drawing work with visual perception in ways that are more complementary to the knowledge, theories and methods that make up the facial approximation of human remains

Avifauna from the Teouma Lapita Site, Efate Island, Vanuatu, Including a New Genus and Species of Megapode

Copyright 2015 University of Hawaii Press. Published version of the article is reproduced here with permission from the publisher.The avifauna of the Teouma archaeological site on Efate in Vanuatu is described. It derives from the Lapita levels (3,000 – 2,800 ybp) and immedi-ately overlying middens extending to ∼2,500 ybp. A total of 30 bird species is represented in the 1,714 identiï¬ ed specimens. Twelve species are new records for the island, which, added to previous records, indicates that minimally 39 land birds exclusive of passerines were in the original avifauna. Three-fourths of the 12 newly recorded species appear to have become extinct by the end of Lapita times, 2,800 ybp. The avifauna is dominated by eight species of columbids (47.5% Minimum Number Individuals [MNI ]) including a large extinct tooth-billed pigeon, Didunculus placopedetes from Tonga, and a giant Ducula sp. cf. D. goliath from New Caledonia. Seabirds are rare despite the coastal location of the site. Fowl are important contributors to the Teouma avifauna, with the human-introduced Red Junglefowl Gallus gallus accounting for 15% MNI and present in all sampled layers. There are two species of megapodes (∼10% of MNI ), with the extant Vanuatu Megapode Megapodius layardi most abundant and represented at all levels in the deposits. A substantially larger extinct megapode, Mwalau walter-linii, n. gen., n. sp., is present only in the Lapita midden area, where it is rela-tively rare. This extinct species was larger than all extant megapodes but smaller than the extinct Progura gallinacea from Australia, with proportions most similar to those of Alectura, and was a volant bird. The remaining signiï¬ cant faunal component is rails, with four species present, of which Porphyrio melanotus was the most abundant. Rare but notable records include an undescribed large rail; a parrot, Eclectus sp. cf. E. infectus; a hornbill, Rhyticeros sp. cf. R. plicatus; and a coucal, Centropus sp. indet., all conservatively considered likely to be conspeciï¬ c with known taxa elsewhere in Melanesia

Les traditions potières Erueti et Mangaasi du Vanuatu central : réévaluation et comparaison quarante ans après leur identification initiale

Il y a maintenant près de 45 ans que José Garanger a entrepris sa recherche en tant que pionnier dans les îles centrales du Vanuatu, anciennement Nouvelles-Hébrides. À cette époque, ces îles étaient une sorte de terra incognita au niveau archéologique, comme nombre d’autres îles du Pacifique et, plus particulièrement, celles de la région du Sud-Ouest Pacifique. Après dix-huit mois de travail sur le terrain et de nombreuses années d’analyse et de rédaction, l’ouvrage Archéologie des Nouvelles-Hébrides parut en 1972. Le programme de recherches archéologiques entrepris par Garanger, couronné de succès, est l'un des projets les plus ambitieux et jamais entrepris dans le Pacifique et cette publication, richement illustrée, reste incontournable pour tout débat portant sur les traditions potières et les pratiques funéraires du Sud-Ouest Pacifique. Depuis 1994, l’activité archéologique au Vanuatu s’est accrue avec, entre autres, la réouverture d’un des sites originaux de Garanger, celui de Mangaasi sur la côte ouest d’Efate. Les nouvelles fouilles effectuées sur ce site, encouragées par Garanger lui-même, ont été réalisées pendant sept saisons successives et ont abouti à une réévaluation de la chronologie céramique et de la séquence des traditions Erueti et Mangaasi. Cet article fait un bilan de l’état actuel des connaissances sur les traditions céramiques du Vanuatu central, en y intégrant des comparaisons entre les îles et avec les autres archipels du Vanuatu.It is now 45 years since José Garanger began his pioneering research in the central islands of Vanuatu, the former Nouvelles-Hébrides. The islands at that time were very much archaeological terra incognita as were many of the islands of the Pacific and particularly those in the Southwest region. Following 18 months of fieldwork and many years of analysis and writing, the seminal publication Archéologie des Nouvelles Hébrides appeared in 1972. The archaeological program undertaken by Garanger is one of the more ambitious and successful projects ever carried out in the Pacific. The richly illustrated publication remains central to any discussion of pottery traditions and mortuary practices of the Southwest Pacific. Since 1994 there has been an increased level of archaeological research activity across the whole of Vanuatu, including the re-investigation of one of Garanger’s original sites, that of Mangaasi on the west coast of Efate. Excavations at the site, which Garanger recommended and encouraged, were carried out over seven field seasons and have led to a reassessment of the ceramic chronology and sequence of the original Erueti and Mangaasi traditions. This paper reviews the current state of knowledge in relation to the ceramic traditions of Central Vanuatu along with inter-island and inter-archipelago comparisons

The use of Lapita pottery : results from the first analysis of lipid residues

Biomolecular and isotopic characterisation of absorbed organic residues have been performed on eight dentate-stamped and two plain Lapita potsherds from the site of Teouma, in Vanuatu. Lipid profiles associated with decorated pots are homogenous, suggesting that similar food types or mixtures of food types were placed in these vessels. This suggests a high degree of consistency in the use of Lapita decorated pots, irrespective of the morphological and stylistic variation of these vessels. Data obtained from single-compound isotope analysis are also not consistent with marine resources as potential food sources for Lapita vessels. The absence of such commonly consumed, ubiquitous and easily accessible resources in Lapita vessels suggests that these pots were not manufactured to be used for ordinary occasions and day-to-day food consumption. This is the first time tangible data related to the use of these vessels are provided to support this claim in addition to contextual inferences

Generalized Unitarity and One-Loop Amplitudes in N=4 Super-Yang-Mills

One-loop amplitudes of gluons in N=4 gauge theory can be written as linear combinations of known scalar box integrals with coefficients that are rational functions. In this paper we show how to use generalized unitarity to basically read off the coefficients. The generalized unitarity cuts we use are quadruple cuts. These can be directly applied to the computation of four-mass scalar integral coefficients, and we explicitly present results in next-to-next-to-MHV amplitudes. For scalar box functions with at least one massless external leg we show that by doing the computation in signature (--++) the coefficients can also be obtained from quadruple cuts, which are not useful in Minkowski signature. As examples, we reproduce the coefficients of some one-, two-, and three-mass scalar box integrals of the seven-gluon next-to-MHV amplitude, and we compute several classes of three-mass and two-mass-hard coefficients of next-to-MHV amplitudes to all multiplicities.Comment: 36 pages, harvmac. 13 figures. v3: References added, typos fixed. Figure 4 added. New n-gluon example with internal fermions and scalars. v4: Footnotes 2, 4 and 6 added, acknowledgments added, minor correction