Provenance and Technology of Lithic Artifacts from the Teouma Lapita Site, Vanuatu
Date
2010
Contributor
Advisor
Department
Instructor
Depositor
Speaker
Researcher
Consultant
Interviewer
Narrator
Transcriber
Annotator
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Hawai'i Press (Honolulu)
Volume
Number/Issue
Starting Page
Ending Page
Alternative Title
Abstract
Fifty-six obsidian artifacts and 141 non-obsidian artifacts were excavated in three field seasons at Teouma, Efate Island, central Vanuatu. Using LA-ICP-MS the majority of the obsidian artifacts were provenienced to the obsidian subsource of Kutau/Bao on West New Britain in the Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea. This study is the first geochemical analysis of a significant assemblage of West New Britain obsidian south of the Solomon Islands. Moreover, this finding represents only the second sizable assemblage of West New Britain obsidian in Remote Oceania beyond the ReefsāSanta Cruz Lapita sites and further establishes Vanuatu as a key area in understanding the initial Lapita settlement of Remote Oceania. Six obsidian artifacts were sourced to the Banks Islands, northern Vanuatu, supporting the hypothesis that sources there were known and utilized from the initial colonization of the Vanuatu Archipelago. A single artifact from the West New Britain subsource of Mopir was found. This is the only Lapita-period Mopir obsidian artifact found so far outside the Bismarck Archipelago. The geochemical analysis was accompanied by a quantitative attribute analysis investigating the reduction technology of the flaked assemblage.
Description
Keywords
provenance studies, obsidian exchange, Vanuatu, Lapita, colonization, western Melanesia, Prehistoric peoples--Asia--Periodicals., Prehistoric peoples--Oceania--Periodicals., Asia--Antiquities--Periodicals., Oceania--Antiquities--Periodicals., East Asia--Antiquities--Periodicals.
Citation
Extent
21 pages
Format
Geographic Location
Time Period
Related To
Related To (URI)
Table of Contents
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States
Rights Holder
Local Contexts
Email libraryada-l@lists.hawaii.edu if you need this content in ADA-compliant format.