Stressing differences while appearing to be the same: a case study from Lapita pottery motif analysis

Summary

In previous research, employing a dataset composed of motifs recorded from 60 Lapita sites spread across the southwestern Pacific, we argued that a general trend of making highly similar, but not identical, motifs can be seen when motif repertoires of different island groups are compared. We thus proposed that the elements of surprise or amusement, generated from making something similar yet different from what the intended audience expected to see, was employed to stress shared traditions while also making a statement of being different, may be the underlying concept of making Lapita pottery decorations. In this paper we intend to examine the underlying motif construction rules employed by potters within these different island groups during the Lapita era, to identify whether they had specific preferences as to the rules used when applying motifs belonging to the ten most popular motif themes within our dataset.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 16722