Reconstructing Ancient Pottery Transfer Patterns through Petrographic Analysis: A Case Study of New Caledonian Lapita Pottery Assemblages

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Archaeological Science and African Archaeology: Appreciating the Impact of David Killick" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Humans first arrived in New Caledonia during the Lapita seaborne expansion from New Guinea to Tonga between 1250 and 800 cal BC. We use stylistic and petrographic analyses of Lapita pottery to study social relationships among Lapita communities. New Caledonia has a large island (Grande Terre) with complex geology, surrounded by coral islands (including the Loyalty Islands and Île des Pins). Although New Caledonia was likely settled from the northern basaltic island chain of Vanuatu, no pottery made there has yet been identified in New Caledonia. We are able to distinguish several discrete networks of pottery exchange between Lapita communities. The Loyalty Islands rarely imported pottery from Grande Terre, but Île des Pins at the southeastern tip received pots mostly and continuously from the Diahot River valley of Grande Terre, at least 400 km away, in a long-distance relationship that lasted over hundreds of years. Goro received pots mostly along the north coast, yet rarely imported from the Diahot River Valley. All of these new lines of evidence have changed our understanding of the past Lapita communities in this island group, and forced us to recognize the complexity of ties between Lapita communities.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Archaeological Science and African Archaeology: Appreciating the Impact of David Killick   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36436.0