The Provenance of Early Period Lapita Pottery in the Northern Vanuatu: A Case from Maku? site Aore Island Vanuatu

Abstract

This research attempts to understand the ancient Lapita society specifically the possible movement and exchange of pottery by examining the composition of Lapita pottery sherds Maku? site is located on the Aore Island in northern Vanuatu It is considered to be part of the Lapita cultural complex and has the earliest dating in Vanuatu as of now A large quantity of obsidians (largest among all the Lapita sites in south of Santa Cruz islands) has been unearthed from Maku? site and their origins could be traced back to Willaumez Peninsula Lou island and Banks island While the evidence of obsidians attests to the existence of long-distance exchange in the past the routes and other information of the exchange system still elude us The analytical framework of the research is based on the concept of Cha?nes Op?ratoires with a special focus on the acquisition of raw material (temper) And using petrographic analysis of the pottery sherds from the bottom cultural layer was conducted to understand the relation between Maku? and other islands in the initial phase of colonization in order to have a better understanding of the role of Maku? in the exchange system and to map out an overall picture of the ancient Lapita society The provenience is demonstrated by the tempers in the thin sections samples which match the characteristics of the volcanic bedrock of Vanuatu And more than half of the thin sections are distinguished from islands near Aore Island by temper types of Vanuatu that analysed by Dr Dickinson We suggest that the Lapita people in Maku? had a closer relationship with nearby islands in northern Vanuatu and much tenuous connection with southern Vanuatu or the area further to the south Through the study of different kinds of artifact the Lapita exchange system not a single centralization trade network but a series of multiple networks that had different scales and dynamic

Date of Award	2020
Original language	English
Supervisor	Yi-Chang Liu (Supervisor)