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The Teouma Lapita site and the early human settlement of the Pacific Islands

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Stuart Bedford ,
Matthew Spriggs  and
Ralph Regenvanu
Stuart Bedford
Affiliation:
1Department of Archaeology and Natural History, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, Australia (Email: stuart.bedford@anu.edu.au)
Matthew Spriggs
Affiliation:
2School of Archaeology and Anthropology, College of Arts and Social Sciences, Australian National University, Australia (Email: matthew.spriggs@anu.edu.au)
Ralph Regenvanu
Affiliation:
3Vanuatu National Museum, Port Vila, Vanuatu (Email: ralph.regenvanu@vanuatuculture.org)
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Extract

The Teouma site, on Efate in central Vanuatu, was uncovered during quarrying in 2003 and has proved to be one of the most significant discoveries to date for the colonisation of Remote Oceania. Not only did it bring to light a fine assemblage of the famously diagnostic Lapita ceramics, but a cemetery of more than 25 individuals along with the pots. The skeletons offer an opportunity to investigate the origins of the ‘Lapita people’ who first appeared in the Bismarck archipelago around 3300 years ago and rapidly moved through island Melanesia and Western Polynesia over the next few centuries.

Keywords

LapitaTeoumacemeterypopulation origins and movementVanuatuPacific
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 80 , Issue 310 , 1 December 2006 , pp. 812 - 828
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2006

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