Marking the Body, Marking the Land

Abstract

Oceanic art, the indigenous art of the Pacific region, has been the focus of many glossy volumes in recent years (e.g.,D’Alleva 1998, Dark and Rose 1993, Thomas 1995). I find it interesting to note that although examples of decoration from early Lapita ceramics dating from c. 3500 BP to 3,000 BP are invariably included in the introductory chapters of such volumes, the rich corpus of ‘ancient’ rock drawings is neglected and apparently not regarded as worthy for inclusion. Lapita pottery surface decoration has been compared with that found on human skin (tattoos), barkcloth (tapa) and wooden artefacts from insular Melanesia and Polynesia (Green 1979, Kirch 1997: 142–3). Similarities between the ancient Lapita design elements and the decoration found on much more recent media may illustrate continuities in design for up to 3,500 years in the western Pacific. Lapita decoration is often created by comb-like dentate stamping and Kirch (1997: 142) has proposed that the technique for tattooing, piercing the skin, was extended to decorating these ceramics. Further, there is a clear relationship between Lapita ceramics and the human body. A stylised human face is a consistent, if not common, feature of Lapita decoration (Green 1979: 21–3, Spriggs 1990, 1993) and a ceramic human figurine from a Lapita pottery context has decorated buttocks thought by the excavator to represent tattoos (Green 1979: 16–17). This interpretation is supported by the more recent recovery of a baked Lapita period clay head bearing typical dentate decoration that would not be inconsistent with facial tattooing (Summerhayes 1998). In this chapter I will consider the connection between different media, but leave the ceramics and tapa, and explore possible links between Oceanic tattoing, which is normally included in collections regarding ‘art’, and that comparatively neglected facet of Pacific societies, the motifs produced on ‘living’ rock.