Recent developments in the study of New Caledonia's prehistory

Abstract

AbstractSince the 1960's and 1970's, a number of archaeological overviews associating chronological evolution and cultural transformation in Oceanian archipelagos have been published (Yen and Gordon 1973; Kirch and Yen 1982; Best 1984; Davidson 1984; Kirch 1985, 1988b). These works are often based on determinist and evolutionist concepts (Kirch 1984) which, over and above typological elements such as the evolution of pottery and hook forms, take into consideration other factors such as the slow human colonisation of islands, population growth, human influence on the environment, occupation of the land and division into different social and political areas, and the intensification of horticultural crops.This type of global approach to the reconstitution of prehistoric chronology has recently been attempted in New Caledonia (Sand 1994a, 1995c). It focussed on the progressive colonisation of most of the ecological zones on the Grande Terre and the Loyalty Islands, as well as the constraints placed on people by the natural environment, in an attempt, amongst other things, to understand the origins and validity of the social mechanisms presented in anthropological studies. In a recent article, Kirch and Lepofsky summarised in one sentence the view that most archaeologists share with regard to the prehistory of this Southern Melanesian archipelago ‘the antiquity of New Caledonian terracing technology thus remains wholly enigmatic (not unlike other aspects of the island's prehistory!)’. Despite the Grande Terre (Mainland) of New Caledonia, the largest of the Pacific Islands, being the focus of attention for the first generation of archaeologists studying Oceania (Gifford and Shutler 1956, Golson 1962), archaeological research has never really taken off in New Caledonia. Yet prehistoric vestiges are an integral part of the landscape: three thousand years of pre‐European Oceanian populations modelled and shaped the very depths of inhabitable valleys, scattering house mounds along ridges and petroglyph sites beside creeks, taro pondfields as far as the eye can see across the hills as well as frequently renewed occupancy along beaches.The aim of this article is to present some new data obtained through recent research by the Archaeology Department of New Caledonia. Attention will focus first on the beginnings of Austronesian populations, the evolution of ceramic traditions and various other aspects of material culture, before analysing the evolution of settlement patterns and the variety of horticultural structures. The ensuing discussion reconsiders certain sociocultural factors, offering a different view of sociocultural dynamics throughout the pre‐European history of the New Caledonian archipelago.