Teouma Site Research Articles

Three Phases of Ancient Migration Shaped the Ancestry of Human Populations in Vanuatu

The archipelago of Vanuatu has been at the crossroads of human population movements in the Pacific for the past three millennia. To help address several open questions regarding the history of these movements, we generated genome-wide data for 11 ancient individuals from the island of Efate dating from its earliest settlement to the recent past, including five associated with the Chief Roi Mata's Domain World Heritage Area, and analyzed them in conjunction with 34 published ancient individuals from Vanuatu and elsewhere in Oceania, as well as present-day populations. Our results outline three distinct periods of population transformations. First, the four earliest individuals, from the Lapita-period site of Teouma, are concordant with eight previously described Lapita-associated individuals from Vanuatu and Tonga in having almost all of their ancestry from a "First Remote Oceanian" source related to East and Southeast Asians. Second, both the Papuan ancestry predominating in Vanuatu for the past 2,500 years and the smaller component of Papuan ancestry found in Polynesians can be modeled as deriving from a single source most likely originating in New Britain, suggesting that the movement of people carrying this ancestry to Remote Oceania closely followed that of the First Remote Oceanians in time and space. Third, the Chief Roi Mata's Domain individuals descend from a mixture of Vanuatu- and Polynesian-derived ancestry and are related to Polynesian-influenced communities today in central, but not southern, Vanuatu, demonstrating Polynesian genetic input in multiple groups with independent histories.

Freshwater fishing among Lapita people: The Sleepers (Teleostei: Eleotridae) of Teouma, Vanuatu

The study of the ichthyofaunal corpus yielded by the archaeological site of Teouma, Efate Island, Vanuatu, has revealed the unexpected presence of a significant number of bones of Eleotridae (Sleepers) on the site, as early as 2920–2870 cal. B.P. Out of the 8560 identified fish remains associated with the Lapita layers, which document the period of initial settlement of the archipelago, 1368 have been determined as belonging to eleotrids, including species of the genera Giuris, Ophiocara and Eleotris. They represent 16% of the corpus and occupy second place among the dominant families in an assemblage composed otherwise of a wide-range of marine coastal and reef-associated taxa. Even though the Lapita economy is characterised by an intensive and broad-spectrum exploitation of all terrestrial and marine resources available and readily procurable, the eleotrids of Teouma are the first clear evidence thus far of the exploitation of freshwater environments by Lapita communities anywhere in their range. A river and a swamp are present in the vicinity of the site, and hooks and lines and/or multi-pronged spears could have been used. Passive gear such as weirs, fish-traps or nets might have been applied as well, enabling the capture of sleepers in larger quantities. The results presented here offer an original insight of an unknown facet of Lapita subsistence strategies and aim to highlight the antiquity of freshwater fishing at a regional scale.

Assessment of the technological variability in decorated Lapita pottery from Teouma, Vanuatu, by petrography and LA-ICP-MS: implications for Lapita social organisation

This paper examines the social implications of the results from the petrographic and chemical analysis by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry of dentate-stamped pottery sherds from the colonising-phase Lapita site of Teouma, Vanuatu, in the South Pacific (2940 to 2710 cal BP). Data from Dickinson et al.’s (2013) petrographic provenance are combined with the chemical analysis of 26 of these sherds to contextualise the provenance work and temper types identified at the Teouma site within the social context and with reference to the cultural practices of the Lapita community. Results show that the Lapita assemblage is characterised by significant variability in terms of fabric types, which is aligned with other Lapita pottery assemblages in the region. The variability of fabrics at Teouma reveals that there were no clear cultural guidelines regarding the raw materials used for Lapita pottery production. The absence of rules or at the very least the existence of rules allowing a wide range of raw materials indicates that the raw materials did not have any real significance or impact on the perception of the final product. This behaviour appears logical considering the high mobility of Lapita groups and the fact that Lapita settlers, beyond the main Solomon’s chain, were the first inhabitants on a wide array of different insular environments with diverse geological origins. From a political economy perspective, the wide range of fabrics at Teouma is a sign that there was no apparent political control or imposed limitations over access to the raw materials.

Manufacture and Use of Lapita Conus Multi-Segment Broad Rings: Evidence from the Teouma site, Central Vanuatu

Material culture associated with the Lapita Cultural Complex has been commented on for more than 100 years. Discussion and focus, however, have overwhelmingly concentrated on the distinctive dentate-stamped pottery. In this paper we highlight a very particular shell artifact form, examples of which were found in burial contexts at the Teouma Lapita site, Efate, Vanuatu. Here termed Conus Multi-Segment Broad Rings, each ring consists of three to four broad sections or segments that were joined via drilled perforations and threads. As only isolated segments of this ornament type are usually recovered from the archaeological record, an understanding of their finished form and use life has previously been lacking. Found across the Lapita distribution and associated only with this period, Conus Multi-Segment Broad Rings appear to be a stylistic marker additional to the dentate-stamped pottery. Here we reconstruct the manufacture and use of this distinctive shell ornament type through examination of the micro-trace evidence observed on the Teouma artifacts, as well as experimental working of modern Conus shell.

The use of Lapita pottery: Results from the first analysis of lipid residues

Biomolecular and isotopic characterisation of absorbed organic residues have been performed on eight dentate-stamped and two plain Lapita potsherds from the site of Teouma, in Vanuatu. Lipid profiles associated with decorated pots are homogenous, suggesting that similar food types or mixtures of food types were placed in these vessels. This suggests a high degree of consistency in the use of Lapita decorated pots, irrespective of the morphological and stylistic variation of these vessels. Data obtained from single-compound isotope analysis are also not consistent with marine resources as potential food sources for Lapita vessels. The absence of such commonly consumed, ubiquitous and easily accessible resources in Lapita vessels suggests that these pots were not manufactured to be used for ordinary occasions and day-to-day food consumption. This is the first time tangible data related to the use of these vessels are provided to support this claim in addition to contextual inferences.

“By all means let us complete the exercise”: the 50‐year search for Lapita on Aneityum, southern Vanuatu and implications for other “gaps” in the Lapita distribution

ABSTRACTArchaeological research on the island of Aneityum, the southernmost inhabited island of the Vanuatu archipelago (the former New Hebrides), began in 1963 under the direction of Richard and Mary Shutler. It was soon after this that William Dickinson began analysing pottery sherds from various sites across the archipelago. He ultimately went on to study hundreds of samples, including – most recently – 112 from the site of Teouma on Efate Island. Early pottery sites remained elusive in the southern islands for two decades after the Shutlers’ pioneering work and on Aneityum for nearly 50 years. Assessments of the island's geomorphology, a key aspect regularly emphasised by Dickinson, coupled with perseverance and some serendipitous test‐pitting finally led to the discovery of a Lapita site on Aneityum. Dickinson's petrographic expertise was once again called on some 50 years after research first started on the island, to contribute to initial identification of the site's significance. We examine the difficulty of finding Lapita on Aneityum through a historical lens in order to reflect back on other presumed Lapita “gaps” that remain today, such as in much of the main Solomons’ chain and – with one current exception – in Samoa. Perhaps the gaps in other regions are not as extensive as is often argued.

The chronology of occupation at Teouma, Vanuatu: Use of a modified chronometric hygiene protocol and Bayesian modeling to evaluate midden remains

A number of radiocarbon dates, both published and unpublished have been obtained from archaeological deposits across the Teouma site on the island of Efate in Vanuatu. These are on a range of materials from the midden and associated cemetery including charcoal (13) and shell (7) as well as a number of less commonly dated 14C sample types including bone from 2 terrestrial giant tortoises (?Meiolania damelipi), 8 pigs (Sus scrofa) and 2 chickens (Gallus gallus). Thirty-six human bone collagen dates and 5 Conus sp. shell ring artifacts from the cemetery context have been discussed in detail elsewhere (Petchey et al., 2014). In this paper, we evaluate the radiocarbon data according to observed contextual associations and established understandings of 14C offsets, and collate all available information in a Bayesian framework to establish the age and duration of the settlement at Teouma. This analysis provides a maximum age range for the Lapita deposits of between 3000 and 2560cal BP and a most likely start date of 2920–2870cal BP and end date of 2870–2750cal BP (68.2% prob.). This is slightly younger age for the deposits than previously reported, but is in keeping with evaluation of the burials themselves, the majority of which are dated to between 2940 and 2720cal BP. This age range indicates that the site was in use at the same time as colonization events in Tonga (2850–2830cal BP) and Fiji (3020–2860cal BP), and supports the hypothesis that Vanuatu was at the center of a region-wide interaction sphere for several generations after initial settlement.

Obsidian distribution from a Lapita cemetery sheds light on its value to past societies

AbstractThe Teouma site on Efate Island in Vanuatu is unique in the Pacific, as it enables us to analyse an archaeological assemblage in relation to discrete activity areas of burial and settlement at the time of initial settlement of the archipelago. Geochemical sourcing of obsidian in combination with a basic technological analysis help us to understand whether differences exist between burial zones and settlement middens.The results show that the distribution of obsidian was not directly associated with individual burials and does not unambiguously correlate with specific activity areas, thus questioning the hypothesis that obsidian transportation was linked to the increase in individual status. It is argued that the evidence adds further weight to those models that interpret the function of obsidian as being associated with past social transactions or relationships, rather than having any enduring or intrinsic value as a wealth‐enhancing commodity.

Evidence for Social and Cultural Change in Central Vanuatu Between 3000 and 2000 BP: Comparing Funerary and Dietary Patterns of the First and Later Generations at Teouma, Efate

ABSTRACTIn the southern Melanesian islands of Vanuatu, as in New Caledonia, Fiji, and West Polynesia, the archaeological record indicates significant shifts in aspects such as patterns of settlement and mobility, landscape use, and pottery production, some 500 years (2500 BP) after initial colonization. The relatively uniform Lapita Cultural Complex, the first manifestation of human activity on these islands, was transformed in each archipelago into various distinctive cultural entities. Using dietary (δ13C and δ15N values measured in collagen) and mortuary data recorded in 43 Lapita and seven immediately Post-Lapita adult burials from the site of Teouma (Efate, Vanuatu), we demonstrate that these medium-term, transformative processes also affected the economic component of the social system as well as its symbolic and religious structures. Evolutionary change adapting to changing local conditions is envisioned as the likely dominant factor influencing this cultural trajectory, while environmental/climatic change, secondary migration, and internal social changes unrelated to adaptive processes could have interacted to produce the recorded patterns.

Radiocarbon dating of burials from the Teouma Lapita cemetery, Efate, Vanuatu

The discovery of a cemetery at Teouma on the island of Efate in Vanuatu dated to c. 3000 years ago increased the number of early Pacific human remains available for study by nearly an order of magnitude and provided for the first time the ability to study the population dynamics of these early colonizers. The cemetery also provided an opportunity to investigate the chronological development of such a unique site. Although identified short-lived plant materials are favoured for dating archaeological sites, the reality of research in the Pacific region is that such materials are often rare, difficult to identify to species because of an absence of suitable reference collections, and dates on other materials often have greater potential to refine and focus 14C chronologies that deal with specific research questions. At Teouma, dates on the burial remains themselves are the best means to answer questions about the age and duration of the burial ground. Human bone, however, is one of the most complicated materials to date reliably because of dietary 14C offsets and bone preservation. One commonly used methodology for calibrating dates on human bone from Pacific human skeletal remains, based on linear interpolation between δ13C endpoints and δ15N values, is complicated by the wide range of foods available (marine, reef, C4 and C3), and remains largely untested in Pacific contexts. Radiocarbon dating of the Teouma site, including 36 Lapita-age burials, 5 dates on Conus sp. ring artefacts, and dates from the associated midden deposit, has enabled further evaluation of 14C dietary offsets and the reliability of calibrated radiocarbon ages on human bone. Bayesian evaluation of the 14C dates suggests the burial ground was in regular use by c. 2940–2880 cal BP, with the last interments occurring c. 2770–2710 cal BP. A number of burials could indicate possible earlier use, perhaps as early as 3110–2930 cal BP as indicated by the calibrated age range of Burial 57. This cannot be independently substantiated using other radiocarbon dates or context at the present time. Overall, these results suggest the burial ground was in use over a possible 150–240 years during the formative phase of Lapita expansion into Remote Oceania.

Scurvy in a tropical paradise? Evaluating the possibility of infant and adult vitamin C deficiency in the Lapita skeletal sample of Teouma, Vanuatu, Pacific islands

The Neolithic colonisation of the Pacific islands was one of the most challenging migration events in human history. The regions east of the Solomon Islands were colonised relatively recently by a people known as the Lapita. The Lapita brought with them a ‘transported landscape’ of domesticated plants and animals that had to be established upon arrival for the survival of these fledgling communities. Colonisation of these previously uninhabited islands was potentially perilous, and could leave colonisers vulnerable to periods of resource stress. The largest cemetery sample of Lapita people from the site of Teouma in Vanuatu offers a unique opportunity to assess the impact of colonisation on the health of pioneering populations. This paper explores the possibility that Teouma people experienced vitamin C deficiency as one of the consequences of the agricultural subsistence practices during the initial phases of island colonisation. Skeletal lesions in infants and adults indicative of scurvy suggest that initial colonisation phases in the Pacific islands involved precarious times involving deficiencies of key nutrients. Colonisation of the Pacific islands may share similar frameworks and problems as periods of subsistence transition in other parts of the world.

Lapita Diet in Remote Oceania: New Stable Isotope Evidence from the 3000-Year-Old Teouma Site, Efate Island, Vanuatu

Remote Oceania was colonized ca. 3000 BP by populations associated with the Lapita Cultural Complex, marking a major event in the prehistoric settlement of the Pacific Islands. Although over 250 Lapita sites have been found throughout the Western Pacific, human remains associated with Lapita period sites are rare. The site of Teouma, on Efate Island, Vanuatu has yielded the largest burial assemblage (n = 68 inhumations) of Lapita period humans ever discovered, providing a unique opportunity for assessing human adaptation to the environment in a colonizing population. Stable isotope ratios (δ13C, δ15N, δ34S) of human bone collagen from forty-nine Teouma adults were analyzed against a comprehensive dietary baseline to assess the paleodiet of some of Vanuatu's earliest inhabitants. The isotopic dietary baseline included both modern plants and animals (n = 98) and prehistoric fauna from the site (n = 71). The human stable isotope data showed that dietary protein at Teouma included a mixture of reef fish and inshore organisms and a variety of higher trophic marine (e.g. marine turtle) and terrestrial animals (e.g. domestic animals and fruit bats). The domestic pigs and chickens at Teouma primarily ate food from a C3 terrestrial environment but their δ15N values indicated that they were eating foods from higher trophic levels than those of plants, such as insects or human fecal matter, suggesting that animal husbandry at the site may have included free range methods. The dietary interpretations for the humans suggest that broad-spectrum foraging and the consumption of domestic animals were the most important methods for procuring dietary protein at the site. Males displayed significantly higher δ15N values compared with females, possibly suggesting dietary differences associated with labor specialization or socio-cultural practices relating to food distribution.

Petrography of Temper Sands in 112 Reconstructed Lapita Pottery Vessels from Teouma (Efate): Archaeological Implications and Relations to Other Vanuatu Tempers

The remarkable cache of intact and reconstructed Lapita pottery vessels excavated from the Teouma site near the south coast of Efate in Vanuatu has made possible a petrographic temper analysis for which each sherd thin section is known without doubt to derive from a different single pot. Such positive vessel-by-vessel control for the specific provenience of each sherd has not been possible during petrographic study of any other collections of prehistoric potsherds from Pacific Oceania. Our study shows that 100 of 112 Teouma vessels were made using indigenous Efate temper sands of several kinds, but that three of the vessels derive from elsewhere in Vanuatu and nine derive from New Caledonia ~500 km away to the southwest. Petrographic comparison of the Teouma temper sands with tempers in 430 Lapita and post-Lapita sherds from elsewhere in Vanuatu and the geologically related eastern outliers of the Solomon Islands at the northern end of the New Hebrides island arc defines a discrete number of generic temper provinces identified geographically as a guide for future analysis of Vanuatu tempers. Where adequate age control for ceramics is available, no generic distinctions can be drawn between tempers in Lapita and post-Lapita wares from each temper province.

P177 Deficit en vitamine C chez des patients âgés hospitalisés : prévalence et facteurs de risque

The Neolithic colonisation of the Pacific islands was one of the most challenging migration events in human history. The regions east of the Solomon Islands were colonised relatively recently by a people known as the Lapita. The Lapita brought with them a ‘transported landscape’ of domesticated plants and animals that had to be established upon arrival for the survival of these fledgling communities. Colonisation of these previously uninhabited islands was potentially perilous, and could leave colonisers vulnerable to periods of resource stress. The largest cemetery sample of Lapita people from the site of Teouma in Vanuatu offers a unique opportunity to assess the impact of colonisation on the health of pioneering populations. This paper explores the possibility that Teouma people experienced vitamin C deficiency as one of the consequences of the agricultural subsistence practices during the initial phases of island colonisation. Skeletal lesions in infants and adults indicative of scurvy suggest that initial colonisation phases in the Pacific islands involved precarious times involving deficiencies of key nutrients. Colonisation of the Pacific islands may share similar frameworks and problems as periods of subsistence transition in other parts of the world.

Mitochondrial DNA from 3000-year old chickens at the Teouma site, Vanuatu

Chickens were part of the Lapita cultural complex, transported into and through the Pacific by prehistoric colonists; as such they can be used as a proxy for tracking prehistoric migration and interaction. The Lapita site of Teouma in Vanuatu is well known for the recovery of complete dentate stamped pots and a cemetery containing the largest collection of Lapita period skeletons ever found. Chicken bones recovered from these excavations provide the first ancient DNA sequences from any commensal organism directly associated with a Lapita context. The ancient mtDNA sequences obtained from two Teouma chicken bones are compared with previously published archaeologically derived ancient DNA sequences to extend our understanding of the spread of chickens in Pacific prehistory. The results also show that the haplogroup E signature was present in very early populations of chickens transported into Remote Oceania. This study also adds to the suite of available data relating to isotopic signatures for commensal animals during the early settlement of Vanuatu and may reveal a different diet for Teouma chickens than those from other early prehistoric assemblages in the Pacific.

Lapita subsistence strategies and food consumption patterns in the community of Teouma (Efate, Vanuatu)

The subsistence strategies of the Lapita populations (3100–2800 BP), the first colonisers of the pristine environments of the islands of Eastern Melanesia and Western Polynesia, have been a matter of ongoing debate for decades. Opinions have ranged between the two extremes of Lapita colonisers being either characterised as highly mobile foragers to fully horticultural communities. To further address the question, this paper presents stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic data obtained from analyses of human and animal collagen samples from the site of Teouma (Efate, Vanuatu) dated to between c. 3000–2500 BP. The isotopic signatures obtained from 28 samples (23 human and 5 animal), interpreted in combination with isotopic information from several coastal and insular environments, suggest a diet primarily made up of terrestrially derived animal protein with lesser contributions from vegetable produce and inshore marine species. Comparisons linking the isotopic data gleaned from the Teouma individuals and Lapita subsistence patterns reconstructed through archaeozoological and archaeobotanical remains support the hypothesis of a mixed economy, that included terrestrial foraging, inshore marine exploitation and a low level of food production for at least some of the earliest Lapita colonists in Vanuatu.

Possible Gouty Arthritis in Lapita‐Associated Skeletons from Teouma, Efate Island, Central Vanuatu

The discovery of the ca. 3,000‐year‐old Lapita cemetery site of Teouma on Efate Island, Vanuatu, has for the first time provided the opportunity for biological anthropologists to begin to address issues of health at a population level in these previously elusive people. Macroscopic observation and radiography have revealed the occurrence of erosive arthritis in seven individuals from Teouma. Differential diagnosis of the disease causing the lesions includes gout, rheumatoid arthritis, and the seronegative spondyloarthropathies. On the basis of the type and pattern of lesions and the epidemiology of erosive arthropathies in the Pacific Islands, a diagnosis of gout may be tentatively proposed, giving a crude prevalence rate of 35% (n = 7/20) in the sample. The occurrence of gout in a skeletal sample of possible Polynesian ancestors provides tantalizing clues to the antiquity of a disease which is a significant modern health problem in some Pacific Island populations.

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

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.

Enquête pastorale et enquête ethnographique : une question de symétrie: Conversation avec Philippe Daget

A number of radiocarbon dates, both published and unpublished have been obtained from archaeological deposits across the Teouma site on the island of Efate in Vanuatu. These are on a range of materials from the midden and associated cemetery including charcoal (13) and shell (7) as well as a number of less commonly dated 14C sample types including bone from 2 terrestrial giant tortoises (?Meiolania damelipi), 8 pigs (Sus scrofa) and 2 chickens (Gallus gallus). Thirty-six human bone collagen dates and 5 Conus sp. shell ring artifacts from the cemetery context have been discussed in detail elsewhere (Petchey et al., 2014). In this paper, we evaluate the radiocarbon data according to observed contextual associations and established understandings of 14C offsets, and collate all available information in a Bayesian framework to establish the age and duration of the settlement at Teouma. This analysis provides a maximum age range for the Lapita deposits of between 3000 and 2560 cal BP and a most likely start date of 2920–2870 cal BP and end date of 2870–2750 cal BP (68.2% prob.). This is slightly younger age for the deposits than previously reported, but is in keeping with evaluation of the burials themselves, the majority of which are dated to between 2940 and 2720 cal BP. This age range indicates that the site was in use at the same time as colonization events in Tonga (2850–2830 cal BP) and Fiji (3020–2860 cal BP), and supports the hypothesis that Vanuatu was at the center of a region-wide interaction sphere for several generations after initial settlement.