TY - JOUR
T1 - Lapita subsistence strategies and food consumption patterns in the community of Teouma (Efate, Vanuatu)
AU - Valentin, Frédérique
AU - Buckley, Hallie R.
AU - Herrscher, Estelle
AU - Kinaston, Rebecca
AU - Bedford, Stuart
AU - Spriggs, Matthew
AU - Hawkins, Stuart
AU - Neal, Ken
PY - 2010/8
Y1 - 2010/8
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77953959388&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jas.2010.01.039
DO - 10.1016/j.jas.2010.01.039
M3 - Article
SN - 0305-4403
VL - 37
SP - 1820
EP - 1829
JO - Journal of Archaeological Science
JF - Journal of Archaeological Science
IS - 8
ER -