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

Journal of Archaeological Science

Volumn 50, Issue 1, 2014, Pages 227-242

  Petchey, Fiona ^a   Spriggs, Matthew ^b   Bedford, Stuart ^b   Valentin, Frédérique ^c   Buckley, Hallie ^d  

^a UNIVERSITY OF WAIKATO   (New Zealand)

^b AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

^c CNRS   (France)

^d UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO   (New Zealand)

Author keywords

Calibration; Diet; Human bone; Lapita; Radiocarbon; Stable isotopes; Teouma

Indexed keywords

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE; ARCHAEOLOGY; BONE; CALIBRATION; CARBON ISOTOPE; CEMETERY; CHRONOLOGY; DIET; RADIOCARBON DATING; SKELETAL REMAINS; STABLE ISOTOPE; AGE DETERMINATION; BURIAL (GEOLOGY); COLONIZATION; POPULATION DYNAMICS;

VANUATU;

EID: 84905438659     PISSN: 03054403     EISSN: 10959238     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2014.07.002     Document Type: Article

References (77)

1. Allen M.S., Craig J.A. Dynamics of Polynesian subsistence: insights from archaeofauna and stable isotopes studies, Aitutaki. South. Cook. Isl. Pac. Sci. 2009, 63:477-506.
2. Ambrose S.H. Isotopic analysis of paleodiets: methodological and interpretive considerations. Elemental and Isotopic Analyses: Understanding Diet and Disease in Past Populations 1993, 59-130. Gordon and Breach Science Publishers, New York. M.K. Sandford (Ed.).
3. Ambrose S.H., Norr L. Experimental evidence for the relationship of the carbon isotope ratios of whole diet and dietary protein to those of bone collagen and carbonate. Prehistoric Human Bone: Archaeology at the Molecular Level 1993, 1-38. Springer-Verlag, Berlin. J.B. Malbert, G. Grupe (Eds.).
4. 14C ages: isotopic data from Watom Island, Papua New Guinea inhumations and pig teeth in light of new dietary. J.Royal Soc. N. Z. 2008, 38(1):1-23.
5. Bedford S. The timing and nature of Lapita colonisation in Vanuatu: the haze begins to clear. Pacific Archaeology: Assessments and prospects. Proceedings of the conference for the 50th Anniversary of the first Lapita excavation. Koné-Nouméa, 2002. Les Cahiers de l'Archéologie_en Nouvelle-Calédonie 15 2003, 147-158. Département Archéologie de la Direction des Affaires Culturelles et Coutumières, Nouméa. C. Sand (Ed.).
6. Bedford S. Pieces of the Vanuatu Puzzle: Archaeology of the North,South and Centre 2006, Pandanus Press, Australian National University ,Terra Australis 23, Canberra. http://epress.anu.edu.au/ta23_citation.html.
7. Bedford S., Spriggs M., Regenvanu R. The Teouma Lapita site and the early human settlement of the Pacific Islands. Antiquity 2006, 80(310):812-828.
8. Bedford S., Spriggs M., Buckley H.R., Valentin F., Regenvanu R. The Teouma Lapita site, South Efate, Vanuatu: a summary of three field seasons (2004-2006). Lapita: Ancestors and Descendants 2009, 215-234. New Zealand Archaeological Association Monograph 28, Auckland. P. Sheppard, T. Thomas, G.R. Summerhayes (Eds.).
9. Bedford S., Spriggs M., Buckley H., Valentin F., Regenvanu R., Abong M. Acemetery of first settlement: Teouma, South Efate, Vanuatu/Un cimetière de premier peuplement: le site de Teouma, sud d'Efate, Vanuatu. Lapita: Oceanic Ancestors/Lapita: Ancêtres Océaniens 2010, 140-161. Musée de Quai Branly/Somogy, Paris. C. Sand, S. Bedford (Eds.).
10. Bentley R.A., Buckley H.R., Spriggs M., Bedford S., Ottley C.J., Nowell G.M., Macpherson C.G., Pearson D.G. Lapita migrants in the Pacific's oldest cemetery: isotopic analysis at Teouma, Vanuatu. Am. Antiq. 2007, 72:645-656.
11. Brock F., Bronk Ramsey C., Higham T. Quality assurance of ultrafiltered bone dating. Radiocarbon 2007, 49(2):187-192.
12. Bronk-Ramsey C. Radiocarbon calibration and analysis of stratigraphy: the OxCal program. Radiocarbon 1995, 37:425-430.
13. Bronk-Ramsey C., Higham T.F.G., Bowles A., Hedges R.E.M. Improvements to the pretreatment of bone at Oxford. Radiocarbon 2004, 46(1):155-163.
14. Bronk-Ramsey C. OxCal Program v4.2, Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit 2013, University of Oxford.
15. Burley D.V., Weisler M.I., Zhao J-x High precision U/Th dating of first polynesian settlement. PLoS ONE 2012, 7(11):e48769. 10.1371/journal.pone.0048769.
16. Burley D.V. Exploration as a strategic process in the Lapita settlement of Fiji: the implications of Vorovoro Island. J.Pac. Archaeol. 2012, 3:22-34.
17. Clark G., Petchey F., Hawkins S., Reepmeyer C., Smith I., Masse W.B. Distribution and extirpation of pigs in Pacific Islands: a case study from Palau. Archaeol. Ocean. 2013, 10.1002/arco.5012.
18. Clark I., Fritz P. Environmental isotopes. Hydrogeology 2000, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Ottawa, Canada, Available:, (accessed 22.02.13.). http://www.science.uottawa.ca/chi/chl.htm.
19. 14C reservoir effect at the Stone Age sites in the Iron Gates gorge. Radiocarbon 2001, 43(2):453-460.
20. DeNiro M.J. Post-mortem preservation and alteration of invivo bone collagen isotope ratios on relation to palaeodietary reconstruction. Nature 1985, 317(6032):806-809.
21. DeNiro M.J., Epstein S. Influence of diet on the distribution of carbon isotopes in animals. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 1978, 42:495-506.
22. Dewar G., Pfeiffer S. Approaches to estimating marine protein in human collagen for radiocarbon date calibration. Radiocarbon 2010, 52(4):1611-1625.
23. Dickinson W., Bedford S., Spriggs M. Petrography of Temper Sands in 112 reconstructed lapita pottery vessels from teouma (Efate): archaeological implications and relations to other Vanuatu tempers. J.Pac. Archaeol. 2013, 4(2):1-20.
24. Field J.S., Cochrane E.E., Greenlee D.M. Dietary change in Fijian prehistory: isotopic analyses of human and animal skeletal material. J.Archaeol. Sci. 2009, 36:1547-1556.
25. Fischer A., Olsen J., Richards M., Heinemeier J., Sveinbjrnsdttir E., Bennike P. Coast-inland mobility and diet in the Danish Mesolithic and Neolithic: evidence from stable isotope values of humans and dogs. J.Archaeol. Sci. 2007, 34:2125-2150.
26. 13C): a modern reference data set from Corsica, France. J.Archaeol. Sci. 2012, 39(7):2023-2035.
27. Hedges R.E.M., Reynard L.M. Nitrogen isotopes and the trophic level of humans in archaeology. J.Archaeol. Sci. 2007, 34:1240-1251.
28. Hogg A.G., Hua Q., Blackwell P.G., Niu M., Buck C.E., Guilderson T.P., Heaton T.J., Palmer J.G., Reimer P.J., Reimer R.W., Turney C.S.M., Zimmerman S.R.H. ShCal13 Southern Hemisphere calibration, 0-50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 2013, 55(4):1889-1903.
29. Irwin G., Worthy T.H., Best S., Hawkins S., Carpenter J., Matararaba S. Further investigations at the Naigani Lapita site (VL 21/5), Fiji: excavation, radiocarbon dating and palaeofaunal extinction. J.Pac. Archaeol. 2011, 2:66-78.
30. Jones S., Quinn R. Prehistoric Fijian diet and subsistence: integration of faunal, ethnographic and stable isotope evidence from the Lau Island group. J.Archaeol. Sci. 2009, 36:2742-2754.
31. Kellner C., Schoeninger M.J. Asimple carbon isotope model for reconstructing prehistoric human diet. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 2007, 133:1112-1127.
32. Kinaston R.L., Buckley H.R., Halcrow S.E., Spriggs M.J.T., Bedford S., Neal K., Gray A. Investigating foetal and perinatal mortality in prehistoric skeletal samples: a case study from a 3000-year-old Pacific Island cemetery site. J.Archaeol. Sci. 2009, 36(12):2780-2787.
33. Kinaston R. Prehistoric Diet and Health in the Western Pacific Islands 2010, (PhD thesis), University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
34. Kinaston R., Buckley H., Gray A., Shaw B., Mandui H. Exploring subsistence and cultural complexes on the south coast of Papua New Guinea using palaeodietary analyses. J.Archaeol. Sci. 2013, 40:904-913.
35. Kinaston R.L., Walter R.K., Jacomb C., Brooks E., Tayles N., Halcrow E.E., Stirling C., Reid M., Gray A.R., Spinks J., Shaw B., Fyfe R., Buckley H.R. The first New Zealanders: patterns of diet and mobility revealed through isotope analysis. PLOS ONE 2013, 8(5):1-11.
36. Kinaston R.L., Buckley H.R., Valentin F., Bedford S., Spriggs M., Herrscher E. Lapita diet in Remote Oceania: new stable isotope evidence from the 3000-year-old Teouma site, Efate Island, Vanuatu. PLOS ONE 2014, 10.1371/journal.pone.0090376.
37. Lamb A.L., Melikian M., Ives R., Evans J. Multi-isotope analysis of the population of the lost medieval village of Auldhame, East Lothian, Scotland. J.Anal. Atomic Spectrom. 2012, 27:765-777.
38. Leach B.F., Quinn C.J., Lyon G.L. Astochastic approach to the reconstruction of prehistoric human diet in the Pacific region from bone isotope signatures. Tuhinga, Rec. Mus. N. Z. Te Papa Tongarewa 1996, 8:1-54.
39. Leach B.F., Quinn C.J., Lyon G.L., Haystead A., Myers D.B. Evidence of prehistoric Lapita diet at Watom island, Papua New Guinea, using stable isotopes. N.Z. J. Archaeol. 2000, 20(1998):149-159.
40. Leach B.F., Quinn C., Morrison J., Lyon G. The use of multiple isotope signatures in reconstructing prehistoric human diet from archaeological bone from the Pacific and New Zealand. N.Z. J. Archaeol. 2003, 23(2001):31-98.
41. Lees W. In Situ Strontium Isotope Analysis of Human Teeth from Teouma, Efate, Vanuatu for Tracing Lapita Colonisation 2010, (Unpublished Masters thesis), the Australian National University.
42. Lee S., Bronk Ramsey C. Development and application of the trapezoidal model for archaeological chronologies. Radiocarbon 2012, 54(1):107-122.
43. Lee-Thorp J.A., Sponheimer M., Luyt J. Tracking changing environments using stable carbon isotopes in fossil tooth enamel: an example from the South African hominin sites. J.Hum. Evol. 2007, 53:595-601.
44. Longin R. New method of collagen extraction for radiocarbon dating. Nature 1971, 230:241-242.
45. McCormac F.G., Hogg A.G., Blackwell P.G., Buck C.E., Higham T.F.G., Reimer P.J. SHCal04 southern hemisphere calibration 0-11.0 cal kyr BP. Radiocarbon 2004, 46:1087-1092.
46. Martin P., Bruce Burr D.B., Sharkey N.A. Skeletal Tissue Mechanism 1998, 137. Springer-Verlag, New York.
47. Nunn P.D., Petchey F. Bayesian re-evaluation of Lapita settlement in Fiji: radiocarbon analysis of the Lapita settlement at Bourewa and nearby sites on the Rove Peninsula, Viti Levu Island. J.Pac. Archaeol. 2013, 4(2):21-34.
48. Olsen J., Heinemeier J., Lübke H., Lüth F., Terberger T. Dietary habits and freshwater reservoir effects in bones from a Neolithic NE German cemetery. Radiocarbon 2010, 52(2):635-644.
49. Petchey F. Radiocarbon determinations from the mulifanua lapita site, Upolu, Western Samoa. Radiocarbon 2001, 43(1):63-68.
50. Petchey F., Green R. Use of three isotopes to calibrate human bone radiocarbon determinations from Kainapirina (SAC), Watom Island, Papua New Guinea. Radiocarbon 2005, 47(2):181-192.
51. Petchey F., Anderson A., Zondervan A., Ulm S., Hogg A. New marine δR values for the South Pacific subtropical gyre region. Radiocarbon 2008, 50(3):373-397.
52. Petchey F., Spriggs M., Leach F., Seed M., Sand C., Pietrusewsky M., Anderson K. Testing the human factor: radiocarbon dating the first peoples of the South Pacific. J.Archaeol. Sci. 2011, 38:29-44.
53. Petchey F., Ulm S., David B., McNiven I.J., Asmussen B., Tomkins H., Dolby N., Aplin K., Richards T., Rowe C., Leavesley M., Mandui H. High-resolution radiocarbon dating of marine materials in archaeological contexts: radiocarbon marine reservoir variability between Anadara, Gafrarium, Batissa, Polymesoda and Echinoidea at Caution Bay, Southern Coastal Papua New Guinea. Archaeol. Anthropol. Sci. 2013, 5(1):69-80.
54. Privat K.L., O'Connell T.C., Hedges R.E.M. The distinction between freshwater and terrestrial-based diets: methodological concerns and archaeological applications of sulphur stable isotope analysis. J.Archaeol. Sci. 2007, 34:1197-1204.
55. Reepmeyer C., Spriggs M., Bedford S., Ambrose W. Provenance and technology of lithic artefacts from the Teouma Lapita site, Vanuatu. Asian Perspect. 2011, 49(1):205-225. [2010].
56. Reimer P.J., Bard E., Bayliss A., Beck J.W., Blackwell P.G., Bronk Ramsey C., Buck C.E., Cheng H., Edwards R.L., Friedrich M., Grootes P.M., Guilderson T.P., Haflidason H., Hajdas I., Hatté C., Heaton T.J., Hoffmann D.L., Hogg A.G., Hughen K.A., Kaiser K.F., Kromer B., Manning S.W., Niu M., Reimer R.W., Richards D.A., Scott E.M., Southon J.R., Staff R.A., Turney C.S.M., van der Plicht J. IntCal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves, 0-50 000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 2013, 55(4):1869-1887.
57. Reith T.M., Hunt T.L. Aradiocarbon chronology for Samoan prehistory. J.Archaeol. Sci. 2008, 35(7):1901-1927.
58. Reitsema L.J., Crews D.E., Polcyn M. Preliminary evidence for medieval Polish diet from carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes. J.Archaeol. Sci. 2010, 37:1413-1423.
59. Richards M.P., Hedges R.E.M. ANeolithic revolution? New evidence of diet in the British Neolithic. Antiquity 1999, 73:891-897.
60. Richards M.P., Hedges R.E.M., Molleson T.I., Vogel J.C. Stable isotope analysis reveals variations in human diet at the Poundbury Camp cemetery site. J.Archaeol. Sci. 1998, 25:1247-1252.
61. Richards M.P., Fuller B.T., Hedges R.E.M. Sulphur isotopic variation in ancient bone collagen from Europe: implications for human paleodiet, residence mobility, and modern pollutant studies. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 2001, 191:185-190.
62. Richards M.P., West E., Rolett B., Dobney E. Isotope analysis of human and animal diets from the Hanamiai archaeological site (French Polynesia). Archaeol. Ocean. 2009, 44:29-37.
63. Sand C. Lapita Calédonien: Archéologie D'un Premier Peuplement Insulaire Océanien. Travaux et Documents Océanistes 2010, vol. 2:295. Société des Océanistes, Paris.
64. Schoeninger M., DeNiro M. Nitrogen and carbon isotopic composition of bone collagen from marine and terrestrial animals. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 1984, 48:625-639.
65. Schoeninger M., DeNiro M., Tauber H. Stable nitrogen isotope ratios of bone collagen reflect marine and terrestrial components of prehistoric human diet. Science 1983, 220:1381-1383.
66. Schulting R.J., Richards M.P. Finding the coastal Mesolithic in southwest Britain: AMS dates and stable isotope results on human remains from Caldey Island, South Wales. Antiquity 2002, 76:1011-1025.
67. Scott R., Buckley H.R., Spriggs M., Valentin F., Bedford S. Identification of the first reported Lapita cremation in the Pacific islands using archaeological, forensic and contemporary burning evidence. J.Archaeol. Sci. 2010, 37:901-909.
68. Spriggs M., Bedford S. Is there an incised Lapita phase after dentate-stamped pottery ends? Data from Teouma, Efate Island, Vanuatu. Lapita Directions: Documenting the Past 50,000 Years 2013, 148-156. University of Otago Studies in Archaeology 25. Dunedin: Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Otago. G. Summerhayes, H. Buckley (Eds.).
69. 2, bone collagen, bioapatite, and soft tissues. Molecular Archaeology of Prehistoric Human Bone 1993, 121-155. Springer, Berlin. J.B. Lambert, G. Grupe (Eds.).
70. UCI AMS Chemical pretreatment for bone: ultrafiltration method. KCCAMS Intern. Tech. Rep. Sept. 2006, 7.
71. Valentin F., Bocherens H., Gratuze B., Sand C. Dietary patterns during the Late prehistoric/historic period in Cikobia Island (Fiji): insights from stable isotopes and dental pathologies. J.Archaeol. Sci. 2006, 33:1396-1410.
72. Valentin F., Bedford S., Buckley H., Spriggs M. Lapita burial practices: evidence for complex body and bone treatment at the Teouma cemetery, Vanuatu, southwest Pacific. J.Isl. Coast. Archaeol. 2010, 5(2):212-235.
73. Valentin F., Buckley H., Herrscher E., Kinaston R., Bedford S., Spriggs M., Neal K. Lapita subsistence strategies and food consumption patterns in the community of Teouma (Efate, Vanuatu). J.Archaeol. Sci. 2010, 37:1820-1829.
74. Valentin F., Herrscher E., Petchey F., Addison D.J. An analysis of the last 1000 years human diet on Tutuila (American Samoa) using carbon and nitrogen stable isotope data. Am. Antiq. 2011, 76(3):473-486.
75. 13C content of human collagen as a measure of prehistoric diet in Woodland North America. Nature 1978, 276:815-816.
76. van Klinken G.J. Bone collagen quality indicators for palaeodietary and radiocarbon measurement. J.Archaeol. Sci. 1999, 26:687-695.
77. van Klinken G.J., Richards M.P., Hedges R.E.M. An overview of causes for stable isotopic variations in past European human populations: environmental ecophysiological and cultural effects. Biogeochimical Approaches to Paleodietary Analysis. Advances in Archaeological and Museum Science 2000, 39-58. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York. S.H. Ambrose, M.A. Katzenberg (Eds.).