Skip to main content

ETHNOS_APP

Home • Search • Journals • List 0

Early Lapita sites, the colonisation of Tonga and recent data from northern Ha'apai

Bibliographic Data

ID6038298
AuthorsRichard Shutler (Simon Fraser University), David V Burley (0000-0002-1146-8288, Simon Fraser University), William R Dickinson (University of Arizona), Erle Nelson (Simon Fraser University), Arne K Carlson (University of Toronto)
Year1994
Volume29
Issue2
Pages53-68
Publication date1994-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueArchaeology in Oceania/Archæology & physical anthropology in Oceania (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0728-4896 • E-ISSN: 1834-4453
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/arco.1994.29.2.53
OpenAlexW2506585021
LanguageEN
Citations received18
References cited16

Recent and earlier archaeological research in the northern Ha'apai island group, Kingdom of Tonga, has documented several sites associated with initial colonization and expansion during the Lapita period. Excavated and other data for these sites are described in a preliminary fashion and placed within the larger context of Lapita archaeology in Tonga. The earliest sites, including Tongoleleka on Li fuka Island, Faleloa on Foa Island and Pukotala on Ha'ano island are radiocarbon dated between 3000 and 2500 years ago. Dentate‐stamped and other decorated ceramics are characteristic of site assemblages. All recorded Lapita period sites in northern Ha'apai occur 200 m or more from the present shoreline and are raised 2 m or more above current sea levels. Original site occupations, however, were superpositioned on sand beaches and it is proposed that sea level decline and substantial accretionary shoreline development has taken place over the past 2500 years. Northern Ha'apai dentate‐stamped ceramics share design elements with other Lapita sites in Tonga and Fiji and the existing conceptual framework for an integrated eastern Lapita province with sustained inter‐island contacts seems secure. Lapita sites in northern Ha'apai further indicate that these islands were settled simultaneously with other areas in Tonga, including Tongatapu and Nivatoputapu. Finally, each of the principal islands in northern Ha'apai is characterised by a single early Lapita settlement without significant growth over the next few centuries. This distribution supports Green's ‘Colonizer Model’ for Lapita expansion in which new groups were continually and intentionally being dispersed to settlement locales on adjacent islands

Archaeology · Bay · Colonisation · Colonization · Context (archaeology · Geography · Period (music · Radiocarbon dating · Shore · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Island Studies and Pacific Affairs · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies · Geology · Oceanography

  • Vegetation Change in the Coastal-Lowland Rainforest at Avai'o'vuna Swamp, Vava'u, Kingdom of Tonga

    Open Access•Patricia L Fall•Quaternary Research•2005

  • Ancient Structures of West Moana

    Open Access•D Enari, Elijah Lemusuifeauaali'i•Te Kaharoa•2021

  • Sources of sand tempers in prehistoric Tongan pottery

    Open Access•Thomas S Dye, William R Dickinson•Geoarchaeology•1996

  • Sand tempers in indigenous Lapita and Lapitoid Polynesian Plainware and imported protohistoric Fijian pottery of Ha'apai (Tonga) and the question of Lapita tradeware

    Open Access•William R Dickinson, Richard Shutler et al.•Archaeology in Oceania/Archæology…•1996

  • Discussion of screen size and resource depression

    Nadia Densmore•NEXUS The Canadian Student…•2009

  • Consistency and Variation in the Focus, Intensity and Archaeological Histories of Lapita and post-Lapita Fisheries in Ha’apai, Kingdom of Tonga

    Aubrey Cannon, Roxanne Wildenstein et al.•The Journal of Island and Coastal…•2018

  • Tongan Archaeology and the Tongan Past, 2850–150 B.P

    Open Access•David V Burley•Journal of World Prehistory•1998

  • Sources of sand tempers in prehistoric Tongan pottery

    Open Access•Thomas S Dye, William R Dickinson•Geoarchaeology•1996

  • Geoarchaeology of Tonga

    Open Access•William R Dickinson, David V Burley•Geoarchaeology•2007

  • Prehistoric Butchery and Consumption of Birds in the Kingdom of Tonga, South Pacific

    Open Access•David W Steadman, Aimée M Plourde et al.•Journal of Archaeological Science•2002

  • The age of Lapita settlement in Fiji

    Open Access•A Anderson, Geoffrey Clark•Archaeology in Oceania/Archæology…•1999

  • Evolutions in the Lapita Cultural Complex

    Open Access•Christophe Sand•Archaeology in Oceania/Archæology…•2001

  • A radiocarbon chronology for the Eastern Lapita frontier in Tonga

    Open Access•David V Burley, D E Nelson et al.•Archaeology in Oceania/Archæology…•1999

  • Rethinking Tongan Lapita chronology in Ha'apai

    Open Access•David V Burley, Erle Nelson et al.•Archaeology in Oceania/Archæology…•1995

  • Far Western, Western, and Eastern Lapita

    Glenn Summerhayes•Asian perspectives•2000

  • Counting your chickens

    Open Access•A A Storey, T N Ladefoged et al.•International Journal of…•2008

  • Pacific 'Babes

    Open Access•M S Allen, Elizabeth Matisoo-Smith et al.•International Journal of…•2001

  • The chronology of Lapita ware in New Caledonia

    Open Access•Christophe Sand•Antiquity•1997

  • The Prehistoric Exploration and Colonisation of the Pacific

    Open Access•Geoffrey Irwin, Irwin Geoffrey•Prehistoric Exploration and…•1992

  • Postmortem preservation and alteration of in vivo bone collagen isotope ratios in relation to palaeodietary reconstruction

    Open Access•Michael J Deniro•Nature•1985

  • Niuatoputapu

    Patrick Vinton Kirch•Niuatoputapu•1988

  • Marine Turtle Bones from an Archaeological Site in Polynesia Yield Reliable Age Determinations

    Open Access•Thomas S Dye•Radiocarbon•1990

  • The Evolution of Polynesian Chiefdoms

    P Bion Griffin, P V Kirch•Man•1985

  • The Polynesians

    John U Wolff, P Bellwood•Journal of the American Oriental…•1992

  • Impact of hydro‐isostatic holocene sea‐level change on the geologic context of Island archaeological sites, Northern Ha'apai group, Kingdom of Tonga

    Open Access•William R Dickinson, David V Burley et al.•Geoarchaeology•1994

  • Archaeology of the Lapita Cultural Complex

    P Bellwood, P V Kirch et al.•Man•1990

  • [Diversity, Continuity and Change in the History of the Bismarck Archipelago] the Lapita Cultural Complex

    Open Access•R C Green•Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific…•1991

  • High-Precision Bidecadal Calibration of the Radiocarbon Time Scale, 500–2500 BC

    Open Access•Gordon W Pearson, Minze Stuiver•Radiocarbon•1993

  • The Lapita cultural complex

    M Spriggs•Journal of Pacific History•1984

  • Lapita pottery of the Bismarck Archipelago and its affinities

    Open Access•Dimitri Anson•Archaeology in Oceania/Archæology…•1986

  • Archaeology in Oceania

    J T Clark, Jane Clark et al.•Annual Review of Anthropology•1978

Unique citing works18
Citations per year0,58
Citation span1995 - 2021 (27)
Citation velocityhistorical
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 16
Ethnos_APP • Open Source Project • MIT License • Frontend v2.0.0 • Privacy and Cookies • API Documentation: api.ethnos.app/docs • API Source Code: GitHub • DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17049435 • Frontend Source Code: GitHub • DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17050053 • cruz.rio.br • Expectantes Misericordiae