No abstract

Although the peopling of Remote Oceania is well-documented as a general process of eastward migrations from Island Southeast Asia and Near Oceania toward the archipelagos of Remote Oceania, the origin and the development of Polynesian societies in the Western Pacific (Polynesian Outliers), far away from the Polynesian triangle, remain unclear. Here, we present a large-scale geochemical sourcing study of stone artifacts excavated from archeological sites in central Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, and the Caroline Islands and provide unambiguous evidence of multiple long-distance voyages, with exotic stone materials being transported up to 2500 kilometers from their source. Our results emphasize high mobility in the Western Pacific during the last millennium CE and offer insights on the scale and timing of contacts between the Polynesian Outliers, their neighbors in the Western Pacific, and societies of Western Polynesia.

No abstract

Archaeology in Vanuatu is generally considered a 'no go' field of study, as it ventures into areas which a typical ni-Vanuatu is taught at a very early age are restricted and forbidden to members of the community. A lot of archaeological areas of study such as human remains, old or abandoned villages, and sacred and spiritual sites are areas that are associated with spirits of our ancestors; disturbing these areas, or even entering the compound, could lead to unforeseen disease or the death of a relative as a warning-or even your own death. A recent archaeological survey carried out on Nalolo Bay, east Maewo (Sand et al. 2016), saw a cancellation of a visit to a sacred site as the local guides were fearful that something might happen, especially to the locals, as they knew the area was tabu. Venturing into the area might be seen by the spirits as an act of war and they would retaliate and punish us, but more of the punishment would befall the locals as they knew the place was tabu and still went.

No abstract