Seashore Settlement Patterns in the Koné and Naïa Periods: Case Studies from Southwestern New Caledonia

From test pits to big-scale archaeology in New Caledonia, southern Melanesia

“…Significantly, only a few scarce signs of Kanak occupation have been uncovered in the more recent dunes, located in the first 100 metres behind the present beach. This clearly sets apart the settlement pattern of this recent period compared to the multiple remains of the two preceding millennia excavated in the Deva dunes (Sand et al 2018). The archaeological data do not suggest that there were no coastal settlements during the traditional Kanak period, but rather that these were mainly restricted to clearly defined hamlets, probably positioned at the estuaries of the permanent creeks of Deva which are outside the area excavated by our CRM project.…”