New dates for the Makekur (FOH) Lapita pottery site, Arawe Islands, New Britain, Papua New Guinea

Jim Specht · Chris Gosden

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Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies Archaeology and ancient environmental studies Maritime and Coastal Archaeology

Abstract

Estimates for the start of Lapita pottery in the Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea, have ranged from 3550-3450 cal.BP to 3300-3200 cal.BP.These estimates in turn overlap date ranges of 3480-3150 cal.BP and of 3360-3040 cal.BP for the W-K2 volcanic eruption in northern New Britain and reoccupation of the area by people with Lapita pottery (Petrie and Torrence 2008, 95.4 per cent probability).Here we review issues surrounding existing 14 C dates for the start of Lapita pottery throughout the archipelago and present six new dates for the Makekur Lapita site in the Arawe Islands.Based on a non-Bayesian assessment of the dates, we estimate a possible start of Lapita pottery around 3250-3150 cal.BP, at the late end of the ranges for the Witori eruption and reoccupation of the Willaumez Peninsula and close to initial dates for the Lapita expansion into Remote Oceania.Refinement of this estimate for the introduction of pottery to the Bismarck Archipelago through application of Bayesian statistics requires resolution of issues relating to existing dates and pottery analyses, and incorporation of results from current and planned redating programs of Lapita pottery sites within the archipelago.

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References

1991The chronology of colonization in New Zealand 1993Late colonization of East Polynesia 1989The dating of the Island Southeast Asian Neolithic: an attempt at chronometric hygiene and linguistic correlation 2007Oceanic Explorations: Lapita and Western Pacific Settlement 2012Dating the appearance of Lapita pottery in the Bismarck Archipelago and its dispersal to Remote Oceania 2017Late Holocene Human Expansion into Near and Remote Oceania: A Bayesian Model of the Chronologies of the Mariana Islands and Bismarck Archipelago 2007New Evidence from the East Polynesian Gateway: Substantive and Methodological Results from Aitutaki, Southern Cook Islands 2003Chronology of the Neolithic Transition in Island Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific: A View from 2003

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2017Tattooing tools and the Lapita cultural complex 2021The question of Early Lapita settlements in Remote Oceania and reliance on horticulture revisited: new evidence from plant microfossil studies at Reef/Santa Cruz, south-east Solomon Islands. In From Field to Museum—Studies from Melanesia in Honour of Robin Torrence, ed. Jim Specht, Val Attenbrow, and Jim Allen 2024An update on Late Lapita: Its manifestations and associated implications

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