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Identification of the first reported Lapita cremation in the Pacific Islands using archaeological, forensic and contemporary burning evidence

Scott M. Rachel , Buckley R. Hallie , Spriggs Matthew, Valentin Frédérique, Bedford Stuart. 2010. .
Identification of the first reported Lapita cremation in the Pacific Islands using archaeological, forensic and contemporary burning evidence
ARTICLE, (2010 ) - PUBLISHEDVERSION - English (en-GB)

OPENACCESS - © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved..
Audience : RESEARCHERS, TEACHERS, STUDENTS
Elsevier Ltd.
Subject
Lapita, Cremation, Pacific Islands, Archaeological Evidence, Forensic Evidence, Burning Evidence, Teouma, Vanuatu, Osteological Signatures, Macroscopic Evidence, Human Bone, Burials, Cannibalism, Deliberate Cremation, Experimental Studies, Color Change, Bone Distortion, Element Representation, Scoop Feature, Cemetery, Western Pacific, Archaeological Deposit, Lapita Period
Domains
Archéologie, Anthropologie, Biologie, Histoire, Sciences Sociales, Sciences du vivant, Sciences humaines
Description

Burnt human remains excavated from a scoop feature from a cemetery at Teouma, Vanuatu in the western Pacific (∼2850 BP) were examined to assess the nature of the deposit. Possible scenarios explaining the reason the bone was burnt and interred were assessed using osteological signatures taken from archaeological, experimental, and forensic studies. The methodology of the study included recording color change, types of bone distortion, and element representation in conjunction with archaeological evidence. The burnt and fragmented human bone (n = 430, fragments weighing 620 g) represents a single adult individual. Macroscopic evidence from the bone indicates the body had been fleshed or fresh at the time of burning and element representation follows a similar pattern to other burials excavated from the site. Excluding burning, there was no evidence of human modification to the bone such as cut marks, percussion pits or peri mortem trauma suggestive of cannibalism. The archaeological evidence from the site indicates that the body had not been burnt in the place the remains were subsequently discovered. The combined macroscopic and archaeological evidence strongly suggests that the human bone was burnt as a result of a deliberate cremation of an individual. If a conclusion of deliberate cremation is accepted, this research represents the first case of a Lapita period cremation and demonstrates how a combination of methods can explain the nature of an archaeological deposit of burnt human bone when the cause is not otherwise apparent.

Keywords
Cremation, Lapita, human bone, archaeology, Vanuatu, cannibalism, archaeological evidence, Lapita culture, Pacific Islands
Language
English (en-GB)
Creators
Scott M. Rachel , Buckley R. Hallie , Spriggs Matthew, Valentin Frédérique, Bedford Stuart
Contributors
Sources
Journal of Archaeological Science, 37(5), 901‑909.
Coverage
Pacific Islands, Teouma, Vanuatu, Western Pacific
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