Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T01:02:00.042Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Mortuary practices of the first Polynesians: formative ethnogenesis in the Kingdom of Tonga

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2020

Frederique Valentin ,
Geoffrey Clark ,
Philip Parton  and
Christian Reepmeyer
Frederique Valentin*
Affiliation:
ArScAn-Ethnologie Préhistorique, CNRS, Nanterre, France
Geoffrey Clark
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology and Natural History, The Australian National University, Australia
Philip Parton
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology and Natural History, The Australian National University, Australia
Christian Reepmeyer
Affiliation:
CABAH, College of Arts, Society and Education, James Cook University, Australia
*
*Author for correspondence: ✉ [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Ancestral Polynesian Society has been argued to represent a formative stage in Polynesian ethnogenesis. Recently discovered human burials at the Talasiu midden site in Tonga, dating to c. 2650 cal BP, now provide the earliest known evidence for Ancestral Polynesian mortuary behaviour. This article presents and evaluates the burials, comparing archaeological evidence for Talasiu mortuary practices with those of older Lapita and more recent Tongan burials, as well as with Ancestral Polynesian Society funerary activities inferred through linguistic reconstruction. These comparisons emphasise that several socio-cultural behaviours that are important to contemporary Polynesian societies were expressed very differently in the past.

Keywords

Pacific IslandsTongaLapitaethnogenesismortuary practice
Type
Research Article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 94 , Issue 376 , August 2020 , pp. 999 - 1014
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bedford, S., Buckley, H., Valentin, F., Tayles, N. & Longga, F.. 2011. Lapita burials, a new Lapita cemetery and post-Lapita burials from Malakula, northern Vanuatu, South-west Pacific. Journal of Pacific Archaeology 2(2): 26–48. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvxrq11hGoogle Scholar
Boulestin, B. 2016. Les sépultures mésolithiques de Téviec et Hoëdic: révisions bioarchéologiques. Oxford: Archaeopress.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bruzek, J. 2002. A method for visual determination of sex, using the human hip bone. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 117: 157–68. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.10012CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burley, D.V., Dickinson, W.R., Barton, A. & Shutler, R. Jr. 2001. Lapita on the periphery: new data on old problems in the Kingdom of Tonga. Archaeology in Oceania 36: 89–104. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1834-4453.2001.tb00481.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burley, D.V., Edinborough, K., Weisler, M. & Zhao, J.-X.. 2015. Bayesian modeling and chronological precision for Polynesian settlement of Tonga. PLoS ONE 10: e0120795. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0120795CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burley, D.V., Connaughton, S.P. & Clark, G.. 2018. Early cessation of ceramic production for Ancestral Polynesian Society in Tonga. PLoS ONE 13: e0193166. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0193166CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clark, G. 2016. Chiefly tombs, lineage history, and the ancient Tongan state. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology 11: 326–43. https://doi.org/10.1080/15564894.2015.1098754CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, G. & Langley, M.. 2019. Ancient tattooing in Polynesia. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology. https://doi.org/10.1080/15564894.2018.1561558Google Scholar
Clark, G., Burley, D.V. & Murray, T.. 2008. Monumentality and the development of the Tongan maritime chiefdom. Antiquity 82: 994–1008. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00097738CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, G., Grono, E., Ussher, E. & Reepmeyer, C.. 2015. Early settlement and subsistence on Tongatapu, Kingdom of Tonga: insights from a 2700–2650 cal BP midden deposit. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 3: 513–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2015.08.005Google Scholar
Clark, G., Reepmeyer, C. & Melekiola, N.. 2016. The rapid emergence of the archaic Tongan state: the royal tomb of Paepaeotelea. Antiquity 90: 1038–53. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2016.114CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davidson, J. 1969. Archaeological excavations in two burial mounds at ‘Atele, Tongatapu. Records of the Auckland Institute and Museum 6: 251–86.Google Scholar
Duday, H. 2009. The archaeology of the death: lectures in archaeothanatology. Oxford: Oxbow. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1cd0pkvCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duday, H., Courtaud, P., Crubézy, E., Sellier, P. & Tillier, A.-M.. 1990. L'anthropologie ‘de terrain’: reconnaissance et interprétation des gestes funéraires. Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d'Anthropologie de Paris 2(3–4): 39–49. https://doi.org/10.3406/bmsap.1990.1740CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferembach, D., Schwidetzky, I. & Stloukal, M.. 1979. Recommandations pour déterminer l’âge et le sexe sur le squelette. Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d'Anthropologie de Paris 6(13): 7–45. https://doi.org/10.3406/bmsap.1979.1945CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Field, J.S., Cochrane, E.E. & Greenlee, D.M.. 2009. Dietary change in Fijian prehistory: isotopic analyses of human and animal skeletal material. Journal of Archaeological Science 36: 1547–56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2009.03.016CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibara, J.F., Subira, M.E., Terradas, X., Santos, F.J., Agullo, L., Gomez-Martinez, I., Allièse, F. & Fernandez-Lopez de Pablo, J.. 2015. The emergence of Mesolithic cemeteries in South-west Europe: insights from the El Collado (Oliva, Valencia, Spain) radiocarbon record. PLoS ONE 10:e0115505. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0115505Google Scholar
Goldstein, L. 1981. One-dimensional archaeology and multidimensional people: spatial organisation and mortuary analysis, in Goldstein, L., Chapman, R., Kinnes, I. & Randsborg, K. (ed.) The archaeology of death: 53–69. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Groube, L. 1971. Tonga, Lapita pottery, and Polynesian origins. Journal of the Polynesian Society 80: 278–316.Google Scholar
Herrscher, E., Fenner, J., Valentin, F., Clark, G., Reepmeyer, C., Bouffandeau, L. & André, G.. 2018. Multi-isotopic analysis of first Polynesian diet as defined with Talasiu (Tongatapu, Kingdom of Tonga) funerary remains. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 18: 308–17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2018.01.012Google Scholar
Hudjashov, G. et al. 2018. Investigating the origins of eastern Polynesians using genome-wide data from the Leeward Society Isles. Scientific Reports 8: 1823. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-20026-8CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kirch, P.V. & Green, R.C.. 1987. History, phylogeny, and evolution in Polynesia. Current Anthropology 28: 431–56. https://doi.org/10.1086/203547CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirch, P.V. & Green, R.C.. 2001. Hawaiki, ancestral Polynesia: an essay in historical anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirch, P.V., Swindler, D.R. & Turner, C.G. II. 1989. Human skeletal and dental remains from Lapita sites (1600–500 BC) in the Mussau Islands, Melanesia. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 79: 63–76. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.1330790107CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKern, W.C. 1929. Archaeology of Tonga (Bernice Pauhi Bishop Museum Bulletin 60). Honolulu (HI): Bernice Pauhi Bishop Museum.Google Scholar
Nunn, P., Ishimura, T., Dickinson, W.R., Katayama, K., Thomas, F., Kumar, R., Matararaba, S., Davidson, J. & Worthy, T.. 2007. The Lapita occupation at Naitabale, Moturiki Island, central Fiji. Asian Perspectives 46: 96–132. https://doi.org/10.1353/asi.2007.0009CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pardoe, C. 1988. Cemetery as symbol. Archaeology in Oceania 23: 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1834-4453.1988.tb00178.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pietrusewsky, M., Hunt, T.L. & Ikehara-Quebral, R.M.. 1997. A new Lapita-associated skeleton from Fiji. Journal of the Polynesian Society 106: 284–95.Google Scholar
Posth, C. et al. 2018. Language continuity despite population replacement in Remote Oceania. Nature Ecology & Evolution 2: 731–40. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-018-0498-2CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Poulsen, J. 1987. Early Tongan prehistory (Terra Australis 12). Canberra: Terra Australis.Google Scholar
Ravn, M., Spriggs, M., Bedford, S., Hawkins, S., Philip, I. & Valentin, F.. 2016. Pottery spatial patterns at the Lapita site of Teouma, central Vanuatu: some preliminary refitting results, in Valentin, F. & Molle, G. (ed.) Spatial dynamics in Oceania (Séances de la Société Préhistorique Française 7): 163–73. Paris: Société Préhistorique Française.Google Scholar
Scheuer, L. & Black, S.. 2000. Developmental juvenile osteology. Cambridge (MA): Academic. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-012624000-9/50004-6Google Scholar
Scott, R.M., Buckley, H.R., Spriggs, M., Valentin, F. & Bedford, S.. 2010. Identification of the first reported Lapita cremation in the Pacific Islands using archaeological, forensic, and contemporary burning. Journal of Archaeological Science 37: 901–909. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2009.11.020CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skoglund, P. et al. 2016. Genomic insights into the peopling of the Southwest Pacific. Nature 538: 510–13.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, A. 2002. An archaeology of west Polynesian Prehistory (Terra Australis 18). Canberra: Terra Australis.Google Scholar
Spennemann, D.H.R. 1989a. Ata'o Tonga mo'ata’a Tonga: early and later prehistory of the Tongan Islands. Volume I: a study in settlement and subsistence patterns, with special emphasis on Tongatapu. Unpublished PhD dissertation, The Australian National University.Google Scholar
Spennemann, D.H.R. 1989b. Ata'o Tonga mo'ata’a Tonga: early and later prehistory of the Tongan Islands. Volume II: supportive studies. Unpublished PhD dissertation, The Australian National University.Google Scholar
Ubelaker, D.H. 1989. Human skeletal remains: excavation, analysis, interpretation. Washington, D.C.: Taraxacum.Google Scholar
Valentin, F. & Clark, G.. 2013. Early Polynesian mortuary behaviour at the Talasiu site, Kingdom of Tonga. Journal of Pacific Archaeology 4: 1–14.Google Scholar
Valentin, F., Choi, J.-I., Lin, H., Bedford, S. & Spriggs, M.. 2015. Three thousand year old jar burials at the Teouma cemetery (Vanuatu): a Southeast Asian-Lapita connection? in Sand, C., Chiu, S. & Hogg, N. (ed.) The Lapita cultural complex in time and space: expansion routes, chronologies and typologies (Archaeologia Pasifika 4): 81–101. Nouméa & Taipei: IANCP and Academia Sinica.Google Scholar
Valentin, F., Allièse, F., Bedford, S. & Spriggs, M.. 2016. Réflexions sur la transformation anthropique du cadavre: le cas des sépultures Lapita de Teouma (Vanuatu). Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d'Anthropologie de Paris 28: 39–44. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13219-016-0145-xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weik, T.M. 2014. The archaeology of ethnogenesis. Annual Review of Anthropology 43: 291–305. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-anthro-102313-025920CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilmshurst, J.M., Hunt, T.L., Lipo, C.P. & Anderson, A.. 2011. High-precision radiocarbon dating shows recent and rapid initial human colonization of East Polynesia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 108: 1815–20. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1015876108CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Supplementary material: PDF

Valentin et al. supplementary material

Valentin et al. supplementary material

Download Valentin et al. supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 292.9 KB