Early Polynesian mortuary behaviour at the Talasiu site, Kingdom of Tonga

Authors

  • Frederique Valentin UMR 7041-ArScAn-Ethnologie préhistorique, CNRS, Maison René Ginouvès Archéologie Ethnologie, Nanterre, France
  • Geoffrey Clark Archaeology and Natural History, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

Keywords:

Pacific Islands, Ancestral Polynesian Society, mortuary practice, cremation, Lapita

Abstract

This paper describes a well-preserved and burned human bone assemblage containing at least four individuals dating to ca. 2400-2600 years ago from Tongatapu Island in the Kingdom of Tonga. The remains are the oldest securely dated skeletal assemblage from Polynesia, and they shed light on the early mortuary behavior at the end of the Lapita era when Ancestral Polynesian Society (APS) is thought to have emerged.

Author Biographies

Frederique Valentin, UMR 7041-ArScAn-Ethnologie préhistorique, CNRS, Maison René Ginouvès Archéologie Ethnologie, Nanterre, France

Dr.

Geoffrey Clark, Archaeology and Natural History, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

Associate Professeur

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Published

31-01-2013

How to Cite

Valentin, F. and Clark, G. (2013) “Early Polynesian mortuary behaviour at the Talasiu site, Kingdom of Tonga”, Journal of Pacific Archaeology, 4(1), pp. 1–14. Available at: https://pacificarchaeology.org/index.php/journal/article/view/92 (Accessed: 19 April 2024).

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 1 (2013)

Section

Articles