Lapita diet in remote oceania: new stable isotope evidence from the 3000-year-old Teouma site, Efate Island, Vanuatu.

ABSTRACT: Remote Oceania was colonized ca. 3000 BP by populations associated with the Lapita Cultural Complex, marking a major event in the prehistoric settlement of the Pacific Islands. Although over 250 Lapita sites have been found throughout the Western Pacific, human remains associated with Lapita period sites are rare. The site of Teouma, on Efate Island, Vanuatu has yielded the largest burial assemblage (n=68 inhumations) of Lapita period humans ever discovered, providing a unique opportunity for assessing human adaptation to the environment in a colonizing population. Stable isotope ratios (δ13C, δ15N, δ34S) of human bone collagen from forty-nine Teouma adults were analyzed against a comprehensive dietary baseline to assess the paleodiet of some of Vanuatu's earliest inhabitants. The isotopic

SUBMITTER: Kinaston R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3944017 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature