Osteological Description of the Lapita-associated Human Skeleton Discovered on Moturiki Island, Fiji

K Katayama; Patrick Nunn; Roselyn Kumar; S Matararaba; M Minagawa; H Oda

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Osteological Description of the Lapita-associated Human Skeleton Discovered on Moturiki Island, Fiji

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Osteological Description of the Lapita-associated Human Skeleton Discovered on Moturiki Island, Fiji

K Katayama, Patrick Nunn, Roselyn Kumar, S Matararaba, M Minagawa and H Oda

People and Culture in Oceania, Vol.23, pp.73-98

2007

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Abstract

Cultural Studies

Lapita people

archaeology

Very little is known about the nature of the first humans to occupy the western South Pacific Islands, the so-called Lapita people. This is a final report on the osteological analysis of the skeleton named Mana, which was excavated at a Lapita Culture Complex site called Naitable on Moturiki Island in central Fiji in 2002. The Mana skeleton was reasonably well preserved. The skull is without doubt the best preserved of the Lapita-associated human skeletons ever described. Its major parts were nearly intact and reconstructed to an almost complete state. The skeleton proved to be an approximately 40-60 year old female. Radiocarbon dating of bone from the skeleton, and other archaeological considerations, place the burial around the middle of the first millennium BC (around 700 BC). In the present paper, osteological features of the cranium, mandible and infracranial skeleton of Mana are described very precisely for detailed comparative studies in the future.

Details

Title: Osteological Description of the Lapita-associated Human Skeleton Discovered on Moturiki Island, Fiji
Authors: K Katayama (Author)
Patrick Nunn (Author)
Roselyn Kumar (Author)
S Matararaba (Author)
M Minagawa (Author)
H Oda (Author)
Publication details: People and Culture in Oceania, Vol.23, pp.73-98
Publisher: Japanese Society for Oceanic Studies
Date published: 2007
ISSN: 1349-5380
Organisation Unit: Indigenous and Transcultural Research Centre; Australian Centre for Pacific Islands Research; School of Social Sciences - Legacy; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Law and Society; Sustainability Research Cluster
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99450208202621
Output Type: Journal article

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