| Abstract: |
This paper presents the initial results of fieldwork on the Anir Island group, which is located 60km east of southern New Ireland (Figure 1). The fieldwork is part of a larger project that aims to assess the significance of exchange and the nature of interaction in the colonisation of the western Pacific and its role in maintaining cohesion between far flung communities. Anir was selected for fieldwork because of its strategic position, being located between the Bismarcks and the Solomons in a chain of stepping-stone islands. These islands have played an important role in Pacific prehistory. We know that the earliest colonists to reach Remote Oceania moved down the Melanesian Island chain between 3300 to 3000 years ago, their settlements distinguished by a higly decorated form of pottery called Lapita. The long distance movement of stone is evident in these settlements with obsidian artefacts originating from different sources in the Bismarcks reaching the Solomons, Vanuatu, new Caledonia and Fiji. Anir is thus seen as a barometer for not only assessing change over time, but also the degree of interaction between the Bismarcks and islands to the east. The importance of the geographical location of the islands should be reflected in the archaeological record.
|
