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

PLoS One. 2014 Mar 5;9(3):e90376. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0090376. eCollection 2014.

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 dietary baseline included both modern plants and animals (n=98) and prehistoric fauna from the site (n=71). The human stable isotope data showed that dietary protein at Teouma included a mixture of reef fish and inshore organisms and a variety of higher trophic marine (e.g. marine turtle) and terrestrial animals (e.g. domestic animals and fruit bats). The domestic pigs and chickens at Teouma primarily ate food from a C3 terrestrial environment but their δ15N values indicated that they were eating foods from higher trophic levels than those of plants, such as insects or human fecal matter, suggesting that animal husbandry at the site may have included free range methods. The dietary interpretations for the humans suggest that broad-spectrum foraging and the consumption of domestic animals were the most important methods for procuring dietary protein at the site. Males displayed significantly higher δ15N values compared with females, possibly suggesting dietary differences associated with labor specialization or socio-cultural practices relating to food distribution.

Publication types

  • Historical Article
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Animals
  • Bone and Bones / chemistry
  • Chickens
  • Chiroptera
  • Diet / history*
  • Feeding Behavior
  • Female
  • Fishes
  • History, Ancient
  • Human Migration
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Meat*
  • Sex Factors
  • Sus scrofa
  • Turtles
  • Vanuatu

Grants and funding

Funding of the project during 2004 and 2005 was provided by the Australian Research Council (ARC) (DP 0556874, www.arc.gov.au), Pacific Biological Foundation (PBF04-1, www.apscience.org.au). The excavations in 2006 were funded primarily through a National Geographic Scientific Research Grant (8038–06, www.nationalgeographic.com/explorers/), with further support from the ARC Discovery Grant (DP 0556874, www.arc.gov.au). Excavations from 2008 to 2010 were primarily funded by an ARC Discovery Grant (DP 0880789, www.arc.gov.au). Funding for the excavation and analysis of the humans remains, prehistoric fauna and collection and analysis of the modern plants and animals was provided by Two Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden Grants (04-UOO-007 and 09-UOO-106, http://www.royalsociety.org.nz/programmes/funds/marsden/ ) and a University of Otago Research Grant during 2009 (no number, http://www.otago.ac.nz/research/otago004140.html). Further funding for the stable isotope analysis was provided by CNRS: Aix-Marseille Université, MCC/CNRS (UMR 7269 LAMPEA, http://lampea.cnrs.fr/) and UMR 7041 ArScAn, http://www.mae.u-paris10.fr/arscan/). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.