Stuart Bedford - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Stuart Bedford

Routledge eBooks, Feb 17, 2015

HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), Nov 1, 2022

Journal of Pacific History, 2010

French Prehistoric Society, Paris, 2016

In this paper, we will present preliminary results of spatial distribution of Lapita pottery at t... more In this paper, we will present preliminary results of spatial distribution of Lapita pottery at the Teouma burial site on Efate Island in Vanuatu. Based on reassembling of pots over the last ten years at the Vanuatu Culture Centre and GIS recording we argue that this excavation offers a possibility to discuss the spatial distribution of pottery and aspects of ritual burial patterns of the Lapita Culture 3000 years ago. Lapita pottery at the site reveals aspects of contemporaneity between grave groups, behavioral, technical and ritual choices in the use of pots and aspects of complex spatial activity patterns in the burial rites.

HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2019

Debating Lapita: Distribution, Chronology, Society and Subsistence, 2019

Lapita ceramic design analysis has for decades been dominated by the element-motif approach. Here... more Lapita ceramic design analysis has for decades been dominated by the element-motif approach. Here we outline a structural approach for the analysis of Lapita decoration that looks at design density, layout and organisation. It is used and compared to results from element-motif analysis to assess variation within the Eastern Lapita Province. Ceramic samples from both the Southern and Western Lapita Provinces are added to the analysis to assess how cohesive the Eastern Lapita Province is in terms of ceramic design. The results suggest that the concept of 'Provinces' requires some reassessment and redefinition. Attributes Dentate density Sherd width Sherd length Elements-Sherd *0.0001 *0.0023 *0.0005 Motifs-Sherd *0.0440 *0.0001 *0.0001 Processes-Sherd *0.0063 *0.0015 *0.0002 Asterisk indicates statistical significance at α=0.05. Significance indicates that dentate density, sherd width and sherd length are significant predictors of attributes and must be controlled for in subsequent analysis.

International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 2021

In 1959, the Third Presbyterian Church on Aniwa, a small, low lying island in the TAFEA Province ... more In 1959, the Third Presbyterian Church on Aniwa, a small, low lying island in the TAFEA Province of Southern Vanuatu, was destroyed in Tropical Cyclone Amanda. Following its collapse, structural and other components of the building, a prefabricated structure imported from Australia in 1894, were collected by senior male Elders of the Church and repurposed into domestic architecture. Passed through intergenerational cycles of domestic reuse and favored for structural soundness, much of this material still exists in the homes of male descendants, who still serve important roles in the Presbyterian and wider community. This prefabricated church represents both an expanding network of international capitalism and local Indigenous agency, the blend of which is still evident in Aniwa’s domestic architecture. Survey and interviews revealed not only important structural information about the Third Church, but insight into the patrilineal manner through which structural material and social memory are inherited and dispersed on Aniwa.

ANU Press eBooks, Aug 7, 2019

In the AD 1450s, one of the three largest climate-forcing eruptions of the largest 1000 years too... more In the AD 1450s, one of the three largest climate-forcing eruptions of the largest 1000 years took place, with similar impacts as the AD 1815 event of Tambora, Indonesia, that caused the ‘year without a summer’ of AD 1816. The submarine caldera of Kuwae, Vanuatu, has long been suggested to be the source of the AD 1450s eruption, but this is still highly debated.Today, the 12-by-6 km large Kuwae caldera lies between the islands of Epi and Tongoa. Here, an eruption occurred in the 15th century eruption and locally caused devastation, covering the islands surrounding it with vast amounts of pyroclastic material. We present the first full stratigraphy of the event, enabling us to reconstruct the eruptive sequence. First, a small ash plume produced fine ash deposits overlying faulted soil sequences, indicating a low-energy, precursory phase. Afterwards, the eruption built a Plinian eruption column, causing lapilli fall in excess of 3 m in proximal locations, and sending volcanic particle...

The Archaeology of Portable Art

Southern Vanuatu formed a hub in a network stretching to New Caledonia, some 400km south-west, an... more Southern Vanuatu formed a hub in a network stretching to New Caledonia, some 400km south-west, and to Western Polynesia, several thousand kilometres east. We currently have limited understanding of the diachronic elements of this network, with most knowledge coming from ethnohistoric data. Greenstone was traded from New Caledonia, and objects of shell and tooth likely featured in Polynesian exchanges in more recent prehistory. As an initial step in investigating this dynamic network, we review archaeological findings and museum examples of portable art from southern Vanuatu. This material reveals traces of indigenous agency, exchange systems and significance of portable art in the region, with ethnohistoric data providing a baseline for exploring the deeper past of long-distance and inter-archipelagic networks.

Pour une histoire de la préhistoire océanienne, 2020

Introduction L’objectif premier de ce chapitre est de souligner tout l’intérêt qu’il y a à examin... more Introduction L’objectif premier de ce chapitre est de souligner tout l’intérêt qu’il y a à examiner l’histoire archéologique de notre région. Un tel examen est précieux non seulement parce qu’il permet de mener une réflexion sur l’histoire des idées et des idéologies développées sur le Pacifique – ce qui bien sûr est très important. Cela peut aussi, dans certains cas, être directement utile pour définir les programmes de recherche d’aujourd’hui. L’exemple discuté ici est celui de la courte vi..

Current Biology, 2020

Highlights d New ancient DNA supports a shift in ancestry during early migrations to Vanuatu d A ... more Highlights d New ancient DNA supports a shift in ancestry during early migrations to Vanuatu d A single spread from New Britain can explain most of the ancestry of later groups d More recent Polynesian migrations contributed both cultural and genetic legacies

Debating Lapita: Distribution, Chronology, Society and Subsistence, 2019

A series of well-preserved Lapita sites was first identified on the small islands of Uripiv, Wala... more A series of well-preserved Lapita sites was first identified on the small islands of Uripiv, Wala, Atchin and Vao, Malakula, in northern Vanuatu in 2001-2002. Further excavation on Vao and particularly Uripiv continued until 2011. The pottery shows the standard similarities with Lapita pottery generally but also demonstrates the development of very distinctive regional and even island-specific variation in form and motif design during the Lapita period. It suggests very rapid change in pottery form and decoration soon after initial colonisation of the archipelago; an aspect largely masked by the radiocarbon chronology. It also confirms that regional diversification was well underway during the Lapita period itself. This may relate both to the potential that these communities came from different origin points further west and that even during a single generation a range of factors may have encouraged localisation in a range of practices including pottery production.

Journal of Pacific archaeology, 2020

Remaining healthy was a major consideration for both indigenous and European peoples in the New H... more Remaining healthy was a major consideration for both indigenous and European peoples in the New Hebrides (now Vanuatu) during early contact. While local communities were often devastated by introduced disease, new missionaries sought practical ways to overcome the impact of tropical ailments that they considered to undermine the effectiveness of their activities. From the early 1850s onwards, Presbyterian missionaries in the southern New Hebrides began to construct 'healthy' homes, of which the surviving masonry mission house at Anelcauhat, Aneityum (1852-3) forms the earliest standing example. This paper draws on the results of both above-and in-ground archaeological recording to examine how the surviving structure reflects nineteenth-century ideas about illness and well-being before discussing the wider trajectory of such house construction, and associated matters connected with local communities, health and architecture that potentially impacted on missionary endeavour.

Routledge eBooks, Feb 17, 2015

HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), Nov 1, 2022

Journal of Pacific History, 2010

French Prehistoric Society, Paris, 2016

In this paper, we will present preliminary results of spatial distribution of Lapita pottery at t... more In this paper, we will present preliminary results of spatial distribution of Lapita pottery at the Teouma burial site on Efate Island in Vanuatu. Based on reassembling of pots over the last ten years at the Vanuatu Culture Centre and GIS recording we argue that this excavation offers a possibility to discuss the spatial distribution of pottery and aspects of ritual burial patterns of the Lapita Culture 3000 years ago. Lapita pottery at the site reveals aspects of contemporaneity between grave groups, behavioral, technical and ritual choices in the use of pots and aspects of complex spatial activity patterns in the burial rites.

HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2019

Debating Lapita: Distribution, Chronology, Society and Subsistence, 2019

Lapita ceramic design analysis has for decades been dominated by the element-motif approach. Here... more Lapita ceramic design analysis has for decades been dominated by the element-motif approach. Here we outline a structural approach for the analysis of Lapita decoration that looks at design density, layout and organisation. It is used and compared to results from element-motif analysis to assess variation within the Eastern Lapita Province. Ceramic samples from both the Southern and Western Lapita Provinces are added to the analysis to assess how cohesive the Eastern Lapita Province is in terms of ceramic design. The results suggest that the concept of 'Provinces' requires some reassessment and redefinition. Attributes Dentate density Sherd width Sherd length Elements-Sherd *0.0001 *0.0023 *0.0005 Motifs-Sherd *0.0440 *0.0001 *0.0001 Processes-Sherd *0.0063 *0.0015 *0.0002 Asterisk indicates statistical significance at α=0.05. Significance indicates that dentate density, sherd width and sherd length are significant predictors of attributes and must be controlled for in subsequent analysis.

International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 2021

In 1959, the Third Presbyterian Church on Aniwa, a small, low lying island in the TAFEA Province ... more In 1959, the Third Presbyterian Church on Aniwa, a small, low lying island in the TAFEA Province of Southern Vanuatu, was destroyed in Tropical Cyclone Amanda. Following its collapse, structural and other components of the building, a prefabricated structure imported from Australia in 1894, were collected by senior male Elders of the Church and repurposed into domestic architecture. Passed through intergenerational cycles of domestic reuse and favored for structural soundness, much of this material still exists in the homes of male descendants, who still serve important roles in the Presbyterian and wider community. This prefabricated church represents both an expanding network of international capitalism and local Indigenous agency, the blend of which is still evident in Aniwa’s domestic architecture. Survey and interviews revealed not only important structural information about the Third Church, but insight into the patrilineal manner through which structural material and social memory are inherited and dispersed on Aniwa.

ANU Press eBooks, Aug 7, 2019

In the AD 1450s, one of the three largest climate-forcing eruptions of the largest 1000 years too... more In the AD 1450s, one of the three largest climate-forcing eruptions of the largest 1000 years took place, with similar impacts as the AD 1815 event of Tambora, Indonesia, that caused the ‘year without a summer’ of AD 1816. The submarine caldera of Kuwae, Vanuatu, has long been suggested to be the source of the AD 1450s eruption, but this is still highly debated.Today, the 12-by-6 km large Kuwae caldera lies between the islands of Epi and Tongoa. Here, an eruption occurred in the 15th century eruption and locally caused devastation, covering the islands surrounding it with vast amounts of pyroclastic material. We present the first full stratigraphy of the event, enabling us to reconstruct the eruptive sequence. First, a small ash plume produced fine ash deposits overlying faulted soil sequences, indicating a low-energy, precursory phase. Afterwards, the eruption built a Plinian eruption column, causing lapilli fall in excess of 3 m in proximal locations, and sending volcanic particle...

The Archaeology of Portable Art

Southern Vanuatu formed a hub in a network stretching to New Caledonia, some 400km south-west, an... more Southern Vanuatu formed a hub in a network stretching to New Caledonia, some 400km south-west, and to Western Polynesia, several thousand kilometres east. We currently have limited understanding of the diachronic elements of this network, with most knowledge coming from ethnohistoric data. Greenstone was traded from New Caledonia, and objects of shell and tooth likely featured in Polynesian exchanges in more recent prehistory. As an initial step in investigating this dynamic network, we review archaeological findings and museum examples of portable art from southern Vanuatu. This material reveals traces of indigenous agency, exchange systems and significance of portable art in the region, with ethnohistoric data providing a baseline for exploring the deeper past of long-distance and inter-archipelagic networks.

Pour une histoire de la préhistoire océanienne, 2020

Introduction L’objectif premier de ce chapitre est de souligner tout l’intérêt qu’il y a à examin... more Introduction L’objectif premier de ce chapitre est de souligner tout l’intérêt qu’il y a à examiner l’histoire archéologique de notre région. Un tel examen est précieux non seulement parce qu’il permet de mener une réflexion sur l’histoire des idées et des idéologies développées sur le Pacifique – ce qui bien sûr est très important. Cela peut aussi, dans certains cas, être directement utile pour définir les programmes de recherche d’aujourd’hui. L’exemple discuté ici est celui de la courte vi..

Current Biology, 2020

Highlights d New ancient DNA supports a shift in ancestry during early migrations to Vanuatu d A ... more Highlights d New ancient DNA supports a shift in ancestry during early migrations to Vanuatu d A single spread from New Britain can explain most of the ancestry of later groups d More recent Polynesian migrations contributed both cultural and genetic legacies

Debating Lapita: Distribution, Chronology, Society and Subsistence, 2019

A series of well-preserved Lapita sites was first identified on the small islands of Uripiv, Wala... more A series of well-preserved Lapita sites was first identified on the small islands of Uripiv, Wala, Atchin and Vao, Malakula, in northern Vanuatu in 2001-2002. Further excavation on Vao and particularly Uripiv continued until 2011. The pottery shows the standard similarities with Lapita pottery generally but also demonstrates the development of very distinctive regional and even island-specific variation in form and motif design during the Lapita period. It suggests very rapid change in pottery form and decoration soon after initial colonisation of the archipelago; an aspect largely masked by the radiocarbon chronology. It also confirms that regional diversification was well underway during the Lapita period itself. This may relate both to the potential that these communities came from different origin points further west and that even during a single generation a range of factors may have encouraged localisation in a range of practices including pottery production.

Journal of Pacific archaeology, 2020

Remaining healthy was a major consideration for both indigenous and European peoples in the New H... more Remaining healthy was a major consideration for both indigenous and European peoples in the New Hebrides (now Vanuatu) during early contact. While local communities were often devastated by introduced disease, new missionaries sought practical ways to overcome the impact of tropical ailments that they considered to undermine the effectiveness of their activities. From the early 1850s onwards, Presbyterian missionaries in the southern New Hebrides began to construct 'healthy' homes, of which the surviving masonry mission house at Anelcauhat, Aneityum (1852-3) forms the earliest standing example. This paper draws on the results of both above-and in-ground archaeological recording to examine how the surviving structure reflects nineteenth-century ideas about illness and well-being before discussing the wider trajectory of such house construction, and associated matters connected with local communities, health and architecture that potentially impacted on missionary endeavour.