Shell beads as markers of Oceanic dispersal: A rare Cypraeidae ornament type from the Mariana Islands
Author(s)
Clark, G
Langley, MC
Litster, M
Winter, O
Amesbury, JR
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2018
Metadata
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We present experimental and micro-trace evidence for an unusual Cypraeidae bead type associated with the earliest cultural deposits of the Bapot-1 site in the Marianas Islands in Western Micronesia. Results show that these ground-section cowry beads were strung together while worked dorsum found at this same site were used as pendants/lids. The probable occurrence of ground-section beads on Tikopia island ~4000 km from the Marianas suggests that these distinctive shell artefacts can assist archaeological understanding of early Oceanic dispersals and interaction among different colonising Neolithic groups in the Indo-Pacific.We present experimental and micro-trace evidence for an unusual Cypraeidae bead type associated with the earliest cultural deposits of the Bapot-1 site in the Marianas Islands in Western Micronesia. Results show that these ground-section cowry beads were strung together while worked dorsum found at this same site were used as pendants/lids. The probable occurrence of ground-section beads on Tikopia island ~4000 km from the Marianas suggests that these distinctive shell artefacts can assist archaeological understanding of early Oceanic dispersals and interaction among different colonising Neolithic groups in the Indo-Pacific.
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Book Title
The Archaeology of Portable Art: Southeast Asian, Pacific, and Australian Perspectives
Subject
Other environmental sciences not elsewhere classified