The distribution, abundance and diversity of the Lapita Cultural Complex along the Great Barrier Reef coastline in the third millennium BP

A project undertaken at the Anthropology Department University of Auckland, principal investigator Matthew Felgate

The aim of this multi-disciplinary research is to seek further evidence for inclusion of North Queensland’s Coral Coast in a trans-Coral Sea interaction sphere during the first millennium B.C., represented principally by pottery–bearing settlement sites in the intertidal zone. This project is a seed project for what is hoped will develop into a long-term research effort, but already adds a new chapter to Australia’s aboriginal prehistory. The project was stimulated by discovery in the Western Province of Solomon Islands in 1996-2001 of anomalous pottery fragments likely to have originated at a granite island along Queensland’s Coral Coast. These were found amongst the remains of what are thought to be stilt villages dating to the first millennium BP, and were found during the Roviana Archaeological Survey, a joint project of Auckland University and the University of Otago in association with the Western Province government and the Solomon Islands National Museum.

There is a strong expectation from the Solomon Islands results that direct evidence for settlement will comprise the remains of stilt villages in shallow water, although research on formation processes in Solomon Islands by the University of Auckland is ongoing. The state of preservation of the Solomon Islands intertidal pottery sites indicates that even if remains of such places were common in the past along the Coral Coast, they will be inconspicuous today except to specifically targeted reconnaissance and investigation. In general the only visible surface remains of such places that can easily be detected by an archaeologist are inconspicuous scatters of pottery fragments, oven stones and stone tools amongst exposures of coral gravels. Such remains are only found in locations which were: (a) suitable for settlement in the past; (b) have been sufficiently sheltered to retain evidence into the present; and (c) where sediment supply is insufficient to bury these traces of settlement.

Preliminary marine sediment sampling in 2006 located the best match thus far to sands found in the anomalous ware from the Western Province of Solomon Islands.  A cultural heritage agreement with Dingaal traditional owners has paved the way for initial field studies in the Lizard Island area. Key questions concern the establishment of the distribution, abundance and diversity of this type of material culture for this period.  Does the evident connection to the pottery sites of the Western Province of Solomon Islands derive from a single source, e.g. Lizard Island, or could the Coral Coast more generally provide sands at a number of locations that are a match for the anomalous pottery temper sand found in Solomon Islands?   Related questions concern the temporal endurance of this interaction, and the material culture relationships in evidence (diversity). It is hoped that by addressing these primary questions, some progress can be made towards estimating the scale (abundance) of this way of life along the Coral coast in the past, with the possibilities ranging from a single fairly brief settlement to a widespread and enduring way of life.