Early Polynesian Mortuary Behaviour at the Talasiu Site, Kingdom of Tonga

Abstract

This paper describes a well-preserved and burned human bone assemblage that represent at least four individuals dating to ca. 2400�2600 years ago from Tongatapu Island in the Kingdom of Tonga. The remains are the oldest securely dated skeletal assemblage from Polynesia, and they shed light on the early mortuary behavior at the end of the Lapita era when Ancestral Polynesian Society (APS) is thought to have emerged.