The Rocky road: the selection and transport of Admiralties obsidian to Lapita communities

Abstract

This paper builds upon the previous work of Ambrose, Kennedy and Fredericksen on the movement of Admiralty Island obsidian by focussing on the obsidian found in sites with Lapita pottery located outside the Admiralty group of islands in the Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea. The results offer a new perspective in modelling the mechanisms of obsidian exchange and the nature of the societies that extracted and moved the obsidian. The model proposed to explain the Lapita period distribution of Admiralties obsidian goes some way to filling the gaps identified by White in 1996. Show more