Books by Sean P. Connaughton
Patrick V. Kirch and Roger C. Green proposed that Polynesian cultures today emerged and developed... more Patrick V. Kirch and Roger C. Green proposed that Polynesian cultures today emerged and developed in an ancestral homeland situated in western Polynesia, primarily Tonga and Sāmoa. The archaeological marker for the beginnings of cultural and linguistic divergence from a founding Eastern Lapita base is Polynesian Plainware pottery produced for nearly 1,100 years during the Polynesian Plainware phase. Kirch and Green believe this transition reflects social and economic changes that led to the development of an ancestral Polynesian society. An ongoing debate in Pacific anthropology is whether archaeologists can convincingly identify and explain the historical trajectory of an ancestral Polynesian society.
My book evaluates the development of an ancestral Polynesian society in Tonga by identifying three processes that shaped its trajectory: isolation, integration, and adaptation. By focusing largely on undecorated ceramics from several Tongan sites, comparisons can be made within Tonga and across the archipelagos of western Polynesia that have implications for understanding unique island histories.
If Polynesian culture developed in western Polynesia then the evidence for social and economic change may potentially be reflected in an adequate assessment of the archaeological record from the end of the Lapita phase into the Polynesian Plainware phase. That includes not only ceramic data but non-ceramic data such as site distribution, settlement patterns, subsistence practices, demographic studies, and geochemical source data – all of which provide a more holistic view of early Polynesian culture in Tonga and aid considerably in how we as anthropologists perceive past Polynesian lifeways and development through time.
BAR International Series 2762
Papers by Sean P. Connaughton
Canadian Journal of Archaeology, 2022
Ancestral Polynesian society is the formative base for development of the Polynesian cultural tem... more Ancestral Polynesian society is the formative base for development of the Polynesian cultural template and proto-Polynesian linguistic stage. Emerging in western Polynesia ca 2700 cal BP, it is correlated in the archaeological record of Tonga with the Polynesian Plain-ware ceramic phase presently thought to be of approximately 800 years duration or longer. Here we re-establish the upper boundary for this phase to no more than 2350 cal BP employing a suite of 44 new and existing radiocarbon dates from 13 Polynesian Plainware site occupations across the extent of Tonga. The implications of this boundary, the abruptness of ceramic loss, and the shortening of duration to 350 years have substantive implications for archaeological interpretations in the ancestral Polynesian homeland.
Archaeologies: Journal of the World Archaeological Congress, 2017
Australian Archaeology 75
McNiven, J., David, B., Richards, T., Rowe, C., Levesley, M., Milanes, J., Connaughton, S.P., Barker, B., Aplin, K., Asmussen, B., Fulkner, P., and Ulm, S., 2012. Lapita on the South Coast of Papua New Guinea: Challenging New Horizons in Pacific Archaeology. Forum Australian Archaeology 75: 16-22.
Journal of Social …, Jan 1, 2010
Journal of Pacific …, Jan 1, 2010
Book Chapters by Sean P. Connaughton
The Oxford Handbook of Island and Coastal Archaeology, 2024
The spread of Lapita cultural groups through the New Guinea region 3350-3250 years ago and into t... more The spread of Lapita cultural groups through the New Guinea region 3350-3250 years ago and into the uninhabited remote Pacific islands from 3050-3000 years ago was one of the greatest migrations in human history. Over subsequent millennia, novel adaptations and intergenerational social linkages led to the emergence of a complex mosaic of culture and language reflected in modern Pacific populations. Broadly defined as "post-Lapita," this chapter assesses the current breadth of archaeological information about human settlement and practices in the few centuries after the arrival of Lapita communities within the former ambit of their distribution. In doing so, the authors highlight the continuity, change, and innovations of cultural practices and behaviors that contributed to such remarkable diversity. An assessment of "transitional" post-Lapita sites indicates that the complex motifs on Lapita pottery reflecting social markers were retained in Near Oceania for several centuries longer than in Remote Oceania, where diverse social identities were quickly forged within and between island groups. Settlement patterns, social networks, and subsistence strategies were continually adapted to localized constraints and, together with ongoing population migrations and cross-cultural interaction, contributed to the Pacific region becoming one of the most culturally diverse regions in the world.
Oceanic Explorations: Lapita and Western …, Jan 1, 2007
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Books by Sean P. Connaughton
My book evaluates the development of an ancestral Polynesian society in Tonga by identifying three processes that shaped its trajectory: isolation, integration, and adaptation. By focusing largely on undecorated ceramics from several Tongan sites, comparisons can be made within Tonga and across the archipelagos of western Polynesia that have implications for understanding unique island histories.
If Polynesian culture developed in western Polynesia then the evidence for social and economic change may potentially be reflected in an adequate assessment of the archaeological record from the end of the Lapita phase into the Polynesian Plainware phase. That includes not only ceramic data but non-ceramic data such as site distribution, settlement patterns, subsistence practices, demographic studies, and geochemical source data – all of which provide a more holistic view of early Polynesian culture in Tonga and aid considerably in how we as anthropologists perceive past Polynesian lifeways and development through time.
BAR International Series 2762
Papers by Sean P. Connaughton
Book Chapters by Sean P. Connaughton
My book evaluates the development of an ancestral Polynesian society in Tonga by identifying three processes that shaped its trajectory: isolation, integration, and adaptation. By focusing largely on undecorated ceramics from several Tongan sites, comparisons can be made within Tonga and across the archipelagos of western Polynesia that have implications for understanding unique island histories.
If Polynesian culture developed in western Polynesia then the evidence for social and economic change may potentially be reflected in an adequate assessment of the archaeological record from the end of the Lapita phase into the Polynesian Plainware phase. That includes not only ceramic data but non-ceramic data such as site distribution, settlement patterns, subsistence practices, demographic studies, and geochemical source data – all of which provide a more holistic view of early Polynesian culture in Tonga and aid considerably in how we as anthropologists perceive past Polynesian lifeways and development through time.
BAR International Series 2762