Description
In the heart of the Pacific, the unusual and little-known name Lapita refers to a 3000 year old civilisation.
The culture, with its language and traditions, took less than four centuries to spread over a distance of 4,500 km, through the Southwest Pacific and across to Western Polynesia. The Lapita Cultural Complex is characterised by two striking elements - the introduction by the explorers of Austronesian languages into this part of the world and also a very specific tradition of dentate-stamped pottery - which has fascinated generations of researchers. Excavation at the 250 or so sites so far identified has revealed pottery with decoration characterised by geometric and anthropomorphic decoration.
This coherent assemblage is a real archaeological marker of the progression of these Austronesian speaking peoples across the Southwest Pacific. This book is a guide to the discovery of this Pacific civilisation which, through the extraordinary quality of its material production, still captivates the imagination and has left its mark on traditional Oceanic graphic art.
The publication was edited by Christophe Sand, Director of the Institute of Archaeology of New Caledonia and the Pacific and Stuart Bedford, Fellow at the Department of Archaeology and Natural History, The Australian National University.
Characteristics
Editor : Somogy Editions d'Art
Édition : 01
Language : English/French
- Number of pages
- 352
- Dimensions
- 23,8 x 2,8 x 29,9 cm
