The Teouma Lapita cemetery

Record summary

The Teouma site on Efate became one of the most important early Lapita burial discoveries after excavations revealed human interments associated with ceramic vessels and other material. Studies used skeletal biology, mortuary treatment, radiocarbon dating and later ancient-DNA work to investigate the first settlers of Vanuatu. It matters for comparing migration, identity and burial practice across Oceania. Interpretation is complicated by disturbed contexts, incomplete preservation, changing chronologies and disagreement over how representative this cemetery is of the broader Lapita population.