An archaeological project of the Australian National University (ANU) and the Vanuatu Cultural Centre has just finished its second field season on Santo with spectacular results coming out in the last two days of the work. An extensive program of test pit digging in the middle of Matantas Village in Big Bay finally revealed a village site dating to the late Lapita period, around 700 or 800 years before Christ and only a few hundred years after Vanuatu was first occupied by people of the Lapita culture.
The ANU-VCC team found the earliest layers in the area around the Vatthe Lodge where they were staying, much to the surprise of its manager and staff and the archaeologists! Most of the early pottery found is extremely thin and would have required great skill to make. Manufacturing rubbish showed that the pots must have been made on the site itself. Willy Damelip, recently retired from the VCC, was part of the team. He said: “I was very surprised to see pottery that was so thin. How could the people have made pots like that all those thousands of years ago?” The team followed the trail of the thin pots lying in an area that once was just behind the beach but is now about 14 metres above sea level. The day before the project was due to finish a few pieces of pottery with the distinctive Lapita decoration were found, giving a clue to how old the site was. Project Co-Director, Dr Stuart Bedford of ANU, was very pleased with the find. He said “Based on our other work at Port Olry we knew this pottery was old, perhaps from about the time of Christ, but when we saw the Lapita decoration on a few pieces we realized it was several hundred years earlier than first thought”. Another significant find was pieces of the rare volcanic glass or obsidian traded in from Vanua Lava in the Banks Islands to the north. The soil at Matantas is very acidic and so the food remains, shells and bones, left by the people had long ago disappeared, leaving only the more long-lasting pottery and stone.
This missing clue, however, was present at the site the team had earlier excavated in Sector 3 of Port Olry village, where abundant animal bones and shells were found in test pits dug in the middle of the village, along with the thin pottery and Banks Islands’ obsidian. The team had dug over 80 test pits throughout various sectors of the village and only had time to dig for a few days at the spot where they found the earliest pottery. No Lapita decoration was found in that one excavation to give a clue as to the age of the ancient village there, but Co-Director Professor Matthew Spriggs of the Australian National University is confident that the site will turn out to be the same age as that at Matantas. He said: “The team dug 18 test pits in Matantas before we found any Lapita pots. At Port Olry we only dug one large test pit in the area with the early pottery and obsidian, so it is not surprising we haven’t yet found actual Lapita-style pots. We hope to return perhaps in 2 or 3 years to do further work at Port Olry and I am sure we will find Lapita there too.”The team also used a metal detector at Matantas to look for traces of Quiros’ visit in 1606 such as nails and bullets and other things of metal used by the Spanish, but found none. They hope to return next year with the metal detector to look at other areas where there are kastom stories of contacts with Quiros in the Big Bay area. One problem in locating traces of Quiros’ visit was the large amount of modern metal lying around Matantas village just below the surface of the ground. Willy Damelip said “We found old batteries, door hinges, a key, fishhooks, modern nails and even a 10 New Hebrides Francs coin and a further 196 vatu in lost money”. With so much modern rubbish it was very difficult to search for the old rubbish of 400 years ago.
At the conclusion of the fieldwork, Ralph Regenvanu, Director of the Vanuatu Cultural Centre pointed out that “Matantas is now the most northern Lapita site yet discovered in Vanuatu and the first on the mainland of Santo. Previously Lapita was only known from Malo, Aore, Tutuba and Mavea Islands off the Santo coast. This is a significant discovery of Vanuatu’s cultural heritage and will add to the picture of the Nation’s first inhabitants that is being built up from the recent Lapita discoveries at Teouma on Efate”.
The ANU-VCC team would like to thank the Chiefs and people of Port Olry and the Sara-Matantas Vatthe Conservation Area for their support and collaboration on this project. A report giving the initial results of studies on the pottery and other material will be available next year, including radiocarbon dates to confirm the age of the sites in Port Olry and Matantas Villages.
