Archaeological excavations on Santa Cruz (Nendö), southeast Solomon Islands: summary report

AbstractThe excavations of seven archaeological sites on the island of Santa Cruz (Nendö), undertaken during the second phase of the Southeast Solomon Islands Culture History Program in 1977–78 are briefly summarized and the results discussed in terms of a local and regional culture historical framework. The local sequence, characterized by an earlier ceramic period and a later aceramic period, appears to have begun some 3000 years ago with a Western Lapita occupation, though there is also evidence for a coeval plain pottery complex that existed for a longer period of time. On present evidence the important ceramic to aceramic transition took place on Santa Cruz between c. 100 BC and AD 100. Only one site contains evidence of the early part of the aceramic period, which thus remains essentially unknown, including the matter of whether or not Santa Cruz was part of a posited regional exchange network in the first millenium AD. The latter part of the local sequence is represented in several sites from which important data were obtained relating to settlement and subsistence patterns, material culture and technology. including craft specialization, and ritual dance circles.