the prehistory of santo (vanuatu)
TRANSCRIPT
P u b l i c a t i o n s s c i e n t i f i q u e s d u m u s é u m
Patr
imo
ines
nat
urel
s
Santoedited byPhilippe Bouchet, Hervé Le Guyader, Olivier Pascal
The
Natu
ral H
isto
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i r d é d i t i o n sP r o - n a t u r a i n t e r n a t i o n a l
The Santo 2006 expedition was organized, with the support, among others, of
and
Représentation de l'Union Européenne au Vanuatu
edited byPhilippe Bouchet, Hervé Le Guyader & Olivier Pascal
SantoTh
e Na
tura
l His
tory
of
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Foreword by Edward Natapei, Prime Minister of Vanuatu ...................................... 10
Introduction. The Natural History of Santo: An Attempt to Bridge the Gapbetween Academic Research and Consevation and Education .......................... 11
Vanuatu in the South Pacific ............................................................................................................. 13Benoît Antheaume
ESPIRITu SANTo IN SPACE ANd TIME ........................................................................................... 17coordinated by Bruno Corbara
The Late Quaternaty Reefs ............................................................................................................................. 19Guy Cabioch & Frederick W. Taylor
The Holocene and Pleistocene Marine Faunas Reconsidered ................................. 25Pierre Lozouet, Alan Beu, Philippe Maestrati, Rufino Pineda & Jean-Louis Reyss
Geography of Santo and of the Sanma Province ............................................................... 34Patricia Siméoni
drainage, Hydrology and Fluvial Geomorphology ............................................................. 46James P. Terry
The Climate of Santo ............................................................................................................................................................. 52James P. Terry
Large-scale Climatic and oceanic Conditions around Santo ............................................................... 57Christophe Maes & David Varillon
A Brief History of Biodiversity Exploration and Scientific Expeditionson and off the Island of Santo ...................................................................................................................................... 62Bruno Corbara & Bertrand Richer de Forges
deforestation on Santo and Logging operations .......................................................................................... 67Rufino Pineda
The Impact of WWII on Infrastructures and Landscape .......................................................................... 69Laurent Palka & Rufino Pineda
Conservation Efforts in Santo ........................................................................................................................................ 71Samson Vilvil-Fare
VEGETATIoN ANd FLoRA ..................................................................................................................................................... 73coordinated by Jérôme Munzinger & Porter P. Lowry II
Exploration by the Santo 2006 Botany Team .................................................................................................... 75Porter P. Lowry II & Jérôme Munzinger
Principal Types of Vegetation occuring on Santo ......................................................................................... 76Jérôme Munzinger, Porter P. Lowry II & Jean-Noël Labat
Phytogeographic Relationships ......................................................................................................................................... 77Gordon McPherson
How old are the Kauri (Agathis microphylla) Trees? .............................................................................................. 83Jonathan Palmer
The Flora of Santo .................................................................................................................................................................... 89Some New, Characteristic or Remarkable Species ......................................................................................... 89Gordon McPherson & Jérôme Munzinger
Focus on Araliaceae:Several Genera Exemplify Santo's Melanesian Biogeographic Relations ........................................ 90Porter P. Lowry II & Gregory M. Plunkett
Focus on Geissois (Cunoniaceae):Another Example of the Melanesian Connection ........................................................................................... 93Yohan Pillon
Focus on Pandans ............................................................................................................................................................... 94Thomas Haevermans
Focus on orchids ................................................................................................................................................................. 97Marc Pignal
Cont
ents
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Focus on Palms ..................................................................................................................................................................... 102Jean-Michel Dupuyoo
Focus on Ferns ...................................................................................................................................................................... 105Germinal Rouhan
Focus on Bryophytes ......................................................................................................................................................... 110Elizabeth A. Brown
Fungi, the Forgotten Kingdom ....................................................................................................................................... 113Bart Buyck
TERRESTRIAL FAuNA .............................................................................................................................................................. 117coordinated by Bruno Corbara
IBISCA-Santo Biodiversity Along an Altitudinal Gradient ...................................................................... 119Bruno Corbara on behalf of the IBISCA network
Insects on Santo ........................................................................................................................................................................ 123
Focus on orthoptera .......................................................................................................................................................... 123Laure Desutter-Grandcolas, Sylvain Hugel & Tony Robillard
Termites in Santo: Lessons from a Survey in the Penaoru Area ............................................................ 128Yves Roisin, Bruno Corbara, Thibaut Delsinne, Jérôme Orivel & Maurice Leponce
Focus on Bees and Wasps .............................................................................................................................................. 131Claire Villemant
Myrmecophily in Santo: A Canopy Ant-Plant and its Expected and Less Expected Inhabitants 143Bruno Corbara
Beetles in Saratsi Range, Santo .................................................................................................................................. 146Alexey K. Tishechkin, Jürgen Schmidl
Lepidoptera in Vanuatu: Fauna, Geography and the IBISCA-Santo Project .................................... 155Roger L. Kitching
other Invertebrates ................................................................................................................................................................. 161
diversity of Spiders ............................................................................................................................................................ 161Christine Rollard
Some Arthropods as Expressed in the Words of Penaoru Villagers .................................................... 167Bruno Corbara
Indigenous Land Snails .................................................................................................................................................... 169Benoît Fontaine, Olivier Gargominy & Vincent Prié
The Vertebrates of Santo .................................................................................................................................................... 179
Terrestrial Bird Communities ....................................................................................................................................... 179Nicolas Barré, Thibaut Delsinne & Benoït Fontaine
Amphibians and Reptiles ............................................................................................................................................... 187Ivan Ineich
RIVERS ANd oTHER FRESHWATER HABITATS ..................................................................................................... 237coordinated by Philippe Keith
Freshwater Habitat Types ................................................................................................................................................. 239Philippe Keith & Clara Lord
Freshwater Biota ...................................................................................................................................................................... 242
Focus on Fish, Shrimps and Crabs .......................................................................................................................... 242Philippe Keith, Clara Lord, Philippe Gerbeaux & Donna Kalfatak
Focus on Aquatic Insects ............................................................................................................................................... 251Arnold H. Staniczek
Focus on Freshwater Snails .......................................................................................................................................... 257Yasunori Kano, Elen E. Strong, Benoît Fontaine, Olivier Gargominy, Matthias Glaubrecht & Philippe Bouchet
The Natural History of Santo
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. . . . . . .CAVES ANd SoILS ...................................................................................................................................................................... 265coordinated by Louis Deharveng
The Karst Team .......................................................................................................................................................................... 267Louis Deharveng & Anne-Marie Sémah
Karst and Caves ......................................................................................................................................................................... 269Bernard Lips, Franck Bréhier, Denis Wirrmann, Nadir Lasson, Stefan Eberhard, Josiane Lips & Louis Deharveng
Caves as Archives ..................................................................................................................................................................... 278Denis Wirrmann, Jean-Christophe Galipaud, Anne-Marie Sémah & Tonyo Alcover,
Ni-Vanuatu Perception and Attitudes Vis-à-Vis the Karstic Environment ................................ 284Florence Brunois
Karst Habitats of Santo ...................................................................................................................................................... 288Focus on Soils ...................................................................................................................................................................... 288Anne Bedos, Vincent Prié & Louis Deharveng
Focus on Cave Terrestrial Habitats ........................................................................................................................... 296Louis Deharveng, Anne Bedos, Vincent Prié & Éric Queinnec
Focus on Guano .................................................................................................................................................................. 300Louis Deharveng, Josiane Lips & Cahyo Rahmadi
Focus on Blue Holes ......................................................................................................................................................... 306Stefan Eberhard, Nadir Lasson & Franck Bréhier
Focus on the Loren Cave ................................................................................................................................................ 310Franck Bréhier, Sephan Eberhard & Nadir Lasson
Focus on Anchialine Fauna ........................................................................................................................................... 312Geoff Boxshall & Damià Jaume
Karst Biota of Santo ............................................................................................................................................................... 316Focus on Bats ........................................................................................................................................................................ 316Vincent Prié
Fish and Shrimps of Santo Karstic Systems ...................................................................................................... 323Marc Pouilly & Philippe Keith
Focus on Springtails .......................................................................................................................................................... 327Louis Deharveng & Anne Bedos
Focus on Microcrustaceans ......................................................................................................................................... 331Damià Jaume, Geoff Boxshall & Eric Queinnec
MARINE ECoSySTEMS ........................................................................................................................................................... 335coordinated by Philippe Bouchet
Benthic Algal and Seagrass Communities from Santo Islandin Relation to Habitat diversity ........................................................................................................................................ 337Claude E. Payri
The Position of Santo in Relation to the Centre of Maximum MarineBiodiversity (the Coral Triangle) .................................................................................................................................. 369Bert W. Hoeksema & Adriaan Gittenberger
Focus on Selected (Micro)Habitats .......................................................................................................................... 373
Sulfide Rich Environments ............................................................................................................................................. 373Yasunori Kano & Takuma Haga
Marine Interstitial ................................................................................................................................................................ 375Timea Neuser
Mangroves Environments of South East Santo ................................................................................................. 377 Jean-Claude Plaziat & Pierre Lozouet
Focus on Selected Biota ..................................................................................................................................................... 383
Checklist of the Fishes ..................................................................................................................................................... 383Ronald Fricke, John L. Earle, Richard L. Pyle & Bernard Séret
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. . . . . . .Contents
unusual and Spectacular Crustaceans ................................................................................................................... 410Tim-Yam Chan, Masako Mitsuhashi, Charles H.J.M. Fransen, Régis Cleva, Swee Hee Tan, Jose Christopher Mendoza, Marivene Manuel-Santos & Peter K.L. Ng
The Marine Molluscs of Santo ..................................................................................................................................... 421Philippe Bouchet, Virginie Héros, Pierre Lozouet, Philippe Maestrati & Rudo von Cosel
A Rapid Assessment of the Marine Molluscs of Southeastern Santo ................................................ 431Fred E. Wells
Molluscs on Biogenic Substrates ................................................................................................................................ 438Anders Warén
Marine Partnerships in Santo's Reef Environments:Parasites, Commensals and other organisms that Live in Close Association ............................. 449Stefano Schiaparelli, Charles Fransen & Marco Oliverio
Seaslugs: The underwater Jewels of Santo ......................................................................................................... 458Yolanda E. Camacho & Marta Pola
MAN ANd NATuRE .................................................................................................................................................................. 465coordinated by Michel Pascal
Pre-European Times .............................................................................................................................................................. 467
Vertebrate Pre-Human Fauna of Santo: What Can we Expect to Find? .............................................. 467Joseph Antoni Alcover
The Prehistory of Santo .................................................................................................................................................. 469Jean-Christophe Galipaud
Introduced Biota ........................................................................................................................................................................ 476
overview: Introduced Species, the "Good", the "Worrisome" and the "Bad" ................................. 476Michel Pascal, Olivier Lorvelec, Nicolas Barré, Michel de Garine-Wichatitsky & Marc Pignal
Focus on Synanthropic Mammals ............................................................................................................................ 480Olivier Lorvelec & Michel Pascal
Focus on Feral Mammals ............................................................................................................................................... 483Michel de Garine-Wichatitsky & Anthony Harry
Focus on Alien Birds ........................................................................................................................................................ 488Nicolas Barré
Focus on Introduced Amphibians and Reptiles .............................................................................................. 490Olivier Lorvelec & Michel Pascal
Focus on Introduced Fish .............................................................................................................................................. 494Philippe Keith, Clara Lord, Donna Kalfatak & Philippe Gerbeaux
Focus on Alien Land Snails .......................................................................................................................................... 495Olivier Gargominy, Benoît Fontaine & Vincent Prié
Endemic, Native, Alien or Cryptogenic?The Controversy of Santo darkling Beetles (Insecta: Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) .................. 500Laurent Soldati
The Case of Two Invasive Species: Mikania micrantha and Merremia peltata ........................ 503Marc Pignal
Man Santo in his Environment ..................................................................................................................................... 508Food-Garden Biodiversity in Vanuatu ................................................................................................................... 508Sara Muller, Vincent Lebot & Annie Walter
At the Junction of Biological Cycles and Custom: the Night of the Palolo .................................... 515Laurent Palka
Ni-Vanuatu Perceptions and Attitudes Vis-à-Vis Biodiversité ................................................................. 516Florence Brunois & Marine Robillard
THE SANTo 2006 ExPEdITIoN ........................................................................................................................................ 523
The Santo 2006 Expedition from an Ethnologist's Point of View ...................................................... 525Elsa Faugère
The Natural History of Santo
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. . . . . . .The "Making of" Santo 2006 ............................................................................................................................................ 529Philippe Bouchet, Hervé Le Guyader, Olivier Pascal
Santo 2006 Expedition in the Classroom .............................................................................................................. 549Sophie Pons & Alain Pothet
Santo 2006 Expedition Participants List ................................................................................................................ 550
Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................................................. 553
Bibliography .................................................................................................................................................................................... 557
Addresses of the Authors .................................................................................................................................................... 564
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The prehisTory of sanTo
Jean-Christophe Galipaud
The first oceanians …At present, Archaeology considers that discovery of the Pacific region by Man was performed through two main distinct processes. The first one took place during the Pleistocene and had concerned the Australian continent, New Guinea and the close archipelagos joined up by the past in a single conti-nental landmass called Sahul. The second one began around the fourth millennium BP and ended with the discovery of the Pacific Islands followed by human settlement. The first sea crossing from South East Asia to Sahul took place 80 000 years ago, maybe earlier. Human presence is attested 40 000 years ago in New Guinea, and 10 000 years later in the Bismarck Archipelago islands, east of New Guinea. This first settlement, which developed slowly, has allowed man to reach the Solomon Islands up to Guadalcanal, thank to past existing natural bridges
between islands and thank to seafaring techniques which allowed crossing at sight. There is a strong correlation between the distribution of the Papuan languages and this very ancient colonisation.
The marine gap between the Santa Cruz Islands and the smaller archipelagos of Vanuatu and further east to the Fiji Islands was only crossed about 3 200 years ago, when nautical knowledge enabled deep-sea navigation. This natural border in the Santa Cruz Islands divides Near Oceania, inhabited for at least 30 000 years from Remote Oceania (Fig. 538).
The discovery of Remote Oceania archipelagos, as far as Samoa and Tonga,was performed by very small mobile groups ultimately from Southeast Asia who appeared in the Bismarck Archipelago islands about 3 500 years ago and quickly spread
in BouChet P., Le Guyader h. & PasCaL o. (eds), The Natural History of Santo. MNhN, Paris; Ird, Marseille; PNI, Paris. 572 p. (Patrimoines naturels; 70).
Man and Nature
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Tropique of Capricorne
150 E
150 E 160 E 170 E
10 S
20 S
160 E 170 E
20 S
10 S
0 250 km
3400 BP
3200 BP
3000 BP
2900 BP
A U S T R A L I AOuvéa
Aneityum
Futuna
Aniwa
Lifou
Maré
Tanna
Efate
Erromango
Vanua Levu
Maewo
PentecôteAmbrymPaamaTongoa
EpiEmae
Malakula
SantoAmbae
Banks
Torres
N E W - C A L E D O N I A
SANTA CRUZ
FIDJI
LOYALTY ISL.
SOLOMON ISL.
San Cristobal
Guadalcanal
Malaita
Santa Isabel
Choiseul
New-Georgia
Bougainville
PA P U AN E W - G U I N E A
Viti Levu
P A C I F I C O C E A N VANUATU
Figure 538: the second step of human diaspora into the Pacific: the discovery of remote oceania. dates shown are mean accepted values for the settlement of each archipelago. (Carte J.-C. Galipaud - Ird).
towards the South and the East reaching Samoa and Tonga 3 000 years ago.
Their presence is noticed in the Santa Cruz Islands and in the North of Vanuatu 3 200 years ago and we believe that this area has been an advanced base for their later movements. The distinctive pottery they left, called Lapita, marks out their peregrination. The Austronesian languages are the only spoken languages in Remote Oceania and are logically asso-ciated with the Lapita diaspora (Fig. 539).
The discovery of santo …The settlement of the Vanuatu islands follows the settlement process of other Remote Oceania islands. In Vanuatu, Lapita sailors favoured the small offshore coral islands of South Santo and North Malakula as well as Efate and Erromango (Fig. 540). They locally produced a very character-istic and richly decorated pottery, the Lapita pottery. The North Vanuatu islands offered many resources to these discoverers and were the melting pot where they became acclimatised to their new world.
These sailors, being used to marine environment, first preferred coral island’s beaches, which offered marine resources and havens for canoes. They exploited local resources, but quickly introduced plants and animals for a more lasting installation. Among transported plants were probably many trees with edible nuts, fruit trees including banana, and
some variety of taro or yam. The animals imported were the Pacific rat (Rattus exulans), the chicken (the Gallus galus domestic form) and maybe the dog (the domestic form of Canis lupus); the pig (the domestic form of Sus scrofa) is absent from the very early settlements associated with decorated Lapita pottery, but becomes, after some centuries, an essential part of the fauna in archaeological sites. The large spiny rat (Rattus praetor) is very rare in Lapita settlements beyond the Santa Cruz.
Nevertheless, these first seafarers did not neglect the resources of large islands like Santo where they settled after few centuries. They preferred coastal environments such as the Shokraon site in Luganville, one of the few well-preserved sites of this period in Santo. At the beginning of our era they left the coast to move inside the island.
From Man arrival, 3 200 years ago, until the 350 BP first contacts with the European world, these popu-lations had modeled Santo, adapting their society to the specificities of a diversified and changing environment.
sailors of the new World …Many Lapita sites revealing the beginning of human colonization of the islands are found in Vanuatu and they are especially numerous in Malo, Aore, and in the South of Santo. Dozens of sites have been located along the north and east coast of Malo and around
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Figure 539: Lapita pottery fragment from the Makué archaeological site in aore Island (North Vanuatu).
Aore. All these sites are now buried under approxi-mately one meter of sediment on uplifted terraces that are several meters above today’s seashore. Such situation is due to uprising episodes that affected these islands during the last three millennia.
The site of Makué, North of Aore, in front of Luganville is a well-kept testimony of the initial populating period. Discovered then excavated between 2002 and 2006, it entailed several successive settlements, which took place at the very begin-ning of the human installa-tion in the island. The oldest layers give evidence of a sea-sonal camp from sailors from the Bismarck Archipelago, 2 000 km further north. Many obsidian flakes, which have been traced successfully to the region of Talasea in New-Britain attest of the origin of these first discoverers of the Vanuatu shores. The large amount of marine turtle and shells remains, of large size, give evidence of the marine economy of these first Vanuatu inhabitants. The successive levels of occupation (Fig. 541) suggest more a landing place that was used during a period not exceeding a few hundreds years, rather than a coastal vil-lage occupied for many cen-turies. The varying decorative patterns of the Lapita pottery in the layers also suggest multi-ple origins for these first inhab-itants (Fig. 541). Figure 540: Location of the main Lapita sites in Vanuatu. (Carte L. Billaut - Ird).
N
EruetiTeouma
EfateEfate Retoka
Lelepa
Moso
Nguna
Emau
Ifo
Ponamla
Erromango
Erromango
MakueShokraon
Mavea
Rattard
Malopass Atanoasao
AvunambuluAlowaru
VaoAtchin
Wala
Uripiv
Malua
NaoneAvunatari
SDATutuba1Tutuba2
Aore
Tutuba
Mavea
Santo
Santo
Malo
Malakula
Malakula
After few centuries, the Lapita pottery disappears while these sailors remain and settle down in most of the islands. During this founding period, they remain close to the sea, a doubtless indication of a widely marine economy and of a high mobility. At the beginning of the Christian Era, most of the shore sites are deserted.
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Figure 541: the three Lapita layers of the Makué site from aore Island (zones one to three).
Figure 542: the shokraon late Lapita site from santo Island.
Few evidences of this founding settlement were discovered on the big island of Santo whereas all the smaller offshore islands close to the south and east Santo coast were peopled 3 000 years ago. This large island must have been nevertheless visited and its resources used. For example, we find in the Lapita site of Makué, in the North of Aore, rocks originating from Santo.
The site of Shokraon (Fig. 542), in the suburbs of Luganville, is the only site known to have some traces of the Lapita period in Santo. The Lapita pottery in the site is however very rare and the main archaeological finding at Shokraon is a sim-ple shape undecorated pottery, which is associated with numerous pig remains. These remains charac-terise the period, following the island discovery by Lapita, a period during which the colonists begin to settle down on the island.
The sailors and potters of the Lapita period had some impact on the marine and land resources of these islands in spite of their occasional presence. The intro-duction of new species such as rats and pigs, certainly had disastrous effects on this virgin environment.
natural environment and …anthropisation in santo
Santo is the largest island of the Vanuatu Archi-pelago and one of the most ancient at the geo-logical scale with Mallicolo. It is composed of a volcanic substratum on the West and an elevated reef formation in the East. In the North a big bay, where the river Jordan flows, separates these two geological entities. This singular geology influ-ences island morphology. The West of the island is a high mountainous range where Tabwemasana, the highest summit of the island, peaks at 1 700 m. Strong and steep slopes limit access to the west coast where the coastal plain is often non-existent. In the northwest of the island, the lower and well irrigated Cumberland Plain offers places more con-venient for human settlement.
In the East of the island, a succession of uplifted reef formations shows the role that tectonic forces
play in the island build up. Off this east coast and off the south one, many coral islands stretch.
The centre of the island and the foothills of the vol-canic massifs block clouds brought by trade winds and are well watered supporting a tropical rain forest while the much drier, west coast, shelters a vegetation scat-tered by savannahs excepted in the alluvial valleys.
The two largest rivers, Apuna and Ora (or the Jordan) spring up in the wet centre of the island and run into Big Bay. During flood season, their rate of flow and stream speed are so high that a dense sys-tem of alluviums and plant waste reaches a depth of more than 800 m in the bay. All along the centuries these rivers built up a wide alluvial plain, which is very fertile and convenient for agriculture but may be flooded both by fresh and sea-water during tropi-cal gales.
Man settled first and foremost in the plain of Big Bay and along rivers. On the West part of the island, he preferred wetter and cooler high altitude places and apparently did not occupy the west coast formerly (Fig. 543).
The origin of island societies …About two thousand years ago, these first settlers have deserted the coastal environments of Santo and its offshore islands, probably forced by tectonic adjustments, which have remodelled the coastal zone, and in turn have destroyed archaeological evidences. Traces of human occupation dated from c. 1450 BP were discovered on the East calcareous terraces and along the West of the Cumberland Peninsula. A large exchange network covering the North of Vanuatu as far as the Santa Cruz islands (Tikopia) took place during the first millennium of our era and is charac-terised by a painted pottery decorated with incisions named "Sinapupu pottery" (Fig. 544). In Santo, this Sinapupu pottery marks the beginning of the human settlement inside the island.
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Figure 543: the Wusi village located on the West coast of santo was funded in historical time by people inhabiting the highlands of the tabwemasana area.
Until the beginning of the second millennium of our era, remains of human activity are restricted to this pottery. Man has settled the mountainous foothills and the calcareous terraces where fertile soil and heavy rainfall favoured agriculture. The mobility probably remained important, the demog-raphy was quite low and the extended exchange networks are an indication of the cultural and lin-guistic homogeneity of these early societies.
Just before the year 1000, many innovations mark the beginning of a new cycle, announcing modern societies. New types of pottery emerge on Vanuatu islands where clay sources are numerous and abundant (Malakula, Santo) and exchange networks seem to shrink. Small offshore Islands are widely populated and regulate the movement of people and goods between the main islands, especially in the North where a new social order develops: the graded societies.
In Santo, several pottery manufacturing centres appear on the West coast, where clay deposits are abundant (Figs 545 & 546). The diversity in styles is an indication of the diversification of groups and the beginning of regionalism. This evolution is linked with increasing evidences of settlements and the emergence of big villages inside islands and on hillsides in front of the sea. This evolution culminates just prior to the European contact with an obvious increase in demography. Small offshore islands are the residence of powerful leaders who have the control over inter-island exchanges.
At the beginning of the second millennium of our era, irrigated taro gardening was introduced on the well-watered islands and in less sloping places. Such intensive culture allows for an uninterrupted produc-tion and generates surplus available for exchanges. It is probably also a necessary innovation linked with a drier climate. Irrigated garden are still in use on the West and North-West coast (Fig. 547).
Figure 544: sinapupu pottery style (northwest santo).
Figure 545: traditional pottery from the Wusi Village located on the west of santo.
Figure 546: traditional pottery from the olpoï Village located on the north-west of santo.
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During the 19th century, Europeans seriously dis-turbed this social balance by introducing into these networks new prestigious objects, as well as religion and the imported diseases which led quickly to the decline of the traditional systems.
rank societies and alliance networks …During the first millennium of our era, increasing demography, probably associated with competition for land, induced an evolution of the social order and a new hierarchy based on the merit of chiefs emerged in the northern part of Vanuatu. This "Big Men" soci-ety joins in its essence that of New Guinea Plateau. As this system is not at first hereditary, it is the merit of the leader that allows him to stay at the head of the group. These Big Men, or rather High Men as they are called in Vanuatu, are in the centre of a complex social network allowing the entire society to live in peace and prosperity. The leader’s merit as well as his capacity as strategist and judge influenced the trust of the group and so his future as a leader. The High Men recognize and support one another in the view to rise in the system during solemn ceremonies, where ritual slaughters of pigs and presentation and exchange of goods allow the transition to a higher rank. It is in fact the ability of these High Men to generate, pro-duce or share with their allies that enables them to rise. Their status within the regional group reflects on the society they control, and encourages the wealth and renown of the whole group.
The study of anthropological texts and the distri-bution of some archaeological structures suggest that at least two big systems co-existed in Santo during the period we are interested in (Fig. 548). The mountainous area of Cape Cumberland and part of the West coast participated in the graded society of the Suqe system; this system coming from the Banks islands was characterized, among others, by the importance of shell currencies in the exchanges. On the East coast, in the South
Figure 547: the hokua irrigated taro gardens in the North-West of santo.
Figure 548: the graded societies in santo and the extend of the network system during the last millennium. (Carte J.-C. Galipaud - Ird).
of Santo as in the offshore islands, the Sumbwe system was mostly dominant entailing the breed-ing and the exchange of pigs with overdeveloped teeth. The inhabitants of Malo Island and of some Southwestern villages of Santo facilitated the selec-tion of small-sized bisexual pigs, called Narave, which were very valuable in these exchanges.
In ancient sites of Santo, the Suque system is sym-bolized by the presence of stone-tables (Fig. 549) on which the High Men climb during ceremonies. The geographical distribution of these tables pro-vides an indication of the extent of this system: they are unknown on the West coast South of Wusi village and they do not either appear in the alluvial plain of Big Bay but are present in ancient villages of the centre of the island.
In the Sumbwe system, large-sized coral platforms with sometimes several steps, mark the celebration places of the grade-taking ceremonies (Fig. 550). These platforms occur specially along the ancient seaside villages on the East and South coast of Santo, and are often seen in offshore islands. The situation in the North East of the island, around Cape Quiros and in Sakao Island is not very clear. This part of Santo is linguistically different from the Southern coast, and although the rank system is practised there as elsewhere, it is difficult to compare it with the Sumbwe system further South due to the lack of precise information.
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Figure 549: stone table of the suqe system. salaea Village located in North-West santo.
In order to keep up and develop, these systems had to maintain large networks of relations to facilitate the movement of goods, but also to allow marital exchanges and therefore insure the perpetuity of the groups. The inhabitants of the Cumberland region had close relations with the inhabitants of the Banks islands and their network extended probably as far as the Santa Cruz Islands at certain times.
East Santo’s inhabitants kept relation with people of far East islands. It is the case of Aoba, and Malo people who exchanged pigs and pottery with the inhabitants of the North of Malakula Island.
santo chronology in a wider context …The chronology of the human evolution in Santo closely matches the chronology of the evolution in the remaining islands of the Vanuatu archipelago. The initial phase of discovery and settlement, con-fined to the coastal fringe of the islands is charac-terised by Lapita pottery. A period of integration
Figure 550: coral platforms of the sumbwe system. Mavea Island.
follows, characterised by plain ware pottery of differ-ent styles and an increase in settlements, which cover all islands. Starting in the second half of the first mil-lennium of our era, during the third phase of this evo-lution, the roots of pre-European societies emerge.
The cultural representations differ from one island to the other especially towards the last millennium when an increase in demography triggers a heavier reliance to land, which in turn provokes a diversifi-cation of cultural markers. This tendency, which is Melanesian wide and not only limited to Vanuatu, is expressed in the following figure 551.
Conclusion …This rapid overview of the human evolution in Santo and its offshore islands shows that the grad-ual rise of population led to differing social strate-gies. These strategies developed in response to cultural and natural necessities but never were the result of isolation. From the Lapita sea-nomads to the potters of the late West Santo societies, move-ments of men and goods helped shape the people to the islands. Santo, with its natural and cultural diversity, is a good example of this process.
?
Lapita
Plainware
Mangaasi
Sinapupu
Wusi/Chachara
?
?
earlymangaasi
chachara
wusi wusi
olpoï
sinapupu
2500
3000
1500
1000
500
0
EfateErromango Malakula Santo
Malo/Aore BanksTorres Vanikoro
Tikopia Reef/Sta Cruz
late ifo
early ifo
ponamla early erueti
late erueti
latemangaasi
chachara
naamboï
?
petit âgeglaciaire
Sédimentationlittorale accrue
fin des ajustementseustatiques
post-glaciaires
Cultures irriguées
Hierarchisation de la société
Peuplement des îles hautes
Arrivéede l'hommedans les îles
malua
?
BP(Before Present)
3500
2000
1452Kuwae volcanic
eruptionsinapupusinapupu
?
Figure 551: comparative table of the cultural evolution in Vanuatu and adjacent islands. (J.-C. Galipaud).
phot
o J.-
C. G
alip
aud
phot
o J.-
C. G
alip
aud
The
Natu
ral H
istor
y of
Santo
ISSN 1281-6213
ISBN MNHN : 978-2-85653-627-8ISBN IRD : 978-2-7099-1708-7
The islands of the Pacific are renowned for the high levels of endemism of, and threats to, their unique faunas and floras. Espiritu Santo, affectionately known simply as Santo, is an island of superla-tives: the largest and highest in Vanuatu, Santo is an extraordinary geographical and cultural micro-cosm, combining reefs, caves, mountains, satellite islands, and a history of human habitation going back 3 000 years. In the spirit of famous voyages of discovery of the past, the Santo 2006 expedition brought together over 150 scientists, volunteers and students originating from 25 countries. With contributions by more than 100 authors, The Natural History of Santo is a lavishly illustrated homage to the biodiversity of this "planet-island". Bridging the gap between scientific knowledge and conservation and education, The Natural History of Santo was written with local stakeholders as well as armchair naturalists from all over the world in mind.
9 782856 536278 Prix : 59 TTC
Les îles du Pacifique sont célèbres pour le très haut niveau d’endémisme et la grande vulnérabilité de leurs faunes et de leurs flores. L'île d'Espiritu Santo, ou Santo, cumule les superlatifs : la plus grande et la plus haute du Vanuatu, Santo est un extraordinaire microcosme géographique et cultu-rel, avec récifs, grottes, montagnes, îles et îlots satellites, et une occupation humaine qui remonte à 3 000 ans. Renouant avec l'esprit des "Grandes Expéditions Naturalistes", l’expédition Santo 2006 avait mobilisé sur le terrain plus de 150 scienti-fiques, bénévoles et étudiants de 25 pays. Petit tour de force éditorial avec plus de 100 auteurs, ce Natural History of Santo est un éloge de la bio-diversité de cette "île-planète". À la fois beau livre richement illustré et bilan des connaissances scien-tifiques, The Natural History of Santo se veut un outil de connaissance pour sa conservation dura-ble. Il s'adresse autant aux acteurs locaux du déve-loppement et de l'éducation qu'aux naturalistes du monde entier.