Australian Museum Journal Oral tradition and the creation of Late Prehistory in Roviana Lagoon, Solomon Islands. In A Pacific Odyssey: Archaeology and Anthropology in the Western Pacific. Papers in Honour of Jim Specht
- Shortform:
- Sheppard, 2004, Rec. Aust. Mus., Suppl. 29: 123–132
- Author(s):
- Sheppard, Peter J.; Walter, Richard; Aswani, Shankar
- Year published:
- 2004
- Title:
- Oral tradition and the creation of Late Prehistory in Roviana Lagoon, Solomon Islands. In A Pacific Odyssey: Archaeology and Anthropology in the Western Pacific. Papers in Honour of Jim Specht
- Serial title:
- Records of the Australian Museum, Supplement
- Volume:
- 29
- Start page:
- 123
- End page:
- 132
- DOI:
- 10.3853/j.0812-7387.29.2004.1408
- Language:
- English
- Date published:
- 19 May 2004
- Cover date:
- 19 May 2004
- ISBN:
- ISBN 0-9750476-2-0 (printed), ISBN 0-9750476-3-9 (online)
- ISSN:
- 0812-7387
- CODEN:
- RAMSEZ
- Publisher:
- The Australian Museum
- Place published:
- Sydney, Australia
- Subjects:
- ANTHROPOLOGY
- Digitized:
- 19 May 2004
- Available online:
- 19 May 2004
- Reference number:
- 1408
- EndNote package:
- EndNote file
- Title page:
- Title page (12kb PDF)
- Complete work:
- Complete work (737kb PDF)
Abstract
The use of oral tradition or oral history in archaeology is often a contentious issue. In this paper we briefly review methodological issues surrounding the use of such data and follow this with a case study using our research into the last 1,000 years of prehistory in Roviana Lagoon (New Georgia Group, Solomon Islands). We argue that it is not possible to generalize cross-culturally about the historicity of oral tradition/history. However, in the Roviana case, careful use of ethnohistory and archaeology together indicates that: (a) Roviana oral history is linear; (b) there is a close relationship between genealogical age and radiocarbon age; and (c) the modern uses of the oral tradition by Roviana provide a theory of their use in the past. We conclude that the model for the formation of the Roviana Chiefdom which emerges from the working back and forth between archaeology and ethnohistory has much more explanatory power than one based on either source of data by itself.