Ritual tooth ablation and the Austronesian expansion: Evidence from eastern Indonesia and the Pacific Islands

Abstract

Ritual tooth ablation, the intentional removal of teeth, is a highly visible form of body modification that can signal group identity and mark certain life events, such as marriage. The widespread occurrence of the practice in Asia appears to have begun in the Neolithic period and in some areas, such as Taiwan, continued until the ethnographic present. We aim to use a biocultural approach to investigate the significance of tooth ablation in Indonesia and Vanuatu during the maritime expansion of Austronesian-speaking groups ca. 3500–2000 years ago. Here we assess the presence and patterns of tooth ablation in four prehistoric skeletal assemblages from eastern Indonesia (Pain Haka, Melolo, Lewoleba and Liang Bua) and one from Vanuatu (Uripiv). Despite the relatively small sample sizes, it was found that individuals from all the sites displayed tooth ablation. The Indonesian populations had ablation patterns that involved the maxillary lateral incisors and canines and the individuals from Uripiv had the central maxillary incisors removed. We suggest that the distribution of tooth ablation in eastern Indonesia provides strong evidence that this practice was an important ritual process associated with the early expansion of Austronesian-speaking populations in the region. The identification of tooth ablation at the site of Uripiv is the earliest example of the practice in the Pacific Islands and was either a Southeast Asian tradition brought by Austronesian settlers, was introduced later from Near Oceania, or was an indigenous development in Vanuatu. A similar pattern of tooth ablation (the removal of central maxillary incisors) has been documented in ethnographic reports of northern Vanuatu tribes. We argue that the practice could possibly be a ritual passed through the generations since the early settlement of Vanuatu.

Keywords:

• Tooth ablation; Indonesia; ISEA; Pacific Islands; Lapita; ritual practices

Acknowledgements

Thank you to Professor Johannes Krause and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, for funding the travel to Airlangga University in 2017 when the data collection was carried out and for the Liang Toge AMS dates. Further support for the analyses of the Indonesian assemblages was provided by a New Zealand Fast-Start Marsden Grant (18-UOO-135). Many thanks to the local landowners of the Pain Haka, Melolo, Liang Bua and Lewoleba sites who allowed the work to be undertaken. The excavation of the Pain Haka site in 2012 was funded by a grant from the Research Institute for Development, UMR Paloc and by additional funding from the French Embassy in Indonesia, as well as a University of Otago Research Grant awarded for the excavation and analysis of the human skeletal remains. The funding for the Uripiv excavation was provided by a New Zealand Marsden Grant (09-UOO-106) and an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Grant (DP0556874). We thank the chiefs, landowners, and inhabitants of Uripiv Island for their permission and support during the excavations. Crucial collaboration on the island came from Numa Fred (Malekula Cultural Centre curator and Vanuatu Cultural Centre filwoka, Uripiv). Belis Verimaeto was especially tolerant of excavations being carried out in her backyard over many years.

Additional information

Funding

Funding was provided by New Zealand Marsden Grant (09-UOO-106); Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Grant (DP0556874); New Zealand Fast-Start Marsden Grant (18-UOO-135); a University of Otago Research Grant; the Research Institute for Development, UMR Paloc; and the French Embassy in Indonesia.