Taro and Coconut in a Pacific Food Landscape
ANCIENT MEALS · 099 / 100 Lapita and early post-Lapita horticultural communities · Efate and nearby islands, Vanuatu · c. 1000–500 BCE Evidence: archaeological reconstruction. The historical evidence and modern cooking choices are distinguished below. Jump to recipe Generated illustration of the modern recipe adaptation; not an archaeological photograph or an exact ancient reconstruction. Settlement carried a plant history Early Pacific settlement involved more than a boat arriving at an empty shore. People also needed food resources and cultivation knowledge. Research using sedimentary biomarkers on Efate links evidence of human presence and taro cultivation near the beginning of settlement roughly 2800 years ago. It adds a line of evidence beyond the decorated pottery commonly associated with Lapita. A study of diet at Teouma discusses animal foods, cultivated plants, and the possible availability of coconut in early Vanuatu. The evidence for each resource is not equally direct at...