- Title
- Oral tradition and the creation of late prehistory in Roviana Lagoon, Solomon Islands
- Creator
- Sheppard, Peter
- Creator
- Walter, Richard
- Creator
- Aswani, Shankar
- Subject
- To be catalogued
- Date Issued
- 2004
- Date
- 2004
- Type
- text
- Type
- book
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10962/439958
- Identifier
- vital:73723
- Identifier
- ISBN 0975047639
- Description
- 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.
- Format
- 11
- Format
- Publisher
- Use of this resource is governed by Australian Museum terms and use Permissions Statement (https://australian.museum/about/organisation/media-centre/brand/terms-of-use/)
- Language
- English
- Relation
- Sheppard, P., Walter, R., and Aswani, S. (2004). Oral tradition and the creation of late prehistory in Roviana Lagoon, Solomon Islands. Records-Australian Museum, 123-132
- Rights
- Authors
- Rights
- Use of this resource is governed by Australian Museum terms and use Permissions Statement (https://australian.museum/about/organisation/media-centre/brand/terms-of-use/)
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Collections
Aswani, Shankar (Prof)
SDG 11. Sustainable Cities and Communities
RU Department of Anthropology
RU Department of Ichthyology and Fisheries Science
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | Oral tradition and the creation.pdf | 584 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |