Prehistoric Burials from New Caledonia (Southern Melanesia): A Review

新喀里多尼亞（美拉尼西亞南部）史前墓葬回顧

Frederique Valentin ； Christophe Sand

《南島研究學報》 2卷1期 (2008/06) Pp. 1-30

https://doi.org/10.29884/JAS.200806.0001

摘要

多樣性的墓葬地點與遺體處理方式是新喀里多尼亞距今約3000年間墓葬的主要特點，舉凡從Lapita文化叢到傳統的Kanak文化叢皆屬之。現今發現最早的墓葬年代是在該群島早先一批移民在最後一階段所留，發掘的位置是在Foué（Koné）的Lapita遺址中。除了像是露天葬或放置於木划的海葬方式外，傳統的土葬仍舊在往後的兩千年間被使用著。傳統的土葬大多是暫時的過程，通常仍會進行二次葬，這種現象即如公元2000年初所挖掘的結果，是屬於Kanak文化叢早期的文化表徵。發掘出的遺骸並非系統性的遂漸腐壞，有時會經過人為防腐的處理。本文依時序架構回顧現有的考古文獻，並呈現此地先民墓葬習俗與時變遷的文化與社會意義。

關鍵字

新喀里多尼亞 ； 考古學 ； 墓葬方式 ； 人骨遣留 ； 太平洋

並列摘要

The diversity of the burial places and the variety of the body and bones treatments are the main qualities of burials related to the nearly 3000 years of prehistory of New Caledonia, from the Lapita cultural complex to the traditional Kanak cultural complex. The oldest burials known at present are interments dated from the very end of first phase of settlement of New Caledonia archipelago and discovered in the site of Lapita at Foué (Koné). The inhumation is also a funerary treatment used during the following two millennia, besides other practices such as the deposit of the deceased on the soil surface or in canoe in caves. The inhumation was definitive or temporary, as indicated by secondary deposits or by remains of exhumation identified from the beginning of the second millennium A.D., date of the emergence of the Kanak cultural complex. The body was not systematically eliminated. Its integrity was sometimes preserved through artificial mummification processes. The paper reviews the existing archaeological documentation following a chronological framework and draws on cultural and social significances and changes over time of the treatment of the deceased.

並列關鍵字

New Caledonia ； archaeology ； burial practices ； human remains ； Pacific