Mapping Local Perspectives in the Historical Archaeology of Vanuatu Mission Landscapes

Abstract

The concept of place is a powerful theoretical tool in the social sciences and humanities, which can be especially useful in archaeological work that involves community-based collaboration. Using place as a starting point, archaeologists can beneficially use their skills to answer questions that are of relevance to the local communities with which we work while also advancing knowledge about the past. For historical archaeology, this often involves engaging in dialogue across multiple lines of evidence, including material remains from the past, written documents, and local oral traditions. Recent fieldwork on the islands of Erromango and Tanna, Vanuatu, exploring early landscapes relating to Christian conversion uses this kind of approach. A major part of preliminary survey work involves mapping features in the mission sites and surrounding areas. Archaeological cartographic techniques help build a sense of place that provides engaging research for a collaborative environment with local Melanesian communities, while also producing new perspectives on colonialism in the South Pacific. This approach is not limited to the recent past, being applicable to any collaborative, community-based archaeological research that incorporates the use of oral traditions.

An Archaeology of Early Christianity in Vanuatu

“…Where a group of memory places were linked to a common story, the resulting assemblage is referred to as an 'event landscape'. Event landscapes offered a useful way of capturing the local sense of 'historicities' (Ballard 2014) regarding both missionrelated and indigenous happenings in the recent past (Flexner 2014c). As I've noted elsewhere, 'Event landscapes are places where social memory is both constructed and performed as people follow in the footsteps of historical characters, spirits of the ancestors, or supernatural beings' (Flexner 2014c: 8).…”

“…Like the earlier martyrdom, the Gordons' deaths left an 'event landscape' (Flexner 2014c) that cements the social memory of this moment in place (Figure 2.11). Walking on the trail towards Bongkil, there is a boulder outcrop with a slight discoloration (point 2 in Figure 2.11).…”

Mission sites as indigenous heritage in southern Vanuatu

“…After insisting on proceeding inland in the hopes of meeting a chief (and thus inadvertently breaking this taboo), Williams and Harris were pursued by local warriors and killed with clubs while attempting to escape back to the mission ship. Their bodies were then divided up and apparently ritually eaten by local chiefs (e.g., Robertson, 1902: 51-54; for an archaeological perspective, see Flexner, 2014b). This event shocked those associated with churches and missions throughout the world.…”

“…Archaeologists are only beginning to explore these sites, though initial insights have been fascinating (see below ;Flexner, 2013Flexner, , 2014cSpriggs, 1985Spriggs, , 2007. Local oral histories also record many details of events not otherwise written down, and have been an important part of fieldwork endeavors alongside more standard mapping, excavation, and artifact analysis (Flexner, 2014b). Indigenous social memory is replete with valuable information about mission history, especially the roles of local chiefs who were often important church elders as more and more of the population converted.…”

Sherds of Paradise: Domestic Archaeology and Ceramic Artefacts from a Protestant Mission in the South Pacific

“…Ash et al, 2010;Birmingham & Wilson, 2010;Brooks et al, 2011;Ireland, 2010;Lydon, 2009;Morrison et al, 2010Morrison et al, , 2015. There is an emerging consensus that mission life in colonial settings should be understood through indigenous lenses where possible (see also Flexner, 2014b;Flexner & Spriggs, 2015;. Here, we want to focus primarily on the material lives of the missionaries themselves in relation to the indigenous community, rather than the other way round.…”