Presented in person and online, details below.

Epi Island is situated near the centre of the Vanuatu archipelago in the southwest Pacific. For most of their human history, Epi and its neighbour Tongoa were connected as a single landmass – the island of Kuwae. In the mid-fifteenth century CE, a massive volcanic eruption destroyed part of Kuwae and redefined physical and social landscapes in central Vanuatu. Recently, an interdisciplinary project combining archaeological, volcanological, and oral historical research has generated new insights relating to this event, now known as the Tombuk eruption. This paper focuses on Epi Island, formerly northwest Kuwae, and presents outcomes from archaeological fieldwork conducted in 2022 and 2023. It covers some 3,000 years of human history on the island, from its initial settlement by groups associated with the Lapita culture, through subsequent periods of cultural transformation. As regionally distinct cultural entities emerged in the post-Lapita period, Kuwae retained connections with regions to the south, including Efate and the Shepherd Islands. Communities in northwest Kuwae persisted against the backdrop of regular exposure to volcanic hazards, culminating in the catastrophic Tombuk eruption, which would have disrupted relationships between Epi and regions to the south. Although the impacts of the eruption would have been locally devastating, the archaeological evidence indicates that surviving communities remained on Epi and became intimately engaged in social phenomena occurring in northern Vanuatu during the post-Kuwae period. 

Speaker:
Robert Henderson is a PhD candidate, School of Culture, History and Language (CAP, ANU)

Zoom details: https://anu.zoom.us/j/89141025971?pwd=FNpjISlTJOo3HsCd9MyvmH41ZYCHWP.1
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