title: Ancient tortoise hunting in the southwest Pacific.
abstract: We report the unprecedented Lapita exploitation and subsequent extinction of large megafauna tortoises (?Meiolania damelipi) on tropical islands during the late Holocene over a 281,000 km2region of the southwest Pacific spanning from the Vanuatu archipelago to Viti Levu in Fiji. Zooarchaeological analyses have identified seven early archaeological sites with the remains of this distinctive hornless tortoise, unlike the Gondwanan horned meiolaniid radiation to the southwest. These large tortoise radiations in the Pacific may have contributed to the rapid dispersal of early mobile Neolithic hunters throughout southwest Melanesia and on to western Polynesia. Subsequent rapid extinctions of these terrestrial herbivorous megafauna are likely to have led to significant changes in ecosystems that help explain changes in current archaeological patterns from Post-Lapita contexts in the region.
authors.affiliation: Archaeology and Natural History, School of Culture History and Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.
authors.forename: Stuart
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hawkins
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, Flinders University, Adelaide 5001, SA, Australia.
authors.forename: Trevor H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Worthy
authors.affiliation: Archaeology and Natural History, School of Culture History and Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.
authors.forename: Stuart
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bedford
authors.affiliation: School of Archaeology and Anthropology, College of Arts and Social Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia.
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Spriggs
authors.affiliation: Archaeology and Natural History, School of Culture History and Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.
authors.forename: Geoffrey
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.affiliation: Anthropology, School of Social Sciences, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Geoff
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Irwin
authors.affiliation: Anthropology, School of Social Sciences, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Best
authors.affiliation: Anthropology, University of California, 232 Kroeber Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720-3710, USA.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kirch
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D063147:Animal Distribution / Q000502:physiology; D001106:Archaeology; D066046:Diet, Paleolithic / Q000266:history; D053476:Extinction, Biological; D005580:Fossils / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000266:history; D049690:History, Ancient; D010139:Pacific Islands; D014426:Turtles / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology