99 INTO OPEN OCEANS When Austronesian voyagers fi rst crossed that twohundred mile gap to the Santa Cruz Islands, they entered virgin territory that had not been inhabited by Papuan predecessors. This story begins back in the Bismarck Archipelago, where a culture known as Lapita fi rst developed about 1600 BCE. Archaeologists have uncovered evidence, especially in the form of specifi c styles of ceramics, that these peoples relatively rapidly sailed not only through the Solomons and across the gap but deep into the Pacifi c. They reached New Caledonia (fi g. 15) by 1200 BCE, Fiji by 1200–1000 BCE, and Tonga/Samoa by about 900 BCE. Red feather money from the Santa Cruz Islands (fi g. 14) provides another example of a specialized commodity that featured in a regional trading network. The combined efforts of numerous craftsmen and traders, living in locations scattered across hundreds of miles of ocean, were required to fabricate this valuable currency, which was used at ritual occasions such as bridewealth exchanges. True Polynesian culture developed after the settling of Samoa and Tonga, so the answer to the oftenposed question “Where did Polynesians come from?” is that they didn’t come from anywhere outside of the region. They became Polynesians in Polynesia. When expansion resumed, the central islands of eastern Polynesia (the Society and Marquesas islands) were settled by perhaps 600 BCE. This new center in eastern Polynesia then became the jumpingoff point for the most distant parts of the open ocean: Rapa Nui (Easter Island, 300 CE), Hawaii (400 CE), and Aotearoa (New Zealand, 1000 CE) (fig. 16). Far to the west, perhaps the most astonishing projection of Austronesian seafaring brought settlers all the way across the Indian Ocean to Madagascar about 830 CE. Though it lies off the coast of Africa, Madagascar’s peoples are primarily Austronesian, not African—a distinction that is clearly refl ected in the giant island’s languages, cultures, and arts. The exhibition concludes with two works from Madagascar, a classically Austronesian memorial fi gure and a silk textile with astonishingly intricate patterning. These wrap up the grand narrative of the exhibition, which provides viewers a rare opportunity to see together in one place a remarkable assemblage of works drawn from across the vast sweep of oceanic lands settled by Austronesian-speaking migrants. FIG. 14 (above): Red feather currency, nendes. Santa Cruz Islands, Solomon Islands. Mid 20th century. Honeyeater (myzomela cardinalis) feathers, plant fi ber, palm leaf, bark, shell. 68 x 6.3 cm. Gift of Bennet Mermel, Fowler Museum at UCLA, inv. X99.45.1a, b. Image © courtesy of the Fowler Museum at UCLA. Photo: Don Cole, 2016. FIG. 15 (left): Door guardian from a chiefl y house. New Caledonia. 19th century. Wood. H: 170 cm. Gift of the Wellcome Trust, Fowler Museum at UCLA, inv. X65.7433. Image © courtesy of the Fowler Museum at UCLA. Photo: Don Cole, 2014. FIG. 16 (right): Cloak, kakahu. Maori, attributed to Rotorua, Aotearoa (New Zealand). Probably 1880–1910. New Zealand fl ax (Phormium tenax) fi ber, kereru (Hemiphaga novaeseelandae) and kaka (Nestor meridionalis) feathers; double-pair weft twining. 140 x 100 cm. Gift of the Wellcome Trust, Fowler Museum, inv. X65.10283. Image © courtesy of The Fowler Museum at UCLA. Photo: Don Cole, 2014. ART OF THE AUSTRONESIANS
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