Courses

On Leave 2012

Projects

I am currently working on projects based in the New Georgia region of the Solomon Islands. The first of these is a Marsden funded project entitled Island Networks in Melanesia: the archaeology of Tetepare Island. A second project, funded by a University of Otago research grant, is The prehistory of the Touo speakers of Rendova, Solomon Islands.

Selected Publications

Books

Sheppard, P.J., Thomas, T. & Summerhayes, G.R. (eds) 2009. Lapita: ancestors and descendants. NZAA Monograph 28. New Zealand Archaeological Association: Auckland.

Book Chapters

Thomas, T. 2009. Communities of Practice in the Archaeology of New Georgia, Rendova and Tetepare. In Sheppard, P., Thomas, T., and Summerhayes, G., Eds. Lapita: ancestors and descendants. NZAA Monograph 28. New Zealand Archaeological Association: Auckland.

Thomas, T. 2008. The Long Pause and the Last Pulse: Mapping East Polynesian Colonisation. In Clark, G., Leach, F. and O'Connor, S. Eds. Islands of Inquiry: Colonisation, seafaring and the archaeology of maritime landscapes. Terra Australis 29. ANU Press, Canberra. Available Online

Thomas, T. in press. Sensory efficacy in the material culture of New Georgia, Solomon Islands. In. Bolton, L., and Burt, B. Artefacts of History: the Melanesian collections of the British Museum. British Museum Press, London.

Refereed Journal Articles

FX.Ricaut, T.Thomas, M. Mormina, M.Cox, M. Bellatti, M. Mirazon-Lahr and R. Foley. 2010. Ancient Solomon Islands mtDNA: assessing Holocene settlement and the impact of European contact. Journal of Archaeological Science. 37 (6) pp. 1161-1170. Available online.

Thomas, T. 2009. Topogenic forms in New Georgia, Solomon Islands. Sites: a journal of social anthropology and cultural studies.6 (2): 92-118. Available online.

Ricaut, F.X., Thomas, T., Arganini, C., Staughton, J., Leavesley, M., Bellatti, M., Foley, R., and M. Mirazon Lahr. 2008. Mitochondrial DNA Variation in Karkar Islanders. Annals of Human Genetics. 72 (3): 349-367. Available Online

Walter, R., Thomas, T. and P. Sheppard. 2004. Cult assemblages and ritual practice in Roviana Lagoon, Solomon Islands. World Archaeology. 36 (1): 142-157. Available Online

Thomas, T., Sheppard, P. and R. Walter. 2001. Landscape, violence and social bodies: ritualized architecture in a Solomon Islands society. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. 7 (3): 545-572. Available Online

Thomas, T. 2001. The social practice of colonisation: re-thinking prehistoric Polynesian migration. People and Culture in Oceania. 17, pp. 27-46. Available Online