Archaeology and historical anthropology of Oceania; The archaeology of colonisation; Socio-cultural landscapes; Archaeological theory; Cross-cultural contact in Oceania; Material culture studies.
I work on the archaeology of the Pacific Islands, exploring the long-term patterns of human social and cultural relationships. Broadly my research focuses on how, why, and when people colonised the Pacific. I explore colonisation as an ongoing process, involving changing human-environment relationships, sociotechnical innovation, and the production of meaningful cultural landscapes. These dimensions can be studied at different scales - from long-term histories of voyaging and migration, to the localised politics and meaning of place. My work is often interdisciplinary and uses multiple sources of data, including archaeological evidence, oral history, and archival records.
For the past 15 years I have worked on field projects based in the New Georgia region of the Solomon Islands. In particular I have worked on the material culture and cultural landscapes of Roviana, Rendova and Tetepare, gathering data to reconstruct the history of these islands and their place in wider Solomon Islands prehistory. On Tetepare I have worked with an indigenous conservation association (Tetepare Descendants' Association) to conduct archaeological and palaeoenvironmental surveys. During my archaeological research in the Solomon Islands I have worked on linking the material remains of the past with early ethnographic and photographic records as well as oral histories. A recent project has involved the study and repatriation of early ethnographic photographs of people and places on the island of Simbo.
I also do fieldwork in New Zealand, and have active research projects in central Otago looking at how both early Maori and early Europeans explored and colonised the rugged interior of the South Island.
Publications
Thomas, T. (2023). [Review of the book Building and remembering: An archaeology of place-making on Papua New Guinea's south coast]. Australian Archaeology. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1080/03122417.2023.2213543
Journal - Research Other
Ford, A., Walter, R., & Thomas, T. (2022). Fragile shores: Addressing coastal erosion on archaeological sites in Otago. Proceedings of the New Zealand Archaeological Association (NZAA) Annual Conference. (pp. 8-9). Retrieved from https://nzarchaeology.org
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Thomas, T., McStay, A., Sheppard, P., & Summerhayes, G. (2021). Interaction and isolation in New Georgia: Insights from the Nabo Point ceramic assemblage, Tetepare. Archaeology in Oceania, 56(1), 45-64. doi: 10.1002/arco.5221
Journal - Research Article
Thomas, T. (2021). Pacific colonisation as process and practice. In T. Thomas (Ed.), Theory in the Pacific, the Pacific in theory: Archaeological perspectives. (pp. 145-179). London, UK: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780203730973
Chapter in Book - Research
Thomas, T. (2021). Theory in the Pacific, and the Pacific in theory. In T. Thomas (Ed.), Theory in the Pacific, the Pacific in theory: Archaeological perspectives. (pp. 1-36). London, UK: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780203730973
Chapter in Book - Research
Thomas, T. (Ed.). (2021). Theory in the Pacific, the Pacific in theory: Archaeological perspectives. London, UK: Routledge, 336p. doi: 10.4324/9780203730973
Edited Book - Research
Thomas, T. (2020). [Review of the book The Oxford handbook of prehistoric Oceania]. Antiquaries Journal, 100, 460-462. doi: 10.1017/S0003581520000396
Journal - Research Other
Thomas, T. (2020). Sensory archaeology in the Pacific. In R. Skeates & J. Day (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Sensory Archaeology. (pp. 539-555). Abingdon, UK: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315560175-31
Chapter in Book - Research
Thomas, T. (2020). [Review of the book An archaeology of early Christianity in Vanuatu: Kastom and religious change on Tanna and Erromango, 1839-1920]. Archaeology in Oceania, 55, 57-58. doi: 10.1002/arco.5190
Journal - Research Other
Thomas, T. (2019). Axes of entanglement in the New Georgia group, Solomon Islands. In M. Leclerc & J. Flexner (Eds.), Archaeologies of Island Melanesia: Current approaches to landscapes, exchange and practice. (pp. 103-116). Canberra, Australia: ANU Press. doi: 10.22459/TA51.2019.07
Chapter in Book - Research
Thomas, T. (2018, December). Entanglement, abstraction and power in late-period western Solomon Islands. Verbal presentation at the European Society for Oceanists (ESfO) Conference: Dealing with Inequality: Pacific perspectives, Pacific Futures, London and Cambridge, UK.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Thomas, T. (2018, December). Photography, history and memory on Simbo, Solomon Islands. Verbal presentation at the Pacific History Association 23rd Biennial Conference, London and Cambridge, UK.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Thomas, T. (2018). [Review of the book Archaeology of the Solomon Islands]. Journal of the Polynesian Society, 127(2), 262-264. doi: 10.15286/jps.127.2.249-264
Journal - Research Other
Thomas, T. (2016, August-September). Archaeologies of entanglement in the New Georgia group, Solomon Islands. Verbal presentation at the Eighth World Archaeological Congress, Kyoto, Japan.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Thomas, T. (October, 2015). Being and time, houses and shrines, in the Solomon Islands. Peter Wilson Seminar, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand. [Research Presentation].
Other Research Output
Hurford, J., & Thomas, T. (2015). Houses, shrines and the social landscape of Tetepare, Solomon Isalnds. Proceedings of the 8th International Lapita Conference. (pp. 51). Retrieved from http://archanth.anu.edu.au/cbap/lapita8conference
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Thomas, T. (2015). Political economy in prehistory: A Marxist approach to Pacific sequences [Comment]. Current Anthropology, 56(4), 537-538. doi: 10.1086/682284
Journal - Research Other
Brown, A. A., & Thomas, T. (2015). The first New Zealanders? An alternative interpretation of stable isotope data from Wairau Bar, New Zealand. PLoS ONE, 10(10), e0135214. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0135214
Journal - Research Article
Thomas, T. (2014). Les formes topogéniques en Nouvelle-Géorgie. In M. Mélandri & S. Revolon (Eds.), L'Éclat des ombres: L'art en noir et blanc des îles Salomon. (pp. 180-188). Paris: Somogy Editions.
Chapter in Book - Research
Mitchell, P., & Thomas, T. (2014). Railways and landscape in 19th century Otago: A spatial analysis of the Nenthorn construction camp. Archaeology in New Zealand, 57(3), (pp. 142-143). [Abstract]
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Thomas, T. (2014, April). The archaeology of Tetepare Island. Verbal presentation at the Australian Association for Pacific Studies (AAPS) Conference: Oceanscapes: Cooperation Across the Pacific, Sydney, Australia.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Thomas, T. (2014). Shrines in the landscape of New Georgia. In H. Martinsson-Wallin & T. Thomas (Eds.), Monuments and people in the Pacific. (pp. 47-76). Uppsala, Sweden: Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University.
Chapter in Book - Research
Martinsson-Wallin, H., & Thomas, T. (Eds.). (2014). Monuments and people in the Pacific. Uppsala, Sweden: Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University, 374p.
Edited Book - Research
Thomas, T. (2014). Objects and photographs from the Percy Sladen Trust Expedition. In E. Hviding & C. Berg (Eds.), The ethnographic experiment: A. M. Hocart and W. H. R. Rivers in Island Melanesia, 1908. (pp. 252-281). New York: Berghahn Books.
Chapter in Book - Research
Thomas, T. (2013). Sensory efficacy in the art of New Georgia. In L. Bolton, N. Thomas, E. Bonshek, J. Adams & B. Burt (Eds.), Melanesia: Art and encounter. (pp. 199-208). London, UK: British Museum Press.
Chapter in Book - Research
Thomas, T. (2012). [Review of the book Evolutionary and interpretive archaeologies: A dialogue]. Archaeology in New Zealand, 55(2), 133-136. [Book Review].
Journal - Professional & Other Non-Research Articles
Thomas, T. (2012). New Zealand. In N. A. Silberman (Ed.), Oxford companion to archaeology. (2nd ed.) Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/acref/9780199735785.001.0001
Chapter in Book - Research
Thomas, T. (2012). [Review of the book Polynesians in America: Pre-Columbian contacts with the New World]. Journal of Pacific History, 47(2), 235-237. doi: 10.1080/00223344.2012.670089
Journal - Research Other
Thomas, T. (2011). Lapita colonization across the Near/Remote Oceania boundary [Comment]. Current Anthropology, 52(6), 831. doi: 10.1086/662201
Journal - Research Other
Thomas, T. (2011, June-July). Tetepare Island and the post-Lapita archaeology of the Western Solomons. Verbal presentation at the Lapita Pacific Archaeology Conference: Pacific Archaeology: Documenting the Past 50,000 Years to the Present, Apia, Samoa.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Ricaut, F.-X. X., Thomas, T., Mormina, M., Cox, M. P., Bellatti, M., Foley, R. A., & Mirazon-Lahr, M. (2010). Ancient Solomon Islands mtDNA: Assessing Holocene settlement and the impact of European contact. Journal of Archaeological Science, 37, 1161-1170. doi: 10.1016/j.jas.2009.12.014
Journal - Research Article
Thomas, T. (2009). Canoe prow figurehead: New Georgia Island, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea. In Y. Le Fur (Ed.), Musée du Quai Branly: The collection: Art from Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas. (pp. 256-257). Paris: Flammarion.
Chapter in Book - Research
Thomas, T. (2009). Communities of practice in the archeaological record of New Georgia, Rendova and Tetepare. In P. J. Sheppard, T. Thomas & G. R. Summerhayes (Eds.), Lapita: Ancestors and descendants (New Zealand Archaeological Association Monograph 28). (pp. 119-145). Auckland, New Zealand: NZAA.
Chapter in Book - Research
Sheppard, P. J., Thomas, T., & Summerhayes, G. R. (Eds.). (2009). Lapita: Ancestors and descendants (New Zealand Archaeological Association Monograph 28). Auckland, New Zealand: NZAA, 229p.
Edited Book - Research
Thomas, T. (2009). Topogenic forms in New Georgia, Solomon Islands. Sites, 6(2), 92-118.
Journal - Research Article
Thomas, T. (2008). The long pause and the last pulse: Mapping East Polynesian colonisation. In S. O'Connor, G. Clark & F. Leach (Eds.), Islands of inquiry: Colonisation, seafaring and the archaeology of maritime landscapes. (pp. 97-112). Canberra, Australia: ANU E Press.
Chapter in Book - Research
Ricaut, F. X., Thomas, T., Arganini, C., Staughton, J., Leavesley, M., Bellatti, M., … Mirazon Lahr, M. (2008). Mitochondrial DNA variation in Karkar Islanders. Annals of Human Genetics, 72, 349-367. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-1809.2008.00430.x
Journal - Research Article
Thomas, T. (2007, November). The materiality of the past. Verbal presentation at the New Zealand Centre for Material Cultural Studies Forum: Matter in Place: Aotearoa/South Pacific Forum for Social Matters, Wellington, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Thomas, T. (2007, July). Communities of practice in the archaeology of Tetepare, Rendova and New Georgia. Verbal presentation at the Lapita Conference: Lapita Antecedents and Successors, Honiara, Solomon Islands.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Thomas, T. (2006, October). Sense and sensibility in the art of Roviana. Verbal presentation at the Melanesia Project Conference: Art and History in the Solomon Islands: Collections, Owners and Narratives, London.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Thomas, T. (2005) Pioneers of Island Melanesia archaelogical survey, Lokuru, Rendova. Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, University of Cambridge [Unpublished Field Report]. [Other Research Output].
Other Research Output
Thomas, T. (2005). Things of Roviana: Material culture, personhood and agency in nineteenth century Solomon Islands (PhD). University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. 380p.
Awarded Doctoral Degree
Leavesley, M., & Thomas, T. (2004, April). Investigating diversity in material culture and language. Poster session presented at the First Origin of Man, Language and Languages Conference, Leipzig, Germany.
Conference Contribution - Poster Presentation (not in published proceedings)
Thomas, T. (2004, May). Material culture and the abstraction of agency in Roviana, Solomon Islands [Invited paper]. Verbal presentation at the Material Anthropology and Museum Ethnography Lecture Series, Oxford, UK.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Walter, R., Thomas, T., & Sheppard, P. (2004). Cult assemblages and ritual practice in Roviana Lagoon, Solomon Islands. World Archaeology, 36(1), 142-157.
Journal - Research Article
Thomas, T. (2003). [Review of the book Edward W. Gifford and Richard Shutler Jr's Archaeological Expedition to New Caledonia in 1952]. Archaeology in New Zealand, 46(2), 113-115.
Journal - Professional & Other Non-Research Articles
Thomas, T. (2003, November). The abstraction of agency in Roviana, Solomon Islands [Invited paper]. Verbal presentation at the Association of Social Anthropologists Aoteraroa/New Zealand Annual Conference, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Thomas, T. (2001). The social practice of colonisation: Re-thinking prehistoric Polynesian migration. People & Culture in Oceania, 17, 27-46.
Journal - Research Article
Thomas, T. (2001). Data and discipline in the field: Archaeology, history, and ethnography in Roviana Lagoon. Archaeology in New Zealand.44(3), (pp. 180). [Abstract]
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Thomas, T., Sheppard, P., & Walter, R. (2001). Landscape, violence and social bodies: Ritualized architecture in a Solomon Islands society. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 7(3), 545-572.
Journal - Research Article
