ABSTRACT
Prehistoric evidence from the island group of New Caledonia demonstrates the development of one of the most intensive prehistoric subsistence regimes known from Melanesia. Recent evidence also throws light on the regional diversity throughout New Caledonia and the complexity of reasons lying behind the acceptance or rejection of new crops and practices. Although land use was intensive, two of the major features of subsistence and consumption elsewhere in the western Pacific, the pig and kava, do not appear to have been present in prehistoric New Caledonia. Finally the prehistoric evidence can help throw new light on the impact of European contact and cause us to think again about the usefulness of recent ethnographies for interpreting prehistoric periods.
