The Lapita colonization,which occurred in the late Holocene, is one of the most remarkable prehistorical human
colonizations. To explore the possible influence of El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on this event, bulk
oxygen (δ18Oshell) and carbon (δ13Cshell) stable isotope records were obtained from eight fossil Tridacna sp. and
Hippopus hippopus giant clams, unearthed from Lapita archeological sites of New Caledonia and Vanuatu.
These giant clamswere dated ca. 3.8–2.3 ka BP. These δ18Oshell and δ13Cshell records were used as proxies for combined
sea surface temperature and salinity and precipitation. In addition, geochemical records were obtained
from modern conspecifics from New Caledonia to create a baseline against which fossil giant clam records
could be compared.
The isotopic records revealed the occurrence of two distinct climate states in New Caledonia ca. 3.2–2.3 ka BP:
one climate state was characterized by climatic conditions similar to those observed today and the second was
comparable to warmer and wetter conditions similar to Vanuatu's modern climate. Considering that previous
paleo-climate reconstructions in the West Pacific did not show a shift of the mean climatic state and that they
revealed aweak centennial climate variability, our results suggest that the climatic mean state has been alternating
between these two states at a decadal or an inter-annual frequency. This strong climate variability recorded in the
giant clam shells may reflect an increase in the ENSO variability, supporting the hypothesis of an ENSO-forced
Lapita colonization as suggested by Anderson et al. (2006).
