A use‐wear and residue study of 56 retouched obsidian flakes from seven Lapita sites in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu confirms that they had been used for tattooing. These specialised tools all bear one or more very small points formed by alternating retouch. A detailed comparison of use traces and pigments on these and 19 additional skin piercing tools analysed previously challenges the notion of homogeneity in cultural practices across the broad geographical range where Lapita pottery was used. The existence of shared innovations together with variation in the selection of pigments and the shape of the obsidian artefacts used for puncturing skin highlight a complex pattern of similarities and differences within this community of culture.

中文翻译：

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纹身工具和拉皮塔文化中心

对来自巴布亚新几内亚，所罗门群岛和瓦努阿图的七个拉皮塔地区的56片修饰的黑曜石片进行的使用磨损和残留研究表明，它们已被用于纹身。这些专用工具都带有一个或多个由交替修饰形成的非常小的点。这些和19种其他皮肤穿刺工具上的使用痕迹和色素的详细比较以前曾挑战过，在使用Lapita陶器的广泛地理范围内，文化习俗中的同质性概念受到了挑战。共同创新的存在以及颜料选择的差异以及用于穿刺皮肤的黑曜石制品的形状，突显了该文化社区内相似和不同的复杂模式。