Decoration traditions in the ancient cultures of the Pacific: Lapita pottery ornamentation and Polynesian tattoo

The practice of tattooing, as one of the most technically complex types of ritual attributes, is well-known thanks to abundant archeological and ethnographical data that come from a wide variety of cultures - both in terms of chronology and geography. The article focuses on such data from Polynesia that allows us not only to trace exceptionally spectacular local tattoo styles and tool kits for tattooing but also to link decorative compositions of the tattoo with the ornamentation of Lapita pottery.