Washington/Quebec City - Vanuatu, the archipelago country in the South Pacific once known as the New Hebrides made its first splash on the world's map of cultural landmarks Monday when a UN committee put the spotlight on its famous 13th-century ruler and a gruesome burial practice of the times.

UNESCO's World Heritage Site committee designated places on three islands - Efate, Lelepa and Artok - associated with the life and death of Chief Roi Mata, the islands' last paramount chief in the 1200s.

His "mass burial site" that included 25 other bodies was "closely associated with the oral traditions surrounding the chief and the moral values he espoused," the panel found.

According to the encylopaedia Britannica, Roi Mata's death was followed by an "elaborate ritual" of burying alive one man and one woman from each clan under his rule.

Although UNESCO's website did not go into such detail, it said that the new World Heritage site "reflects the convergence between oral tradition and archaeology" and bore "witness to the persistence of Roi Matas social reforms and conflict resolution, still relevant to the people of the region."

The archeologist who found the mass grave in 1967 apparently drew upon oral legend and folklore to find it. (dpa)