What became of the Lapita? What does the archaeological record show us?
| The people called Lapita are thought to have settled the coastal areas of the islands, then moved inland as the ecology [pdf] changed and there was a need to grow crops. It is believed that, 1000 to 1500 years after the Lapita arrived in eastern Melanesia, the inhabitants had become the Polynesians, though the racial differences mean that Asian genes must have been added to those of the Melanesians to produce the Polynesian people. The Polynesians learnt through experience to design and build the double hulled canoe which could withstand rough seas and long distances, as well as the necessary navigational skills to carry these out. So when they needed to, perhaps when resources became scarce, they moved on to Eastern Polynesia – the Marquesas, Hawaii, Easter Island. |
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In the transition from Lapita to Polynesian, are there
signs in the
archaeological record of continuous living or a sudden
introduction of new resources or behaviors? The sites
excavated at Tonga
show continuous living, with an overlapping of
decorative and plainware pottery before the former stopped being
made. Finds have included house remains, pits and bones, large
quantities of pottery sherds, considerable amounts of shell ornaments
and tools, stone tools, and animal and bird bones.
Unfortunately,
so far no human
skeletons have been found, so analysis of skeletal traits has
not been possible.
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