Lapita and Oceanic Cultural Origins: Excavations in the Mussau Islands, Bismarck Archipelago, 1985

The Lapita Cultural Complex, ranging 5,000 km from the Bismarck Archipelago to Western Polynesia and spanning the period 3600 to 2500 B.P., represents the initial colonization of the SW Pacific by Austronesian peoples. Recent work in the Bismarck Archipelago, the putative Lapita “homeland,” has yielded new data on the initial phases of the Complex. This report summarizes excavations at three Lapita sites in the Mussau Islands. In addition to classically-decorated ceramics, the sites produced a wide array of portable artifacts, faunal materials, and anaerobically-preserved wooden architecture. The implications of these data for Lapita origins, economy, and long-distance exchange are discussed.