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Lapita



         


Lapita is the common name of an ancient Pacific Ocean culture which is believed by some to be the common ancestor of several cultures in Polynesia and surrounding areas. The type-site in New Caledonia was discovered in 1952.

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dating

Classic Lapita pottery was produced between 1350 and 750 BC cal. in the Bismarck archipelago, a late variety might have been produced there up to 250 BC cal. Local styles of Lapita pottery are found in Vanuatu and New Caledonia. Pottery persisted in Fiji, while it disappeared completely in other areas of Melanesia and in Siassi.

In Western Polynesia, the Lapita culture is found between from 800 BP cal onwards. The colonisation spread from the Fija-Samoa-Tonga area to Hawaii, Easter Island and New Zealand. But no pottery was carried into further Polynesia.

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material culture

The fibre-tempered pottery is typically decorated with a dentate stamp. The cultural package includes ground stone adzes and shell artefacts. Obsidian was widely traded.

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economy

Domesticates consisted of pig, dog and chicken. Horticulture was based on root and tree crops. This was supplemented by fishing and mollusc gathering. Long distance trade of obsidian and shells was practiced.

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settlements

In the west, villages were located on small offshore islands or the beaches of larger islands. Some houses were built on stilts over larger lagoons. In New Britain, settlements are found inland as well, near the obsidian sources. In the eastern archipelago, all settlements are located on land, sometimes some distance inland.

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distribition

Lapita pottery is known from Bismarck archipelago to Samoa and Tonga. The domesticates spread into further Oceania as well. Humans and their domesticates and species that were introduced maybe involuntarily like the Polynesian rat (rattus exulans) led to extinctions of endemic species on many islands, especially of flightless birds.

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language

The 'Lapita people' are supposed to have spoken proto-Oceanic, a precursor of the Oceanic branch of Austronesian. But this is the usual speculation trying to link material culture and language, unsupported by independent sources.

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origin

An Southeast Asian origin of the Lapita complex is assumed by most scholars. Intrepid explorers, sailing out into the East, the 'Vikings of the sunrise' (Buck 1938) were proposed as spreading civilisation into the furthest reaches of the globe. P. Bellwood sees the neolithic dispersal as driven by a rapid population growth in east and southeast-Asia (Formosa). The model is called 'the express-train to Polynesia'. But direct links between Lapita and mainland Southeast Asia are still missing, due to a lack of data in Indonesia and Malaysia. Other scholars like J. Allen located the origin of the Lapita complex in the Bismarck archipelago that was first colonised 30.000-35.000 BC. Others, like Green propose a combination of intrusion, innovation and integration (the triple I-model). Others see obsidian trade as the motor of the spread of Lapita-elements in the western distribution area.

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sources

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external links

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