Lapita culture

Lapita culture, cultural complex of what were presumably the original human settlers of Melanesia, much of Polynesia, and parts of Micronesia, and dating between 1600 and 500 bce. It is named for a type of fired pottery that was first extensively investigated at the site of Lapita in New Caledonia.

The Lapita people were originally from Taiwan and other regions of East Asia. They were highly mobile seaborne explorers and colonists who had established themselves on the Bismarck Archipelago (northeast of New Guinea) by 2000 bce. Beginning about 1600 bce they spread to the Solomon Islands; they had reached Fiji, Tonga, and the rest of western Polynesia by 1000 bce; and they had dispersed to Micronesia by 500 bce.

The Lapita people are known principally on the basis of the remains of their fired pottery, which consists of beakers, cooking pots, and bowls. Many of the pottery shards that have been found are decorated with geometric designs made by stamping the unfired clay with a toothlike implement. A few shards with figurative designs have also been found. Lapita pottery has been found from New Guinea eastward to Samoa. Fishhooks, pieces of obsidian and chert flakes, and beads and rings made of shells are the other principal artifacts of the Lapita culture.

The Lapita appear to have been skilled sailors and navigators who subsisted largely, but not entirely, by fishing along the coasts of the islands on which they lived. They may also have practiced domestic agriculture and animal husbandy to a limited extent, although the evidence for this remains fragmentary.