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Human skeletal and dental remains from Lapita sites (1600–500 B.C. ) in the Mussau Islands, Melanesia
Author(s) -
Kirch Patrick V.,
Swindler Daris R.,
Turner Christy G.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
american journal of physical anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1096-8644
pISSN - 0002-9483
DOI - 10.1002/ajpa.1330790107
Subject(s) - prehistory , affinities , archaeology , indonesian , geography , anthropology , biology , sociology , linguistics , biochemistry , philosophy
The Lapita Cultural Complex, radiometrically dated to between 3,600 and 2,500 B.P. , is regarded on archaeological evidence as ancestral to modern Austronesian‐speaking cultures of eastern Melanesia and Polynesia. To date, there has been a lack of human skeletal and dental material from Lapita sites; thus, the present sample from Mussau Island, although small, offers an opportunity to present some preliminary observations of their importance to Oceanic prehistory. The present analysis, based mainly on teeth, suggests that the Mussau Island Lapita people had slightly closer affinities with Indonesian than with Melanesian populations. These results correspond well with linguistic and archaeological evidence regarding the origin of the Lapita Cultural Complex.