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Lapita pottery has long been held as the key to Polynesian colonization of the Eastern Pacific. Archaeology, chronology and gene trees of the Pacific one finds that there is no connection whatsoever between Polynesian and Lapita culture. Lapita pottery is a finely decorated coil built, low fired pottery commonly found in archaeological sites in the Western Pacific.
The earliest Lapita sites are in the Bismark Archipelago and are dated at 3900 years BP. The Lapita culture does not date before the actual time of the arrival of Melanesians, who have lived in New Guinea and it's surrounding Islands for over 40,000 years. Lapita pottery is commonly found in coastal locations on the Islands of New Guinea, Vanuatu, Solomons, New Caledonia, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga.
The Lapita people are believed to have spread eastwards and colonized Fiji, Samoa and Tonga 3,500 years ago, which predates the arrival of the Polynesian people in the Pacific by 1300 years. Lapita pottery is common on most Melanesian islands and is often found associated with Melanesian deposits, but is not found among any Eastern Polynesian archaeological deposits in Hawai'i, Rapa Nui, Tahiti, Tuamotus, Raivavae, etc. or any other Eastern Polynesian Islands.
The archaeological group on Melanesian Islands shows a gradual progression of design styles which combined with classic Melanesian designs such as Mangassi and Naviti styles, marking the end of the Lapita culture in the archaeological record at about 420BC. This was over 400 years before Polynesians arrived in Western Polynesia (Samoa and Tonga).
According to geneticists, Polynesian expansion in the Pacific was rapid. Genetics clearly shows that the pure strain of Eastern Polynesian genes began expanding 2,200 years ago in isolation from all other Pacific cultures, outlined by Bing Su and Mark Stoneking in Polynesian Y Chromozome. Their research also shows that Polynesians finally made contact with Melanesians merely 1,000 years ago.
The earliest Lapita sites are in the Bismark Archipelago and are dated at 3900 years BP. The Lapita culture does not date before the actual time of the arrival of Melanesians, who have lived in New Guinea and it's surrounding Islands for over 40,000 years. Lapita pottery is commonly found in coastal locations on the Islands of New Guinea, Vanuatu, Solomons, New Caledonia, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga.
The Lapita people are believed to have spread eastwards and colonized Fiji, Samoa and Tonga 3,500 years ago, which predates the arrival of the Polynesian people in the Pacific by 1300 years. Lapita pottery is common on most Melanesian islands and is often found associated with Melanesian deposits, but is not found among any Eastern Polynesian archaeological deposits in Hawai'i, Rapa Nui, Tahiti, Tuamotus, Raivavae, etc. or any other Eastern Polynesian Islands.
The archaeological group on Melanesian Islands shows a gradual progression of design styles which combined with classic Melanesian designs such as Mangassi and Naviti styles, marking the end of the Lapita culture in the archaeological record at about 420BC. This was over 400 years before Polynesians arrived in Western Polynesia (Samoa and Tonga).
According to geneticists, Polynesian expansion in the Pacific was rapid. Genetics clearly shows that the pure strain of Eastern Polynesian genes began expanding 2,200 years ago in isolation from all other Pacific cultures, outlined by Bing Su and Mark Stoneking in Polynesian Y Chromozome. Their research also shows that Polynesians finally made contact with Melanesians merely 1,000 years ago.