The Lapita Peoples

Ancestors of the Oceanic World

Patrick Vinton Kirch (University of California, Berkeley)

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English

Blackwell Publishing
25 December 1996

History; Social & cultural history; Archaeology by period & region; Physical anthropology & ethnography

Series: The Peoples of South-East Asia and the Pacific

This is the first account of the Lapita peoples, the common ancestor of the Polynesians, Micronesians, and Austronesian-speaking Melanesians who over the last 4000 years colonized the islands of the Pacific, including New Zealand and territories as far afield as Fiji and Hawaii. Its purpose is to provide answers to some of the most puzzling archaeological and anthropological questions: who were the Lapita peoples? what was their history? how were they able to travel such great distances? and why did they do so? Recent discoveries (several by the author of this book) have begun at last to yield a coherent picture of these elusive peoples.

Professor Kirch takes the reader back many thousands of years to the earliest evidence of the Lapita peoples. He describes the research itself and conveys the excitement of the first discoveries of Lapita settlements, tools and pottery. He then traces the remarkable cultural development and spread of the Lapita peoples across the unoccupied islands of Eastern Melanesia, Micronesia and Western Polynesia. He shows how they became the progenitors of the Polynesian and Austronesian-speaking Melanesian peoples.

The author describes Lapita sites, communities and landscapes, the development of their decorated ceramics, and their shell-tool industry. He reveals the means by which they accomplished such prodigious voyages and explains why they undertook them. He illustrates his account with specially drawn maps and with a wide range of photographs, many published for the first time.

Drawing on the latest research in archaeology, anthropology, biology and linguistics, and written in clear, non-specialized language, this is an outstanding book of great importance to the history of South-East Asia and the Pacific.

By: Patrick Vinton Kirch (University of California Berkeley)
Imprint: Blackwell Publishing
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 230mm, Width: 156mm, Spine: 27mm
Weight: 595g
ISBN: 9781577180364
ISBN 10: 1577180364
Series: The Peoples of South-East Asia and the Pacific
Pages: 384
Publication Date: 25 December 1996
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly , A / AS level , Undergraduate
Format: Other merchandise
Publisher's Status: Active

"Plates. Figures. Maps. Tables. Preface. Acknowledgments. 1. Introduction. 2. Old Melanesia. 3. The Lapita Dispersal. 4. Lapita in Linguistics and Biological Perspective. 5. Lapita Pottery and the ""Community of Culture"". 6. Between Land and Sea: Houses, Settlements, and Society. 7. Lapita Economy and the Ecology of Islands. 8. Systems of Exchange. 9. Epilogue: The Lapita Legacy. Appendix: Gazetteer of Major Lapital Sites. Notes. References. Index."

Reviews for The Lapita Peoples: Ancestors of the Oceanic World

"""This book marvellously conveys the excitement of an entire generation of the Lapita research but at the same time presents a comprehensive account of what this research has revealed about the "" community culture"" associated with the Lapita ... an excellent and informative read. (Asian Studies Association of Australia)"