title: Early Lapita skeletons from Vanuatu show Polynesian craniofacial shape: Implications for Remote Oceanic settlement and Lapita origins.
abstract: With a cultural and linguistic origin in Island Southeast Asia the Lapita expansion is thought to have led ultimately to the Polynesian settlement of the east Polynesian region after a time of mixing/integration in north Melanesia and a nearly 2,000-y pause in West Polynesia. One of the major achievements of recent Lapita research in Vanuatu has been the discovery of the oldest cemetery found so far in the Pacific at Teouma on the south coast of Efate Island, opening up new prospects for the biological definition of the early settlers of the archipelago and of Remote Oceania in general. Using craniometric evidence from the skeletons in conjunction with archaeological data, we discuss here four debated issues: the Lapita-Asian connection, the degree of admixture, the Lapita-Polynesian connection, and the question of secondary population movement into Remote Oceania.
authors.affiliation: Maison de l'Archéologie et de l'Ethnologie, CNRS, UMR 7041, 92023 Nanterre, France; frederique.valentin@mae.u-paris10.fr.
authors.forename: Frédérique
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Valentin
authors.affiliation: Département de Préhistoire, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Musée de l'Homme, CNRS, UMR7194, 75116 Paris, France;
authors.forename: Florent
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5208-6203
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Détroit
authors.affiliation: School of Archaeology and Anthropology, College of Arts and Social Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia;
authors.forename: Matthew J T
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7293-6778
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Spriggs
authors.affiliation: School of Culture, History and Language, College of Asia & the Pacific, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.
authors.forename: Stuart
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bedford
mesh_terms: D001106:Archaeology; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D005006:Ethnicity; D005145:Face / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005843:Geography; D006801:Humans; D011114:Polynesia; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D011336:Probability; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012886:Skull / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D009514:Vanuatu
keywords: Pacific Islands peopling; Polynesian origin; early Lapita; morphometric analysis; skull