Lapita Cultural Complex and the Lapita Homeland Debate

Record summary

Lapita refers to archaeological communities recognized especially through dentate-stamped pottery, settlement remains, shell ornaments, and long-distance voyaging across the western Pacific. The complex is central to reconstructing the movement of Austronesian-speaking peoples and the formation of later Polynesian societies. Researchers debate how much cultural continuity existed between Lapita settlers and earlier Near Oceania populations, as well as the timing and causes of eastern expansion. The term describes an archaeological assemblage, not a single homogeneous people or a proof of one migration narrative.