The Peopling of the Pacific

Record summary

Paul Rivet’s work on the peopling of the Pacific argued for multiple population movements and used comparative anthropology, linguistics, and cultural evidence to discuss relationships among Polynesians, Melanesians, and peoples outside Oceania. Rivet’s broader diffusionist framework is important because it offered a scholarly alternative to single-origin models, while some specific connections later lost support. This lead is useful for comparing early twentieth-century attempts to explain Pacific diversity before modern archaeology and genetics. The relevant publications should be checked in their original French editions and against later reassessments.