Lapita dentate-stamped pottery chronology

Record summary

Lapita dentate-stamped pottery remains the principal archaeological marker for a major phase of Pacific expansion, but its chronology, production centres, and relationship to Austronesian-speaking communities continue to be refined. Bayesian radiocarbon studies and compositional analyses compare early assemblages in the Bismarcks, Fiji, Tonga, and New Caledonia. The lead matters because ceramic style is often used to infer migration and cultural continuity. Uncertainty stems from reservoir effects, stylistic convergence, uneven sampling, and the danger of equating pottery distributions with whole populations.