Lapita ware
Quick Summary
Lapita ware refers to a distinctive type of pottery associated with the Lapita culture, which flourished between approximately 1600 and 500 BCE. This culture is believed to be the original human settlers of Melanesia, much of Polynesia, and parts of Micronesia. The Lapita people originated from Taiwan and East Asia, becoming skilled seaborne explorers who spread across the Pacific.1
The pottery, named after a site in New Caledonia, is characterized by geometric designs stamped into the unfired clay using a tooth-like implement. Some shards also feature figurative designs, including early human representations found in the Pacific Islands. Other artifacts include fishhooks, obsidian flakes, and shell beads. Lapita pottery has been discovered from New Guinea eastward to Samoa, indicating extensive trade networks.12
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FijiHistory of Fiji…style of pottery known as Lapita ware. That pottery is generally associated with peoples who had well-developed skills in navigation and canoe building and were horticulturists. From Fiji the Lapita culture was carried to Tonga and Samoa, where the first distinctively Polynesian cultures evolved. Archaeological evidence suggests that two other…
Read More…style of pottery known as Lapita ware. That pottery is generally associated with peoples who had well-developed skills in navigation and canoe building and were horticulturists. From Fiji the Lapita culture was carried to Tonga and Samoa, where the first distinctively Polynesian cultures evolved. Archaeological evidence suggests that two other…
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Solomon IslandsPrehistoryPottery of the Lapita culture was in use in Santa Cruz and the Reef Islands about 1500 bce. Material dating to about 1000 bce has also been excavated at Vatuluma Cave (Guadalcanal), on Santa Ana Island, and on the outlying islands of Anuta and Tikopia.
Read MorePottery of the Lapita culture was in use in Santa Cruz and the Reef Islands about 1500 bce. Material dating to about 1000 bce has also been excavated at Vatuluma Cave (Guadalcanal), on Santa Ana Island, and on the outlying islands of Anuta and Tikopia.
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Lapita cultureThe Lapita people are known principally on the basis of the remains of their fired pottery, which consists of beakers, cooking pots, and bowls. Many of the pottery shards that have been found are decorated with geometric designs made by stamping the unfired clay with a…
Read MoreThe Lapita people are known principally on the basis of the remains of their fired pottery, which consists of beakers, cooking pots, and bowls. Many of the pottery shards that have been found are decorated with geometric designs made by stamping the unfired clay with a…
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Oceanic art and architectureMelanesia…is the ceramic style called Lapita, after a site in New Caledonia. It is the most prominent material aspect of a culture that flourished from approximately 1900 bc to the beginning of the modern era and that achieved an astonishingly wide distribution. Lapita sites, or other evidences of Lapita influence,…
Read More…is the ceramic style called Lapita, after a site in New Caledonia. It is the most prominent material aspect of a culture that flourished from approximately 1900 bc to the beginning of the modern era and that achieved an astonishingly wide distribution. Lapita sites, or other evidences of Lapita influence,…
Read More- Oceanic arts
…postulated on the basis of Lapita pottery, which is stylistically similar to early ceramics found on the Moluccas. These early people settled farther east on Tonga and Samoa, where a millennium of isolation bred a distinct Polynesian culture. (See also Melanesian culture; Micronesian culture.) When Samoan seafarers arrived on Marquesas,…
Read More…postulated on the basis of Lapita pottery, which is stylistically similar to early ceramics found on the Moluccas. These early people settled farther east on Tonga and Samoa, where a millennium of isolation bred a distinct Polynesian culture. (See also Melanesian culture; Micronesian culture.) When Samoan seafarers arrived on Marquesas,…
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