How large were most kinship-based local groups in traditional Melanesian societies?

In traditional Melanesian societies, most kinship-based local groups were relatively small, typically consisting of between 20 and 100 members.1

These groups were generally autonomous due to the common absence of centralized political institutions. However, there were exceptions to this size; in densely settled regions, such as parts of the Sepik River area and the New Guinea Highlands, kinship- and descent-based polities were considerably larger. In some instances, such as in the Sepik River basin, these larger groups aggregated to form villages with populations exceeding 1,000 people.12