Early Lapita skeletons from Vanuatu show Polynesian craniofacial shape: Implications for Remote Oceanic settlement and Lapita origins

Abstract

region from the eastern part, with a smaller diversity in the eastern populations in what is today Western Polynesia. Studies on Lapita skeletal morphology (Table S1) have identified diversity in the physical makeup along with some level of local homogeneity, similarities with pre-Neolithic specimens from Island Southeast Asia and protohistoric/historic populations from southeastern Melanesia, and features not represented in any later Pacific Island groups (14–20). In a recent biodistance study of mandibles from Watom (New Britain), Pietrusewsky et al. (16) conclude that “expectation that skeletons associated with the Lapita Cultural Complex, Early or Late Lapita, biologically resemble the modern-day inhabitants of Remote Oceania is not supported” and challenge “the prevailing orthodox view that the origin of Polynesians is associated with Lapita culture.” However, whether the few analyzed individuals represent initial “Lapita people” is open to question. Because they postdate the initial appearance of the Lapita culture in the region (20), they may actually reflect subsequent gene flow and migratory events within the Melanesian region, saying more “about the contemporary indigenous inhabitants of eastern Melanesia than . . . about the ancestors of the Polynesians,” as noted by Pietrusewsky et al. (18). Alternatively, the possibility that these late Lapita and (immediately) post-Lapita individuals derive directly from the initial “Lapita population” is not excluded, because heterogeneity among the early populations of the region and among the Lapita groups themselves might be expected (21–23). Past haplotype distribution reconstructed with ancient DNA (aDNA) data obtained from skeletal remains representing early human groups may theoretically be a means to investigate the Significance The question of the origin of Pacific Islanders has exercised scientists since the first explorers’ voyages of the 16th century. Physical resemblance between Polynesians and Asian populations was detected, but in between were the islands of Melanesia, inhabited largely by people of different phenotype. However, the Lapita culture bridged this geographical divide 3,000 y ago. Morphological studies of early Lapita colonists from Teouma, Vanuatu align them with present-day Polynesian and Asian populations, whereas skeletal remains of later generations show a more Melanesian phenotype predominating. We suggest that migration streams from already-inhabited parts of Melanesia dating from the late-Lapita phase ultimately dominated the original Polynesian phenotype in eastern Melanesia, but not in Polynesia, which became relatively isolated soon after initial settlement. Author contributions: F.V. and F.D. designed research; F.V. and F.D. performed research; F.V. and F.D. collated the data; F.V. and F.D. analyzed data; and F.V., F.D., M.J.T.S., and S.B. wrote the paper. This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.