Report of the Lapita Homeland Project

Abstract

The idea for the Lapita Homeland Project arose out of a conversation with Jim Specht at the 52nd ANZAAS Congress held at Macquarie University in Sydney in 1982. It was a time of increasing interest in Melanesian archaeology; Green's decade of research into Lapita sites in the Reefs-Santa Cruz group of the eastern Solomons had culminated in his influential synthesis (Green 1979) and some associated disputes with colleagues (e.g. Clark and Terrell 1978; Green 1982). Specht himself was continuing to research and publish on the archaeology of West New Britain (Specht 1974, 1981; Specht and Koettig 1981; Specht and Hollis 1982; Specht et al 1981a; Specht et al 1981b). At the Australian National University, Jean Kennedy and I had initially combined with Wallace Ambrose to expand his long term investigations into the Admiralty Islands, and Kennedy was extending this interest (Kennedy 1979, 1981a, 1981b, 1982, 1983). (From Introduction).