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). Show more