The Peopling of the Pacific: The Last Great Human Expansion

Introduction

• Remarkable human history chapter: settling of the Pacific
• Achieved without modern navigation, shipbuilding, or food preservation
• Voyages spanned 8,000 miles (~13,000 kilometers)

Early Settlement

Island Southeast Asia (~40,000 years ago)

• Sea levels were lower: Sunderland and Sahul land masses exposed
• First phase of human expansion: ancestors of Papuans and Aboriginal Australians
• Reached as far as Solomon Islands in Near Oceania
• Remote Oceania remained uninhabited

Rising Sea Levels

• Seas rose over thousands of years, forming continental islands seen today

Second Phase of Expansion (2500-2000 BCE)

From Southeast Asia

• Origin: Southeast coast of China and Taiwan
• Austronesian-speaking peoples of East Asian ancestry
• Rapid expansion into Island Southeast Asia

Migration Streams

1. Philippines Expansion
   • Split into two groups
   • One to Marianas (~1500 BCE): First islands settled in Remote Oceania
   • Another to Palau (~1000 BCE)
2. Southward Movement
   • Indo-Malaysian Archipelago
3. New Guinea and Bismarck Archipelago
   • Fusion with Papuan cultures: La Pizza cultural complex
   • Distinctive pottery by 1350 BCE

La Pizza Expansion (1100-800 BCE)

• Leapfrogged Solomons
• Settled: Santa Cruz Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa
• Long Pause: No further eastward expansion for 1,500 years

Genetics and Cultural Fusion

• Mixing of Papuans and East Asian Austronesians
• By end of La Pizza period: Island Melanesia contains both genetic ancestries
• Western Polynesia (Tonga, Samoa) has less Papuan ancestry than Island Melanesia

Settlement of Micronesia (100 BCE - 200 CE)

• Lower sea levels allowed settlement of hundreds of islands
• Post-La Pizza Expansion
  • Proto-nuclear Micronesian speakers settled: Karibos, Nauru, Marshalls, Central Eastern Carolinas
  • Yap settled from Bismarck Archipelago (likely Admiral Islands) around 50 BCE

Polynesian Expansion (800-1200 CE)

• End of Long Pause (~800 CE)
• Eastward Expansion: Eastern Polynesia
  • Origins: Outlier Polynesia or Tonga Samoa area
• Settlement sequence:
  • Leeward to Marquesas, Astrol, Gambia, Makara, Rapanu
  • Hawaii (~1000 CE)
  • Aotearoa (New Zealand) last major island settled by ~1250 CE

Conclusion

• Final chapter closes on peopling of the Pacific
• Significant human expansion achievement

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