Early Societies of Oceania 1500 B.C.E.-700 C.E.

2 Early societies of Oceania, 1500 B.C.E.-700 C.E.

Australia & New Guinea (1) Human migrants arrived in Australia & New Guinea at least 60K years ago –By mid-centuries of 1st millennium CE, human communities in all habitable islands of Pacific Ocean –~10,000 years ago, rising seas separated Australia & New Guinea –Australia  hunting & gathering until 19th-20th CE –New Guinea  Turned to agriculture ~ 3000 BCE

Australia & New Guinea (2) Austronesian peoples from southeast Asia were seafarers to New Guinea ~3000 BCE Early agriculture in New Guinea  root crops & herding animals

Peopling of Pacific Islands Austronesian migration to Polynesia –Outrigger canoes enabled them to sail safely –Agriculture and domesticated animals Austronesian migrations to Micronesia & Madagascar

Lapita Peoples Lapita Society from New Guinea to Tonga ( B.C.E.) –Agricultural villages –Pottery with geometric designs –Networks of trade/communication  pottery, obsidian, shells, tools traded –After 500 B.C.E. trade network declined; cultures developed independently –Hierarchical chiefdoms; tension led to migration –Divine or semi-divine chiefs: led public rituals, oversaw irrigation

Facial Reconstruction of Lapita burial on Fiji, ca