A radiocarbon chronology for the Eastern Lapita frontier in Tonga

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Abstract
We present a series of 31 AMS radiocarbon dates on charcoal samples from six sites with eastern Lapita and Polynesian plain ware occupations in the Ha'apai Islands of Tonga. These dates indicate an initial Lapita settlement beginning no earlier than 2850 cal BP, with a rapid transition to a Polynesian plain ware phase by 2650 cal BP at the latest. Comparison of the Ha'apai chronology to radiocarbon dates from elsewhere in Tonga and in Western Polynesia suggests it may have wider application, with only plain ware dates from American Samoa standing as the exception. The Ha'apai results have implications for the resolution of a rapid versus staged model for Lapita colonisation of Oceania. Rather than a Polynesian “express train”, Lapita settlement appears as a clinal progression involving a period of no less than 450 years.