Lapita

Soon I'll be heading home. I feel I've been here for a very long time. Last night, a number of people arrived and, after dinner, we went into Rabaul for a talk by Dimitri and Ben - archaeologists working on Lapita finds on Wotim Island. Fascinating stuff, but I found it difficult to get near enough to talk to them due to the usual motley array of bulging-eyed ex-pat Queenslanders. Eventually I managed to ask Dimitri and Ben if Lapita culture is a sign of migration or just spread of technology - Polynesia of course uninhabited pre-Lapita - but I didn't get a chance to ask about the spread across Melanesia, which had been inhabited for 30,000+ years. The drive to and from Rabaul in the dark was fine - a fallen tree across the road at one point brought me to high alert but it turned out to be innocent. Rabaul at night is like a BHP slag heap.