Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun An ancient material culture of Oceania who may have spoken Proto-Oceanic and were the ancestors of many modern peoples in the region.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Coined 1952 by Edwin Gifford from Haveke xapeta'a ("place where one digs a hole"), believed to be in reference to archeological excavations in New Caledonia.

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Examples

  • This expansion of human settlement in the Pacific was linked to the rapid spread of the earliest pottery so far found in Oceania, an ornately decorated ware called Lapita after an archaeological site in New Caledonia.

    The Prehistoric Pacific 1998

  • Most Australian megafauna species are thought to have died out almost 50,000 years ago but the giant turtles were still around when a people known as the Lapita arrived in the area -- evidently with an appetite for turtle meat.

    Latest News - UPI.com 2010

  • However, University of New South Wales researchers said the giant turtles were alive when people known as the Lapita arrived in the area about 3,000 year ago.

    Daily News & Analysis 2010

  • But according to scientists at the University of New South Wales the giant turtles were alive when a people known as the Lapita arrived in the area about 3,000 year ago.

    Telegraph.co.uk: news, business, sport, the Daily Telegraph newspaper, Sunday Telegraph 2010

  • However, University of New South Wales researchers said the giant turtles were alive when people known as the Lapita arrived in the area about 3,000 year ago.

    Gaea Times (by Simple Thoughts) Breaking News and incisive views 24/7 2010

  • Experts have long viewed the faces sometimes sketched by ancient potters on "Lapita" pottery as human in appearance.

    Science 2006

  • The term "Lapita" was coined in 1952: an American, Edwin Gifford, was digging on the Foué

    The Guardian World News 2010

  • He asked a Kanak for the name of the site, but mistook the response, x apeta'a, for "Lapita".

    The Guardian World News 2010

  • The term "Lapita" was coined in 1952: an American, Edwin Gifford, was digging on the Foué

    The Guardian World News 2010

  • The term "Lapita" was coined in 1952: an American, Edwin Gifford, was digging on the Foué

    The Guardian World News 2010

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