Editing Vanuatu (section)

===Prehistory===
The history of Vanuatu before European colonisation is mostly obscure because of the lack of written sources up to that point, and because only limited archaeological work has been conducted; Vanuatu's volatile geology and climate is also likely to have destroyed or hidden many prehistoric sites.<ref name="Archaeology">{{cite journal |last1=Spriggs |last2=Bedford |first1=Matthew |first2=Stuart |title=The Archaeology of Vanuatu: 3,000 Years of History across Islands of Ash and Coral |url=https://www.academia.edu/24751281 |website=Oxford Handbooks Online |publisher=Oxford University Press |access-date=22 August 2020 |archive-date=6 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211206010724/https://www.academia.edu/24751281 |url-status=live }}</ref> Archaeological evidence gathered since the 1980s supports the theory that the Vanuatuan islands were first settled about 3,000 years ago, in the period roughly between 1100 [[Common Era|BCE]] and 700 BCE.<ref name="Archaeology"/>{{sfn|Bedford|Spriggs|2008}} These were almost certainly people of the [[Lapita culture]]. The formerly widespread idea that Vanuatu might have been only marginally affected by this culture was rendered obsolete by the evidence uncovered in recent decades at numerous sites on most of the islands in the archipelago, ranging from the [[Banks Islands]] in the north to [[Aneityum]] in the south.<ref name="Archaeology"/>

Notable Lapita sites include [[Teouma]] on [[Éfaté]], [[Uripiv]], and [[Vao Island|Vao]] off the coast of [[Malakula]], and Makue on [[Aore]]. Several ancient burial sites have been excavated, most notably Teouma on Éfaté, which has a large ancient cemetery containing the remains of 94 individuals.<ref name="Archaeology" /> There are also sites – on Éfaté and on the adjacent islands of [[Lelepa Island|Lelepa]] and [[Eretoka]] – associated with the 16th–17th century chief or chiefs called [[Roy Mata]]. (This may be a title held by different men over several generations.) Roy Mata is said to have united local clans and instituted and presided over an era of peace.<ref name="Beginning"/><ref name="Challenges">{{cite book |title=Chief Roi Mata's Domain – Challenges facing a World Heritage-nominated property in Vanuatu |publisher=ICOMOS |s2cid=55627858 }}</ref>

The stories about Roy Mata come from local oral tradition and are consistent with centuries-old evidence uncovered at archaeological sites.<ref name="Challenges"/> The Lapita sites became Vanuatu's first [[World Heritage Site|UNESCO World Heritage Site]] in 2008.<ref>[https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1280/ "Chief Roi Mata's Domain"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211126050727/https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1280/ |date=26 November 2021 }}, UNESCO</ref><ref name="RNZI_40819">{{cite news |url=http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=40819 |title=World Heritage Status set to ensure protection of Vanuatu's Roi Mata domain |date=9 July 2008 |work=[[Radio New Zealand International]] |access-date=6 November 2011 |archive-date=7 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120307214428/http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=40819 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Fels Cave Drawings 1.jpg|thumb|left|Cave drawings, [[Lelepa Island]], associated with the [[Roy Mata]] World Heritage Site]]
The immediate origins of the Lapita lie to the northwest, in the [[Solomon Islands (archipelago)|Solomon Islands archipelago]] and the [[Bismarck Archipelago]] of [[Papua New Guinea]],<ref name="Archaeology"/> though DNA studies of a 3,000-year-old skeleton found near [[Port Vila]] in 2016 indicates that some may have arrived directly from the [[Philippines]] and/or [[Taiwan]], pausing only briefly en route.<ref>{{cite web |title=Origins of Vanuatu and Tonga's first people revealed |date=4 October 2016 |url=https://www.anu.edu.au/news/all-news/origins-of-vanuatu-and-tongas-first-people-revealed |publisher=Australian National University |access-date=22 August 2020 |archive-date=6 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211206012822/https://www.anu.edu.au/news/all-news/origins-of-vanuatu-and-tongas-first-people-revealed |url-status=live }}</ref> They brought with them crops such as [[yam (vegetable)|yam]], [[taro]], and banana, as well as domesticated animals such as pigs and chickens.<ref name="Archaeology"/> Their arrival is coincident with the extinction of several species, such as the [[Mekosuchus|land crocodile]] (''Mekosuchus kalpokasi''), [[Meiolania|land tortoise]] (''Meiolania damelipi'') and various flightless bird species.<ref name="Archaeology"/> Lapita settlements reached as far east as [[Tonga]] and [[Samoa]] at their greatest extent.<ref name="Archaeology"/>

Over time, the Lapita culture lost much of its early unity; as such, it became increasingly fragmented, the precise reasons for which are unclear. Over the centuries, pottery, settlement and burial practices in Vanuatu all evolved in a more localised direction, with long-distance trade and migration patterns contracting.<ref name="Archaeology"/> Nevertheless, some limited long-distance trade did continue, with similar cultural practices and late-period items also being found in [[Fiji]], [[New Caledonia]], the Bismarcks and the Solomons.<ref name="Archaeology"/> Finds in central and southern Vanuatu, such as distinctive adzes, also indicate some trade connections with, and possibly population movements of, Polynesian peoples to the east.<ref name="Archaeology"/><ref name="Beginning"/>

Over time, it is thought that the Lapita either mixed with, or acted as pioneers for, migrants coming from the Bismarks and elsewhere in Melanesia, ultimately producing the darker-skinned physiognomy that is typical of modern Ni-Vanuatu.<ref>{{cite web|title=Study of ancient skulls from Vanuatu cemetery sheds light on Polynesian migration, scientists say|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-29/vanuatu-skulls-shed-light-on-origin-of-polynesian-people/7058120|website=ABC Radio Canberra|date=29 December 2015|access-date=23 August 2020|archive-date=6 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211206085916/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-29/vanuatu-skulls-shed-light-on-origin-of-polynesian-people/7058120|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Scientists Reveal the Genetic Timeline of Ancient Vanuatu People|url=https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-reveal-the-genetic-timeline-of-ancient-vanuatu-people/|website=SciTech Daily|date=9 March 2018|access-date=23 August 2020|archive-date=6 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211206042630/https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-reveal-the-genetic-timeline-of-ancient-vanuatu-people/|url-status=live}}</ref> Linguistically, the Lapita peoples' Austronesian languages were maintained, with all of the numerous 100+ autochthonous [[languages of Vanuatu]] being classified as belonging to the [[Oceanic languages|Oceanic]] branch of the [[Austronesian language family]].<ref name=eth>[https://web.archive.org/web/20130421035933/http://www.ethnologue.com/country/VU/languages "Languages of Vanuatu"] – 2013 archive from [[Ethnologue]].</ref>

This linguistic hyperdiversity resulted from a number of factors: continuing waves of migration, the existence of numerous decentralised and generally self-sufficient communities, hostilities between people groups, with none able to dominate any of the others, and the difficult geography of Vanuatu that impeded inter- and intra-island travel and communication.<ref>{{cite web|title=The exceptional linguistic diversity of Vanuatu|url=http://www.sorosoro.org/en/2015/09/the-exceptional-linguistic-diversity-of-vanuatu/|website=Sorosoro|date=9 June 2011|access-date=23 August 2020|archive-date=6 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211206042745/https://www.sorosoro.org/en/2015/09/the-exceptional-linguistic-diversity-of-vanuatu/|url-status=live}}</ref> The geological record also shows that a huge volcanic eruption occurred on [[Ambrym]] in {{Circa|200}} CE, which would have devastated local populations and likely resulted in further population movements.<ref name="Archaeology"/><ref name="Beginning">{{cite web |last1=Flexner |first1=James |last2=Spriggs |first2=Matthew |last3=Bedford |first3=Stuart |title=Beginning Historical Archaeology in Vanuatu: Recent Projects on the Archaeology of Spanish, French, and Anglophone Colonialism |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301294502 |website=Research Gate |publisher=Springer |access-date=22 August 2020}}</ref><ref name=kuwae2006 >{{Cite journal |first1=Chaochao |last1=Gao |first2=Alan |last2=Robock |first3=Stephen |last3=Self |first4=Jeffrey B. |last4=Witter |author5=J. P. Steffenson |author6=Henrik Brink Clausen |author7=Marie-Louise Siggaard-Andersen |author8=Sigfus Johnsen |author9=Paul A. Mayewski |author10=Caspar Ammann |journal=Journal of Geophysical Research |volume=111 |issue=D12107 |page=11 |year=2006 |doi=10.1029/2005JD006710 |title=The 1452 or 1453 A.D. Kuwae eruption signal derived from multiple ice core records: Greatest volcanic sulfate event of the past 700 years |url=http://climate.envsci.rutgers.edu/pdf/Kuwae27.pdf |bibcode=2006JGRD..11112107G |access-date=28 August 2020 |archive-date=28 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928005112/http://climate.envsci.rutgers.edu/pdf/Kuwae27.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Human cannibalism]] was widespread in some parts of Vanuatu.<ref>{{cite book | first= Bruce M. | last= Knauft | title= From Primitive to Postcolonial in Melanesia and Anthropology | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=YM18gG16Z7YC&pg=PA103 | year= 1999 | publisher= [[University of Michigan Press]] | isbn= 978-0-472-06687-2 | page= 103 | via= Google Books | access-date= 18 October 2015 | archive-date= 1 January 2016 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160101095349/https://books.google.com/books?id=YM18gG16Z7YC&pg=PA103 | url-status= live }}</ref>