ABSTRACT
The islands of Vanuatu were formed by volcanic upheaval approximately twenty million years ago. Coral reefs grew up around the islands as millennia passed. Active volcanoes still dot the islands today. Archaeological evidence shows that the islands were first inhabited around 3000 B.C. The first colonists were part of a proto-Melanesian wave of immigra tion that originated in Indonesia and eventually populated the Pacific Islands. The oldest human settlement in Vanuatu has been found on Malo Island. The so-called Lapita people, named after a site in Lapita, New Caledonia, date from 1400 B.C. They were known for their distinctive pottery, deco rated with pinpricks. By 500 B.C., more Lapita people colo nized the islands, intermarrying with the preexisting Melanesian inhabitants. The pottery was exported between A.D. 100 and 700, reaching all of the Vanuatu Islands as well as the Solomons.
