ABSTRACT
The results of our multivariate and cladistic analyses indicate that language affiliation and geographical location both play a role in accounting for the variation in assemblages of artefact types and associated cultural practices on the north coast of New Guinea, confirming what Moore and Romney (1994, 1996;
Roberts et al 1995) had demonstrated. Consequently, they cannot be used to support Welsch et al's proposal that the early cultural uniformity represented by the Lapita culture could perfectly well have emerged without any corresponding linguistic uniformity.
