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Various generic studies of the Pacific people in combination with eariler archaeological evidence have now clarified much of the confusion. The Melanesian people have a Y chromosome marker, H17, that is not found in Polynesians. Lapita pottery is Melanesian in origin, and can be found on islands since occupied by other people. Melanesians are the oldest of the Pacific people, pre-dating others by tens of thousands of years. The Melanesian people, like the Australian Aborigines, with whom Papuan Melanesians share a common ancestry, arrived some forty to fifty thousand years BC.

There is great ethnic richness and diversity across Melanesia. Social status is generally based upon social skills and personal assets, whereas Polynesians use heredity to determine social status.

The following islands and groups of islands are traditionally considered part of Melanesia:

• Fiji
• New Caledonia
• New GuineaNew Guinea located just north of Australia, is the world's second largest island having become separated from the Australian mainland when the area now known as the Torres Strait flooded around 5000 BC. The name Papua also refers to the island in whole or
• Solomon Islands
• Vanuatu
• Maluku
• Torres Strait IslandsThe Torres Strait Islands are a group of islands, numbering more than 100, which lie in Torres Strait, the waterway separating Cape York, Queensland, Australia from Papua New Guinea. The islands are part of the State of Queensland. The indigenous inhabita

Islands of mixed ancestry which do not claim Melanesian status include:

• Nauru
• Timor
• Tonga
• Maluku
• Flores
• Sumba

External links

• Map South Pacific
• South Pacific Organizer
• Polynesian origins: Insights from the Y chromosome
• Independent Histories of Human Y Chromosomes from Melanesia and Australia