Significance The question of the origin of Pacific Islanders has exercised scientists since the first explorers’ voyages of the 16th century. Physical resemblance between Polynesians and Asian populations was detected, but in between were the islands of Melanesia, inhabited largely by people of different phenotype. However, the Lapita culture bridged this geographical divide 3,000 y ago. Morphological studies of early Lapita colonists from Teouma, Vanuatu align them with present-day Polynesian and Asian populations, whereas skeletal remains of later generations show a more Melanesian phenotype predominating. We suggest that migration streams from already-inhabited parts of Melanesia dating from the late-Lapita phase ultimately dominated the original Polynesian phenotype in eastern Melanesia, but not in Polynesia, which became relatively isolated soon after initial settlement.