Originally published: Auckland, N.Z. : Collins, 1978.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 425-451) and index.

Part I: Introduction -- Southeast Asia and Oceania -- Races, languages, ethnic groups and prehistory -- Part II: Human populations - past and present -- Present populations of Southeast Asia and the Pacific -- Genetic studies on Pacific populations -- Evolutionary processes in Oceania -- Natural selection, clines and gene flow -- Genetic drift and genetic distances -- The prehistoric record of man in Southeast Asia and the Pacific -- Homo erectus and modern man in Eastern Asia -- The racial history of Oceania -- Part III: Cultural foundations -- The Pleistocene epoch in Southeast Asia -- Industries of the Middle Pleistocene -- The Upper Pleistocene period -- Australia -- New Guinea -- The Hoabinhian technocomplex of the Southeast Asian mainland -- The earlier Holocene in island Southeast Asia - the flake and blade technocomplex -- Summary -- Part IV: The cultures of Southeast Asia and Oceania -- The Southeast Asian mainland -- Island Southeast Asia -- The peoples of Oceania -- Melanesia -- The New Guinea highlands -- Island Melanesia -- Trade networks in Melanesia -- Melanesian material culture -- Micronesia -- Polynesia -- The ethnohistory of island Southeast Asia and Oceania -- Part V: The linguistic history of the Pacific area -- The language families of the Pacific -- The Papuan languages -- The Austronesian languages -- The major Austronesian subgroups -- The western Austronesian languages -- The eastern Austronesian and Oceanic subgroups -- The languages of Polynesia -- The Polynesian outliers -- The languages of nuclear Micronesia -- A problem of correlation -- Dyen's lexicostatistical classification of the Austronesian languages -- The problem of Austronesian dominance in Indonesia -- Part VI: Subsistence patterns and their prehistoric implications -- The origins of cultivation -- Indigenous major food plants of Southeast Asia and Oceania -- Cultivation systems and their development -- Cultivation in New Zealand -- The wet-field cultivation of rice -- Domesticated animals -- Part VII: Neolithic and early Metal Age cultures on the Southeast Asian mainland -- The earliest pottery in Southeast Asia -- The prehistory of China -- Thailand - an independent focus of innovation? -- Lungshanoid influences in Thailand and Malaya? the Ban Kao culture -- The Adze types of Southeast Asia -- An Adze-based migration theory -- The Neolithic sites and cultures of Indonesia -- Metal Age cultures in Southeast Asia -- The Dong-Son style of bronze metallurgy -- The Metal Age jar burial tradition - South Vietnam and Laos -- Stone burial jars and megaliths of northern Laos -- Summary -- Part VIII: Neolithic and Metal Age cultures of island Southeast Asia -- The Neolithic cultures of Taiwan -- Neolithic and Metal Age cultures in the Philippines -- The Late Neolithic and Metal Ages in the Central Philippines -- The Neolithic of Niah Cave, Sarawak -- Neolithic sites in eastern Indonesia -- Neolithic sites in western Indonesia -- The Metal Age of western and southern Indonesia -- Megaliths in Indonesia -- The problem of beads in Southeast Asian Metal Age sites -- Summary -- Part IX: The prehistory of Melanesia -- Preceramic settlement in western Melanesia -- Ceramic assemblages in Melanesia -- Major sites of the Lapita culture -- Who were the Lapita potters? -- Lapita-like assemblages in Melanesia -- The incised and applied-relief ceramics of Melanesia -- The non-Lapita prehistory of New Caledonia and Fiji -- Southeast Asian Metal Age influences in western Melanesia -- Comb-incised pottery in Melanesia -- Human sacrifice in the New Hebrides -- Stone structures and rock art in Melanesia -- The Melanesian past -- Part X: The prehistory of Micronesia -- Western Micronesia - the Marianas Islands -- The island of Yap -- The Palau Islands -- Eastern Micronesia - the Caroline Islands -- Eastern Micronesia - Nukuoro Atoll -- Summary -- Part XI: The prehistory of Polynesia : part one -- Canoes and their navigation -- The whence of the Polynesians : theorists galore -- The prehistory of western Polynesia -- The early eastern Polynesian culture (c. A.D. 300-1200) -- Part XII: The prehistory of Polynesia : part two -- Later eastern Polynesian prehistory (c. A.D. 1200-1800) -- The Marquesas Islands -- Central Polynesia - the Society, Tuamotu, Austral and Southern Cook Islands -- The Society Islands -- The Tuamotu Archipelago -- The Austral Islands -- The Southern Cook Islands -- The isolated Mystery Islands -- The Hawaiian Islands -- Easter Island -- Part XIII: The prehistory of New Zealand -- The view from tradition -- The coming of archaeology -- The New Zealand prehistoric sequence -- The origins of the Maoris -- Man and the Moas -- The Archaic Phase in the South Island -- Economy, settlements and trade in the South Island -- The rock art of the South Island -- The Archaic Phase in the North Island -- The Classic Maori Phase -- The Classic Maori artefact assemblage -- Classic Maori settlements and economy -- The Chatham Islands -- Summary.