Some of the content of this book derives from interpretation of data from human skeletal remains from the Pacific past. For many Pacific peoples the remains of ancestors are of great cultural and spiritual significance, and of recent years there has been, in places, as cultures reassert themselves, a reaction against study of such remains. Today anyone studying these has a duty of justification, and one aim of this book is to provide an attempt at a justification. It is for the descendants of the first Pacific peoples, ultimate custodians of ancestral remains, to consider works such as this and make their decisions as to whether such study is justified. What I acknowledge here, with gratitude, is the approval sometimes relaxed, sometimes cautious, sometimes uneasy, but always courteous - that has been given in various places and at various times.