Claim: The Autonomous Region of Bougainville has been inhabited by humans for at least 29,000 years, the first inhabitants of which were Australo-Melanesians who presumably arrived from the Bismarck Archipelago, a group of islands off the northeastern coast of New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean and is part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea, according to evidence obtained from Kilu Cave on Buka Island.
Evidence: Bougainville has been inhabited by humans for at least 29,000 years. The first inhabitants of Bougainville were Australo-Melanesians who presumably arrived from the Bismarck Archipelago. The Bismarck Archipelago is a group of islands off the northeastern coast of New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean and is part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. Bougainville has been inhabited by humans for at least 29,000 years, according to evidence obtained from Kilu Cave on Buka Island.