Anthropogenic Burning, Agricultural Intensification, and Landscape Transformation in Post-Lapita Fiji (original) (raw)

This report summarizes the results of a series of original investigations of Naihehe Cave on Viti Levu, Fiji, which include excavations and laboratory analyses. The goal of this research was to investigate evidence of human occupation of Naihehe cave in prehistory via analyses of sediments, sedimentary processes, and identification of parent materials and anthropogenic deposits. Analyses of sediments were conducted at “macro” and “micro”- scales: the macro-scale approach analyzed aggregates of sediment grains using Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Laser-ablated Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). The microscale approach focused on individual grains of sediment using Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersion Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). Identified charcoal and radiocarbon dating were used to determine the age of deposits. The results of these analyses identified different classes of sediment based upon their textural and mineralogical qualities and determined major and minor elemental components of individual grains and aggregates. These in turn provide unique insights into the origin and depositional environment of the cave’s sediments. Analyses also identified anthropogenic deposits via the detection of elemental and mineralogical signatures and intrusive microfossils. Combustion features in the cave’s deposits, two of which produced calibrated radiocarbon dates of 886-1013 CE (2σ) and 260-529 CE (2σ), identify human activity in the cave in the two millennia following human colonization of Fiji. This report discusses these primary findings and argues that instrument-based studies of sediment are insightful for the identification of natural and anthropogenic deposits.

The earliest radiocarbon dates from the Central Pacific were obtained by Edward W. Gifford, on charcoal recovered from excavations at Vunda and Navatu on Viti Levu (Gifford 1951a, b), and the results were later used to outline the first culture sequence proposed for Fiji, by Roger Green (1963). Subsequent investigations by Frost (1970, 1979) and Best (1984) substantially increased the number of 14C results from the archipelago, and allowed a wider range of cultural attributes, such as settlement location, interaction pattern, subsistence economy and stone-tool types, to be age-correlated. This chapter is divided into two sections, with the first section reporting the radiocarbon and thermoluminescence dates obtained by the Early Prehistory of Fiji project (the EPF) between 1996 and 2000. There were 68 radiocarbon determinations from 13 prehistoric sites. Most dated deposits were from coastal or near-coast locations on Viti Levu (n=9), two sites were from Beqa Island, and two excavat...

Understanding the geomorphic setting of the Sigatoka dune field on the south coast of Viti Levu in Fiji is critical for interpreting the associated archaeological site, with culture levels dating back to 3000 years ago. The dune field lies along the seaward fringe of the Holocene delta of the Sigatoka River, which drains interior highlands astride the boundary between the wet windward and dry leeward climatic zones of Viti Levu. Sand brought down to the shoreline by the Sigatoka River is transported longshore westward by surf along the delta front and blown inland oblique to the shore by the prevailing trade winds. Three successive culture levels, dating to approximately 900-400 B.C., A.D. 100-400, and A.D. 1300-1500, respectively, occur in three discrete paleosol horizons that are buried near the present beach face under younger dune sand. Our geomorphic analysis of the Sigatoka delta plain arid its environs reveals a complex Holocene history of progradation and aggradation, shifti...

Fiji was colonised approximately 3000 BP by populations with intricately decorated Lapita pottery. At nearly the same time, culturally related populations also colonised nearby Tonga and Samoa and the archaeology of each archipelago indicates continued contact, but also cultural divergence over time. Previous research in the far western islands of Fiji has also identified late Lapita colonisation deposits and subsequent cultural changes that have raised further questions about regional variation in the Fijian archaeological record. Here we present results of the first survey, excavation, and archaeological analyses from the islands of southwestern Fiji and interpret these findings relative to current research on the colonisation of Fiji-West Polynesia, changes in the spatial scale of cultural transmission in the region, and changes in foraging practices and environments. Survey and test excavations identified eleven sites and pushes back the colonisation of the far western islands to 2900 BP. Preliminary analyses of cultural materials from these sites indicate a complexly structured colonising population in Fiji-West Polynesia, variation over time in the frequency of contact between populations in Fiji, and subsistence practices likely influenced by environmental change and human competition.

https://doi.org/10.1177/09596836177145 The timing and choice of initial settlement location are examined on the small island of Tavua in Fiji’s Mamanuca Group. The mid- to late-Holocene sealevel retreat influenced the island’s coastal landforms through the acceleration of coastal progradation and the production of habitable land. Archaeological, sedimentological, and chronological data are integrated to better understand the island’s settlement and geomorphological history. These datasets are then compared with regional and modeled sea-level curves for Fiji in order to constrain the time period for the onset of coastal regression. The results indicate that Tavua was initially settled around 3000 years ago, within a few centuries of the formation of the coastal plain. Integrating archaeological, sedimentological, and sea-level datasets helps produce a more precise understanding of the relationship between sea-level change and the timing of settlement on small islands in Oceania.