Understanding the place properly: palaeogeography of selected Lapita sites in the western tropical Pacific Islands and its implications

The island groups of the western tropical Pacific include both large high islands with often continental affinities, such as are found widely in Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia and Solomon Islands, and smaller lower islands of wholly oceanic origin, such as most in Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. Within the Holocene (last 10,000 years), these islands experienced the effects of sea level changes of tens of metres, changes that have not proved easy to isolate because of both the tectonic instability of many parts of the region and the spatially-variable pattern of Holocene sea level change (Dickinson 2001, Nunn 1994). In particular, there was once considerable debate (reviewed by Nunn 1995) as to whether or not this region experienced a higher-than-present sea level during the mid-Holocene. It is now accepted that it did so, with sea level in the western low-latitude Pacific having attained a maximum of perhaps 2.1 m around 4200 cal yr B.P. (Grossman, Fletcher and Richmond 1998, Nunn and Peltier 2001)

Geohazards revealed by myths in the Pacific: a study of Islands that have disappeared in Solomon Islands

Part of the central Solomon Islands island arc is uncommonly vulnerable to a range of geohazards that are related to the southwards convergence of the Pacific Plate along the North Solomons Trench. Among these hazards is likely to be collapses of the flanks of islands resulting from the steep angles, perhaps triggered by earthquakes. A study of oral traditions in the area, principally on the islands Ulawa, Makira and Maramasike (eastern Malaita), targeted those relating to islands alleged to have disappeared. The most widespread tradition refers to Teonimanu that probably slipped down the sides of the wall of the nearby Cape Johnson Trench. Another tradition refers to the Ta’aluapuala group that may have, by analogy with geophysical observations, sunk in the area off northeast Maramasike. Other traditions may refer mostly to low sand islands washed away by large waves. It is clear that the study of myths has much to contribute to an understanding and assessment of geohazards in parts of the Pacific like Solomon Islands

Human occupations of caves of the Rove peninsula, southwest Viti Levu island, Fiji

Geoarchaeological investigations of limestone caves along the Rove Peninsula, where several Lapita-era (1150-750 BC) sites dating from the earliest period of Fiji's human history have been found, was undertaken by a team from the University of the South Pacific and the Fiji Museum. Surface collection and excavation in the largest cave – Qaranibourewa – was hindered by large amounts of ceiling collapse and no trace of human occupation earlier than about AD 1000 was found. The second-largest cave – Qaramatatolu – had a cave fill 190 cm thick but this was determined to be all of recent origin, having accumulated as a result of being washed down through a hole in the cave roof from a settlement above that probably existed AD 750-1250. The shell faunal remains from the Qaramatatolu excavation all suggest an open-coast location, quite different from the mangrove forest that fronts the area today. This mangrove forest probably formed only within the last few hundred years

Human occupations of caves of the Rove Peninsula, Southwest Viti Levu Island, Fiji

Geoarchaeological investigations of limestone caves along the Rove Peninsula, where several Lapita-era (1150-750 BC) sites dating from the earliest period of Fiji’s human history have been found, was undertaken by a team from the University of the South Pacific and the Fiji Museum. Surface collection and excavation in the largest cave – Qaranibourewa – was hindered by large amounts of ceiling collapse and no trace of human occupation earlier than about AD 1000 was found. The second-largest cave – Qaramatatolu – had a cave fill 190 cm thick but this was determined to be all of recent origin, having accumulated as a result of being washed down through a hole in the cave roof from a settlement above that probably existed AD 750-1250. The shell faunal remains from the Qaramatatolu excavation all suggest an open-coast location, quite different from the mangrove forest that fronts the area today. This mangrove forest probably formed only within the last few hundred years