Geological histories and geohazard potential of Pacific Islands illuminated by myths

Abstract: Understanding of the geological histo~, of the Pacific, especially its geohazard potential, can be improved using details in ancient and properly-authenticated Pacific Islander myths. To demonstrate this, a synthesis of Pacific Island origin myths involving islands having been either +fished up ' or "thrown down ' is presented, with an account of origin myths for the island Niue used as a case study. A discussion of geohazards and myths in the Pacific focuses on tsunami+ coseismic uplift, and island flank collapse, the last being illustrated by the first analysis of myths recalling 'vanished islands ' in the Pacific. For several reasons, the long-term geological history of the Pacific Ocean and its constituent islands--a vast area covering around one third of the Earth's surface--has not proved nearly as easy to reconstruct as that of the continents (Menard 1964; Nunn 1994, 1999a). One reason is that almost the entire area is covered with ocean and, despite the development of innovative technique

Lapita on an Island in the mangroves, the earliest human occupation at Qoqo Island, southwest Viti Levu, Fiji

In November–December 2004 a research team from the University of the South Pacific and the Fiji Museum undertook geoarchaeological inves¬tigations along the coast of the Rove Peninsula, part of southwest Viti Levu Island (Figure 1A) where evidence for Lapita-era occupation had been found on previous occasions (Kumar et al., 2004; Nunn et al., 2004). The main target was the extensive, early-period site at Bourewa but we were also shown a collection of pottery from nearby Qoqo Island (by owner Peter Jones) that included a dentate-stamped sherd that led to mapping and excavation of that island’s coastal flat

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