Vuniivilevu and Burotu: the geography, ethnography, and hazard implications of vanished Islands in Fiji

Vuniivilevu and Burotu are two islands in Fiji that allegedly 'vanished'. The recollections preserved in written sources and oral traditions (including a 2003-4 field survey) are presented and discussed together with a geological evaluation of whether these islands existed. Vuniivilevu was once a large island south of Moturiki Island in central Fiji; its form can be reconstructed. The location of Burotu is less certain, but it was probably close to Matuku Island in southeast Fiji. Both islands probably existed in fact. Vuniivilevu may have disappeared as a result of collapse of part of the east Viti Levu insular shelf between AD 1200 and 1600. Burotu may have slipped down the steep flanks of Matuku Island (of which it was part) at least 1000 years ago. The fact that such islands periodically disappear is supported by numerous examples from other islands in the Pacific and elsewhere, and underline the point that many such environments are inherently unstable. It is demonstrated that oral traditions can offer useful insights into these catastrophic events

Reconstructing the Lapita-era geography of northern Fiji: a newly-discovered Lapita site on Yadua Island and its implications

Questions concerning the earliest human occupation of northern Fiji were addressed by geoarchaeological survey on the island of Yadua. Yadua lies at the entrance to an ocean passage that early seafarers might have followed into central Fiji where some early Lapita sites exist. Evidence for a Lapita presence was discovered on Yadua at a small coastal flat called Vagairiki, likely to have been occupied by Lapita people around 2600 cal yr BP because of available freshwater and one of the few fringing reefs existing in the area at the time. It is concluded that the Lapita people reached Yadua and other parts of northern Fiji in a post-founder phase of Fiji history

A Koronivalu kei Bua: Hillforts in Bua Province (Fiji), their Chronology, Associations, and Potential Significance

Sixteen hillforts constructed and occupied perhaps several centuries before contact in the early nineteenth century are described from Bua district in northern Fiji. These hillforts represent inland settlements in fortifiable locations on high volcanic islands, plausibly established in response to the outbreak of sustained conflict. The chronology and functions of these hillforts were investigated through mapping, excavation, and collection of oral traditions. Four groups of hillforts are recognized. The Seseleka and Yadua (Island) groups represent single polities, comprising a mountaintop site surrounded with fortified narrow steep-sided basalt ridges with tributary sites at lower levels functioning as lookouts and/or food-processing sites. The Northwest Bua group comprises mountaintop sites occupied only when aggressors threatened, and are otherwise characterized by occupation around their bases. The Inland Bua group ranges along one of the highest ridges in the area and were all reportedly in conflict with each other. The Buan hillforts represent those found elsewhere in Fiji and on other high Pacific Islands. Insights from the study of these hillforts illuminate this period of Fiji history and help interrogate broader questions about drivers and proximate causes of the conflict that may have seen hillforts established near simultaneously on high Pacific Islands during the last millennium

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