Reconstructing the Lapita-era Geography of Northern Fiji: a Newly-discovered Lapita Site on Yadua Island and its Implications

Abstract

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.