Fiji’s First People: modern problems, ancient answers
Earthwatch teams have uncovered ancient artefacts in Fiji that may help find answers to modern-day environmental problems.
Earthwatch volunteers worked with Dr Patrick Nunn and South Pacific university students to excavate at Bourewa Beach and other nearby sites to find evidence of Lapita culture at what is almost certainly the original landing site of the people who first populated Fiji.
It is not known why the Lapita people abandoned the site and this research will provide insights into where they came from, when and perhaps why they left.
In December 2007, Dr Nunn and a team of Earthwatch volunteers made a raft of exciting new discoveries, including vast amounts of decorated pottery, shell jewellery, tools, artefacts and skeletons dating back some 3,000 years.
These archaeological findings are important to modern communities for a number of reasons. For example, the team unearthed the shell of the clam species Tridacna gigas which has been locally extinct for several centuries and there is evidence of significant changes in sea levels at the site – something that may help us understand the impacts of future sea level changes on populated coastal areas.