Fiji's Ancient Seafarers Dr. Patrick D. Nunn - Earthwatch Institute

Essential Items
Make sure to bring your Earthwatch Expedition Briefing with you! It includes essential information to which
you may need to refer during your expedition, as well as during your journey to and from the rendezvous site.
Please see the Expedition Packing Checklist for a complete list of what you will need to take with you. You are
encouraged to go through the list and mark off each required item right before you leave for your expedition.
13. RECOMMENDED READING
Please read Fiji’s Ancient Seafarers: The Research in the appendix of this briefing. This document was prepared
by the Principal Investigator and Earthwatch and explains the research conducted through this project as well as
some results to date. Below are additional recommended materials for those interested in further preparing for
the expedition. Many can be purchased online through popular vendors. See Section 17 ‘Helpful Resources’ for
suggested vendor websites.
Scientific Media
• Nunn, P.D., Kumar, R., Matararaba, S. and Ishimura, T. 2006. The earliest human settlement in the Fiji
Islands. Domodomo (Journal of the Fiji Museum), 19, 27-33.
• Kumar, R., Nunn, P.D. and Dickinson, W.R. 2004. The emerging pattern of earliest human settlement in Fiji:
four new Lapita sites on Viti Levu Island. Archaeology in New Zealand, 47, 108-117 (note that this is the first
report of Lapita on the Rove Peninsula and was made before the Bourewa site was discovered).
• Nunn, P.D., Kumar, R., Matararaba, S., Ishimura, T., Seeto, J., Rayawa, S., Kuruyawa, S., Nasila, A., Oloni, B.,
Rati Ram, A., Saunivalu, P., Singh, P. and Tegu, E. 2004. Early Lapita settlement site at Bourewa, southwest
Viti Levu Island, Fiji. Archaeology in Oceania, 39, 139-143 (this was the first report of the Bourewa site).
• Nunn, P.D., Pene, C., Matararaba, S., Kumar, R., Singh, P., Dredregasa, I., Gwilliam, M., Heorake, T.,
Kuilanisautabu, L., Nakoro, E., Narayan, L., Pastorizo, M.R., Robinson, S., Saunivalu, P. and Tamani, F. 2005.
Human occupations of caves of the Rove Peninsula, southwest Viti Levu Island, Fiji. South Pacific Journal of
Natural Science, 23, 16-23.
Links to these articles as well as reviews and content lists for most of Dr. Patrick Nunn’s books may be available
on his webpage at http://www.usp.ac.fj/index.php?id=2486.
Popular Media
To get the most from your experience, you are encouraged to read one of the two following books about the
history of the Pacific Islands:
• Campbell, I.C. 2003. Worlds Apart: a history of the Pacific Islands. Revised edition. Canterbury University Press,
Christchurch.
• Howe, K.R. 2001. Where the Waves Fall: a new South Seas history from first settlement to colonial rule. University of
Hawaii Press, Honolulu.
Glancing through one of the following books, which discuss the regional context of the research, would also add
to the experience:
• Howe, K.R. 2003. The Quest for Origins: who first discovered New Zealand and the Pacific Islands? Penguin Books,
Auckland.
• Kirch, P.V. 1997. The Lapita Peoples: Ancestors of the Oceanic World. Blackwell, Oxford.
• Kirch, P.V. 2000. On the Road of the Winds: an archaeological history of the Pacific Islands before European contact.
University of California Press, Berkeley.
Finally, The Lonely Planet Guide to Fiji is very good, though there are many others. Lonely Planet also publishes a
pocket sized Fijian phrasebook, which would be useful for basic communication.
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