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

Objective 1: Selective excavation at Bourewa Beach and other Lapita-era sites on or near the Rove Peninsula
This objective is to continue to uncover sufficient information about the Lapita occupation of this area, to be able
to understand its chronology (particularly the start and end), its extent (and settlement pattern evolution), and its
response to changing geography (particularly changes in coastal ecosystems associated with sea-level fall) (Nunn
2005, Nunn et al. 2004).
• Method 1: Excavation in selected places is expected to reveal layers that represent different time horizons in
the Lapita occupation, especially shell-midden deposits and organic-stained beach sand. Excavation will
target samples from the base of the shell midden (for occupation start) that will be radiocarbon dated. Other
time horizons will be targeted.
• Method 2: Areas peripheral to what is believed to be the earliest part of the site (at Bourewa Beach) will be
subject to test excavation, in order to refine the known extent of the settlement and its satellites and develop a
better chronology for settlement pattern evolution along the Rove Peninsula.
• Method 3: To understand the area’s changing geography the project will conduct coring in various places and
date key chronostratigraphic markers (like volcanic tephra) and different types of pollen and shells (see also
Objective 5).
Objective 2: Surface collection of stone tools and pottery fragments from selected coastal flats and caves on or
near the Rove Peninsula
This objective is to try and identify any Lapita-era sites as yet unrecorded in areas peripheral to the main sites as
well as specialized-use areas (such as stone quarrying sites, lithic working sites, pottery manufacture sites).
• Method 1: Visual survey of selected areas to collect stone tools and pottery shards and identify any other
indicators of early human presence.
• Method 2: Targeted visual survey of potential stone-tool quarrying or working areas including river gravel
bars and islands.
Objective 3: Use GPS and GIS and surveying to construct maps of both the modern and Lapita-era
environments of the Rove Peninsula
• Method 1: To survey with GPS the entire area to build up an accurate GIS map of the Lapita settlements along
the Rove Peninsula.
• Method 2: To survey with GPS the shoreline of the former island and its likely form and reef associations in
order to produce a paleogeographic map of the Rove Peninsula.
Objective 4: Conduct offshore coral reef survey to try and reconstruct the form and ecology of the reef that
existed in Lapita times, and its subsequent development (this objective will not be pursued during the 2009
season)
• Method 1: Transects will be run across the modern fringing reef at Bourewa to characterize its ecology,
particularly the locations of key shell species found in the Lapita midden onshore.
• Method 2: Shallow drilling of selected reef corals will be undertaken to determine recent reef history, and the
history of climate change as represented by sea-surface temperature changes.
• Method 3: Mapping and dating of selected corals will help define the extent of the Lapita-era reef.
• Method 4: A selection of large boulders moved across the reef flat will be examined and their movement
dated. Shallow embayments will be cored to see whether there are large-wave deposits there. Large wave
impact might explain why the Rove Peninsula settlements all appear to have been abandoned about 550 BC.
25