Lakeba: the prehistory of a Fijian island

Abstract

The following research was directed at establishing a comprehensive ceramic sequence for Lakeba, based on form and decoration, and to identify periods of change, or of accelerated rates of change, that occurred within the 3000 years of occupation. Other aspects of the ceramics, notably those concerning the technology involved in constructing the vessels, together with economic and site settlement data, were used to further examine these processes. Southern Lau sites were included in the settlement pattern data, and an attempt made to estimate the population history of the island at selected time periods. Qualitative and quantitative assessments of imported material were attempted, concerned mainly with pottery temper, but also including tool rock material and a species of shellfish. Spatial distribution of pottery within prehistoric sites was compared with that from a proto-historic settlement, in which the internal divisions and important housemounds were known. The recorded effects of the arrival of a group of potters was contrasted with the amount of ceramic evidence recovered for this event. It was found that in general the ceramic form/decoration changes, on which much of the current prehistory of the area is based, were accompanied on Lakeba by other major behavioural changes, some of which appear to represent influences from outside the region. On the other hand, while the social impact of the immigrant potters was considerable, their effect on the island's ceramics was minor compared to some of the earlier changes. Warfare, as indicated by human remains in midden deposits, and inland hilltop sites chosen for their natural defences, appear to occur together over 1000 years prior to the appearance of the typical Fijian fortifications. Pottery distribution within major sites in the last 1000 years appears to reflect social importance. A similar situation may exist for comparable spatial distribution in the first settlement on Lakeba. The island's relationships to east and west are shown to change in degree several times during the 3000 years. If the evidence from this one Lauan island is representative of the Fiji area as a whole, then underlying a basic physical and cultural continuity is a complex interplay of people and information, originating from both middle and long distance sources, which made a profound contribution to the lives of the Fijian people.