Ref ID:	35166
Ref Type:	Journal Article
Authors:	Sand, Christophe Valentin, Frédérique Sorovi-Vunidilo, Tarisi
Title:	At the border of Polynesia: archaeological research in the east-Fijian islands of Cikobia and Naqelelevu
Date:	2000
Source:	Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association
Notes:	Indo-Pacific Prehistory: The Melaka Papers, Vol. 4
Abstract:	This paper presents the first results of a joint archaeological and anthropological program conducted by a team of New Caledonian, French and Fijian archaeologists on the two small Fijian islands of Cikobia and Naqelelevu, the most northeasterly islands of the archipelago located within the maritime passage from Fiji to Western Polynesia. Located near the poorly-surveyed Vanua Levu, the prehistoric record of these islands will help to fill in a gap in studies of cultural evolution in the Fijian archipelago. The project also wishes to identify, through archaeological data, the cultural relationships between Fiji and Western Polynesia already witnessed in oral history. The paper presents the major results obtained through surveys focusing on fortifications, abandoned villages, burial areas and caves. Excavations have allowed the construction of a preliminary prehistoric sequence that begins about 2850 BP and displays a ceramic chronology similar to that which has been reconstructed elsewhere in Fiji. These data help to identify the pattern of cultural evolution of this part of the archipelago and reinforce the marked differences between Fiji and Western Polynesia.
Identifier:	JW
Date Created:	6/8/2001
Volume:	20
Page Start:	107
Page End:	116