New early Lapita site discovered in Bua

A new early Lapita site has been discovered in Bua, Vanua Levu.

Archaeologist at the Fiji Museum, Sepeti Matararaba, Professor of Geography at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Patrick Nunn and his students Roger Kitson and Hayley McCreath discovered this along the west coast of the Seseleka Peninsula.

The Lapita find from the site in Bua suggest that it was occupied between 2,700 and 3,000 years ago.

It is not known whether this site will predate the oldest known Lapita site in Fiji in Bourewa in the Natadola area of Nadroga that was first occupied 3,100 years ago.

The Lapita people extensively colonised many islands in the southwestern Pacific between 3,100 and 2,600 years ago.

Linguistic evidence, cultural artefacts and decorative pottery suggest eastward migration of the Lapita people from southern parts of China and Taiwan.