Western Polynesia and Fiji: Prehistoric contact, diffusion and differentiation in adjacent archipelagos

Abstract

Abstract The adjacent archipelagos of Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, ‘Uvea and Futuna in the Central Pacific provide an opportunity to study inter‐island contact and cultural differentiation during more than 3,000 years of prehistory. The major islands were first settled during the second millennium B.C. by closely related people. Similar ceramic sequences, culminating in the abandonment of pottery manufacture everywhere except Fiji by about the beginning of the Christian era, suggest regular contacts, although positive evidence in the form of demonstrably imported artefacts is rare. During the past 1,500 years, the appearance of various forms of field monument throughout the region reflects both continuing contact and the development of variations in individual island groups. By the ethonographic period, some cultural and linguistic diversity had been achieved, although regular inter‐island contacts are documented. Differentiation between Fiji and the other islands raises important problems for further study.