Dietary change in Fijian prehistory: isotopic analyses of human and animal skeletal material

Multi-isotopic analysis of first Polynesian diet (Talasiu, Tongatapu, Kingdom of Tonga)

“…These expected human diet values are consistent with the consumption of a mixed diet involving at least three dietary components. The stable carbon isotope ratios demonstrate the complementary contribution of terrestrial resources, including C 3 -plants and animal Data from: Fry et al, 1983;Collier and Hobson, 1987;Keegan and DeNiro, 1988;Leach et al, 1996;Ambrose et al, 1997;Yoneda et al, 2004;Valentin et al, 2006;Beavan Athfield et al, 2008;Field et al, 2009;Allen and Craig, 2009;Jones and Quinn, 2009;Richards et al, 2009;White et al, 2010;Valentin et al, 2010;Storey et al, 2010; Only 1 archaeological specimen from Valentin et al, 2010. b All data from Yoneda et al, 2004, on 81 bone collagen samples. c Only 2 archaeological specimens from Kinaston et al, 2014. d All specimens are archaeological except 10 moderns from Ambrose et al, 1997, Valentin et al, 2006, Beavan Athfield et al, 2008 e All samples are modern ones.…”

“…This result is unexpected regarding the general temporal trend toward increasing use of horticulture products in the diet observed across the Pacific area and suggest the influence of specific environmental and biological factors, such as island size, soil fertility and human population size. Field et al (2009) have proposed that the change toward a richer vegetable diet occurred earlier on the largest island in Fiji. Small island size might have Petchey et al, 2014Petchey et al, , 2015.…”

“…Stable isotope studies, applied to skeletal remains of early Pacific populations, have shown a trend toward a horticultural diet with temporal variation in response to local environmental conditions (Field et al, 2009;Kinaston and Buckley, 2013;Valentin et al, 2010Valentin et al, , 2014Kinaston et al, , 2015Kinaston et al, , 2016. As a consequence, human groups associated with the late-Lapita/immediately post-Lapita period are expected to have stable isotope ratios indicating that fewer marine resources were consumed compared with the first Lapita colonizers.…”

Terrestrial engagements by terminal Lapita maritime specialists on the southern Papuan coast

“…Whatever the case, it is clear that in the Caution Bay region a complex and diverse subsistence pattern existed for terminal-Lapita pottery-using peoples, whereby the ratio of terrestrial to marine foods in diets varied depending on context and site location. In this sense, Caution Bay Lapita sites have considerable potential to inform current debates on the degree of marine-protein specialisation by Lapita peoples of the Western Pacific and factors influencing the incorporation of wild and domesticated terrestrial animal foods (Field et al 2009;Valentin et al 2010). At this juncture, whether cultivated plant foods contributed significantly to Lapita diets at Caution Bay remains hypothetical, but it is plausible that plant food was cultivated given the likelihood of Lapita agriculture across the Western Pacific (Kirch 1997;Spriggs 1997;Kennett et al 2006;Horrocks and Nunn 2007;Fall 2010;see also Fairbairn 2005:495) and major erosion and sedimentation at Edubu 1 (see below).…”

Post-Lapita ceramic change in Fiji

“…Pre-contact population estimates for Fiji range from a high of 300,000 (Hunt in Derrick 1974:48) to a more likely size of 150,000 (Wilkes 1985;Williams 1985:102), and while population size in the post-Lapita era is not known the local population was large enough to have spread inland (Chapter 4; Field et al 2009) indicating that favourable coastal locations were already occupied. Was the magnitude of post-Lapita population movement between Vanuatu/New Caledonia and Fiji sufficient to shift the established 'Lapita' Fijian phenotype to a more 'Melanesian' form, implying that similar movements also altered the Lapita populations of Vanuatu and New Caledonia, and if migration-contact from the west was significant, is there linguistic or other evidence for it in Fiji and other parts of the West Pacific?…”