Sigatoka: the shifting sands of Fijian prehistory.

Sigatoka: the shifting sands of Fijian prehistory. YVONNE MARSHALL, ANDREW CROSBY, SEPETI MATARARABA & SHANNONWOOD. Sigatoka: the shifting sands of Fijian prehistory prehistory,period of human evolution before writing was invented and records kept. The term was coined by Daniel Wilson in 1851. It is followed by protohistory, the period for which we have some records but must still rely largely on archaeological evidence to (University ofSouthampton In the most recent RAE assessment (2001), it has the only engineering faculty in the country to receive the highest rating (5*) across all disciplines.[3] According to The Times Higher Education Supplement Department of Archaeology Monograph 1). iv+128 pages, 42b&w figures, 18 colour figures, 5 tables. 2000. Oxford: Oxbow;1-84217-011-2 paperback. Exposure of three ancient soils in 1992 prompted a survey which hasprovided a key to 35 years of observations at Sigatoka, on the largestof the Fiji group of islands. MARSHALL et al. argue, on that basis, fora revision of the later phases of the islands' prehistory,including the development of post-Lapita pottery, with implications thatramify ramify/ram��i��fy/ (ram��i-fi)1. to branch; to diverge in different directions.2. to traverse in branches.ram��i��fyv.To branch. out to Tonga and Samoa. Fiji's social and political historywas evidently complicated by more local variation than had beenappreciated earlier -- the new findings support others' suspicionsto that effect. Dr ROLETT presents results of excavation which appear to illustratethe process of colonization. He contributes to the development of amodel based on faunal assemblages for recognizing the diagnosticfeatures of early settlers' economy. He has also shown how theeconomy was developed, centuries later, by horticulture and storage,although local conditions did not permit irrigation irrigation,in agriculture, artificial watering of the land. Although used chiefly in regions with annual rainfall of less than 20 in. (51 cm), it is also used in wetter areas to grow certain crops, e.g., rice. . Deep-water fishingwas developed later too. He argues that his findings help to explain theeventual building of monuments throughout the Islands; and he discussesthe apparent decline of long-distance voyaging in the later 1400s.