演講主題：Fire History and Food Production in the Fijian Past
講者：Julie Field (Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, The Ohio State University)
時間：2025年10月1日，下午3點至5點
地點：人社C304
講題大綱：
The decisions that Pacific Islanders made to either forage or farm had profound impacts on the environmental transformation of the Fiji Islands. This presentation discusses archaeological and geoarchaeological investigations conducted from 2014-2023 that sought to determine the antiquity of forest clearance and food production in Fiji. Analysis of sediments, charcoal, microfossils, and stratigraphy all indicate the formation of stable soils by 3000 BP, during the Lapita period. Plant microfossils identified through scanning electron microscopy analysis trace a synchronous decline in forest taxa, and a concurrent marked increase in grass taxa, providing a context for the sudden appearance of cultivated banana (Musa sp.) phytoliths. Radiocarbon dates obtained from identified charcoal and ceramic residues,as well as phytoliths and indicators for soil formation and stable carbon isotopes, further trace the history of habitation and food production for the following millennium.
Combined, these data provide critical evidence for the clearance of forest in the interior of Viti Levu, and the immediate commencement of food production in the late Lapita period.
