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On 15 July 2005, it was reported that the same teams had uncovered 16 skeletons at
Bourewa, near Natadola. The skeletons were found in a layer of undisturbed soil containing pottery from around 550 BC. Professor Nunn said there was now abundant evidence that Bourewa had been the first human
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Sepeti
Matararaba of the Fiji Museum expressed astonishment at some of the discoveries at the site, which included an iron axe used by white traders in exchange for Fijian artefacts. Local villages were reported to be rebuilding the site with a view to opening it up to tourists in July 2006.
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on the southwestern coast of Vanua Levu led to an increase in the number and frequency of
Western trading ships visiting Fiji. A sandalwood rush began in the first few years but it dried up when supplies dropped between 1810 and 1814. By 1820, the traders returned for
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said that the area beside the sea must have been occupied, because a great deal of pottery, hunting tools, and ancient shell jewellery had been discovered. More than 20 pits had been dug following the discovery of lapita in the area.
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as the place from where the earliest
Fijians came, as the pottery fragments were typical of the early Lapita period in Papua New Guinea and the Solomons, but not readily found on Lapita Pottery in Fiji.
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following around a thousand years later. Most authorities agree that they originated in
Southeast Asia and came via
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pottery found on the surface of the graves was almost 2500 years old, he said. Fiji Museum archaeologist
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The first
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reported on 20 March 2006 that an ancient Fijian village, believed to have been occupied by
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in 1774. It was not until 1789, however, that the islands were charted and plotted, when
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was established as the first
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has made it both a destination and a crossroads for migrations for many centuries.
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customs and language into Fiji. The empire began to decline in the 13th century.
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was the first known
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and sailed between the main islands of Viti Levu and Vanua Levu en route to
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settlement in the Fiji archipelago, occupied from around 1200 BC onwards.
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Nunn said. He said the evidence pointed to Papua New Guinea or the
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sometime between 1250 and 1560, had been discovered at
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reported on 3 July 2005 that recent research by the
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427:from 600 BC and possibly as far back as 900 BC.
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656:penal colonies. In 1804, the discovery of
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106:Learn how and when to remove this message
483:had been discovered there, according to
622:navigator, visited one of the southern
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479:, a rare volcanic glass found only in
423:evidence shows signs of settlement on
396:Melanesian and Polynesian Settlement
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346:Constitutional crisis of 2009
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297:International reaction
614:archipelago in 1643.
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403:, who were from the
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434:was established in
307:Crisis of 2005–2006
285:Military opposition
280:Qualified positions
55:"Discovery of Fiji"
485:Dr Patrick D. Nunn
292:Religious reaction
556:on the island of
554:Talasea Peninsula
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667:sea cucumber
663:beche-de-mer
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38:Please help
33:verification
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647:Bligh Water
624:Lau islands
604:Abel Tasman
558:New Britain
453:Fiji Museum
413:Melanesians
133:History of
658:sandalwood
654:Australian
616:James Cook
608:Vanua Levu
602:navigator
448:Fiji Times
440:Polynesian
268:Supporters
66:newspapers
637:, passed
632:HMS
550:Kutau-Bao
546:Viti Levu
497:Geography
489:Professor
390:geography
388:, Fiji's
273:Opponents
96:July 2015
685:Category
566:talisman
542:obsidian
477:Obsidian
465:Sigatoka
461:Natadola
455:and the
425:Moturiki
322:Reaction
317:Timeline
231:Mutinies
226:Timeline
124:a series
122:Part of
643:Batavia
620:British
612:Taveuni
584:Nausori
516:Vanuatu
80:scholar
671:Levuka
639:Ovalau
634:Bounty
618:, the
576:chiefs
562:1150BC
501:Lapita
487:, USP
473:Taiwan
409:Fijian
243:Trials
126:on the
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677:Notes
600:Dutch
582:, in
528:Samoa
524:Tonga
469:China
436:Tonga
87:JSTOR
73:books
580:Kuku
526:and
495:and
445:The
135:Fiji
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665:or
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