In a recent article [Journal of Pacific Archaeology, vol 1(2), 2010], Scott Fitzpatrick contends that the AD 1300 event model is unhelpful as a key to understanding environmental and societal change in the Pacific during the past 1500 years. We reject this contention on the grounds that there are ample and persuasive grounds for supposing otherwise. The AD 1300 event model proposes that climate change (especially cooling) and sea-level fall affected most of the Pacific Basin during the transition between the Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age, and that the impacts of these changes on food resources were so profound that they led to enduring impacts on human societies in this region, particularly Pacific Islands. We aver that the AD 1300 event model remains a powerful tool for understanding last-millennium environmental and societal change in the Pacific Islands and that all the charges Fitzpatrick levels against it can be readily dismissed.

80 radiocarbon dates are presented for Lapita-era sites on the Rove Peninsula, southwest Viti Levu Island, Fiji. Of these, 67 are from the Bourewa site which is the largest and probably the earliest in the area. Of these, 10 are rejected as not being demonstrably associated with its Lapita occupation. Constraints on date interpretation arising from sample materials are highlighted. In particular, charcoals that have not been identified to short-lived tree species, twigs or seeds are evaluated according to observed contextual associations and established understanding of inbuilt age offsets using Bayesian outlier analysis. It is concluded that many of the dates on charcoal are imprecise indicators of settlement age and have an average offset of 150 years. Shell radiocarbon results are similarly evaluated and it is concluded that the majority have 14C values that are in equilibrium with the marine radiocarbon reservoir and therefore yield ages that are accurate indicators of Lapita occupation of Bourewa. Results suggest that initial occupation at Bourewa occurred 2814±25 calBP (2837-2786 calBP [68.2% prob.]; 2865-2770 [95.4% prob.]) and ended 2657±20 calBP (2677-2641 calBP [68.2% prob.]; 2690-2614 calBP [95.4% prob.]). Similar analyses applied to other dated Lapita sites in Fiji shows that, while Bourewa is among the earliest, the Matanamuani (VL 21/5) site on Naigani Island remains the earliest to be securely dated.

We have carried out a thorough mineralogical analysis of 16 pottery samples from the Lapita site of Bourwera in Fiji, using micromorphological techniques with optical and polarising microscopes. While the overall mineralogy of all of the samples is similar the samples clearly divide into two groups, namely those with or without the mineral calcite. Our findings are backed up by chemical analysis using SEM-EDX and FTIR. SEM-EDX shows the clear presence of inclusions of calcite in some of the samples; FTIR shows bands arising from calcite in these samples. The study suggests that it is likely that more than one clay source was used for production of this pottery, but that most of the pottery comes from a single source. This finding is in line with previous studies which suggest some trading of pottery between the Fijian islands but a single source of clay for most of the pottery found at Bouwera. We found no evidence for the destruction of CaCO₃ by heating upon production of the pottery in line with the known technology of the 'Lapita' people who produced earthenware pottery but not high temperature ceramics.

Two upland sites from the Vatia Peninsula, northern Viti Levu Island, Fiji, were excavated as part of a larger project investigating the settlement history of this area. These sites represent the first intensive survey and excavation program in this part of Fiji. The sites are a cave (Matanigaga), which acted as a short-term shelter, and a ring-wall mound (Drautana), one of a number of similar sites interpreted as likely precursors to complex ridge-top fortifications. Both sites suggest that occupation in this area began in the last millennium and involved exploitation of near shore marine resources. The number of fortified hilltops on the Vatia Peninsula suggests that conflict may have been endemic in this area of Fiji during the latter part of the last millennium. Site descriptions and the analysis of ceramic, lithic, and mollusk remains are presented here.

Seven Lapita sites on the Rove Peninsula of Viti Levu in Fiji or on islets close offshore include the earliest known Lapita site in Fiji at Bourewa. Petrographic study of 53 Rove sherds shows that 95 per cent contain closely related hybrid temper sands (mixed terrigenous and calcareous grains) collected locally from the shores of the ancestral Tuva River estuary and adjacent Vusama paleoisland. Terrigenous detritus was derived from the Wainimala orogen that forms the bedrock of southwest Viti Levu and is exposed throughout the drainage basin of the Tuva River. Skeletal and pelletal (micritic) calcareous detritus was derived from the broad offshore reef fringing the Rove Peninsula. In most Rove sherds, calcareous temper grains have been largely or entirely removed by dissolution to leave vacuoles of sand size and shape that are visible megascopically as tiny pits on sherd surfaces. Tempers of indigenous Rove wares did not vary substantially from site to site on the peninsula or over time during its Lapita occupation. Three sherds containing non-local volcanic sand as temper reflect ceramic transfer of exotic wares during later phases of Rove prehistory from Lapita settlements elsewhere in Fiji, probably on Kadavu and the north coast of Viti Levu.