Figure Two. Naqari Bay survey terrain, view to the northeast. Site VL 16/22 is to the west of this photograph.
An intensive archaeological survey in 1996 recorded a total of 14 archaeological features, pottery scatters or human burials in areas west of the VL 16/1 core zone (Burley 1997: 13-14). As a number of these loci were found eroding from occupation surfaces buried within the dune per se, they illustrate a widespread human presence and use of the area during the period of dune development. Potentially, therefore, they provide a temporal gauge for dune formation if they can be dated by diagnostic ceramic types or radiocarbon measurement. That is, if massive accumulation of the sand dunes did not occur until late prehistory as hypothesized, then buried occupation floors exposed in dune face slip slopes, by definition, must also be restricted to a post-1500 BP period. With this rationalization, the 1998 project research design proposed a resurvey of the Sigatoka Sand Dune National Park. This component of study further fulfilled resource management concerns over the status of previously recorded archaeological features and for a survey of newly eroding materials.
The archaeological survey was implemented during a four day period with field crews of up to six individuals. Beginning in Yadua village on the far western end of the dune, the survey progressed eastward along the coast to the western end of VL 16/1 as mapped by Wood, Marshall and Crosby (1998). All dune front slopes were examined as also the side slopes and deflationary surfaces of intervening blow-out valleys and gullies (Figures 2 and 3). Previously recorded features or pottery scatters were reassessed. The dune field interior that is now covered in grass and scrub growth was not systematically surveyed though occasional (unsuccessful) checks were made where surface erosion was present. The western dune and VL 16/1 burial areas recorded in 1996 were closely re-examined. All finds were plotted in the field on a mylar overlay of a 1:17,000 scale airphoto.
Table 1 and Figure 4 describe and locate the survey results. With the exception of Pottery Features 9 and 10, in situ remains previously observed are now fully eroded; in two cases any evidence whatsoever for their former presence is gone (see Burley 1997: 14, Features 7 and 8). This type of destruction underscores the need for continued monitoring and survey efforts if a comprehensive understanding of the human occupation of the dunes is to be gained over the long term. Two principal variations from the 1996 survey results were found during present efforts. The first is the recording of a continuous distribution of pottery sherds on the beach of Naqarai Bay. A description and discussion of this scatter (No. 2), and its implications for Site VL 16/22, are provided in the next section of the report. The second is the widespread presence of pottery on the deflationary surface of a large mid-dune blow-out valley (No. 8). While previous survey had examined the erosional side slopes, it was not until the past field season that an intensive and systematic walk-over survey was conducted. Thirty-three scatters of between two and ten sherds were located in the lower half of the feature (below 5 m MSL) as a result; none were found in the upper sloped elevations. All observed sherds were heavily degraded from wind blown sand and diagnostic pieces were limited to two specimens. One was a neck segment from a typical late period kuro type cooking pot with strongly everted flaring rim. The other was a body sherd with parallel ribbed paddle impressions.
A walking trail from the Sand Dunes Visitor Centre on the Queens Highway to the coastal dune front was built in 1997 by the National Trust for Fiji. This path terminates at the coast in a series of blow-out gullies in which hearth features and two undecorated pottery scatters were observed in 1996 (Burley 1997: 14). To allow visitors to view concentrations of surface pottery without having to walk the length of the coastal dune to VL 16/1, Level 2 (mostly leaf-impressed tray sections) and Level 3 ceramics were scattered over the surface here. Any future effort to determine in situ materials in these blowouts will be frustrated.
A major component of the 1996 Simon Fraser University field project was the salvage excavation of eroding burials (Burley 1997: 35-48). This involved the recovery of two super-imposed adult males (Burial 1) in a single pit in the west dune area, three unsexed adults from within a pit at VL 16/1 (Burial 2), and the surface plotting and collection of teeth from two immature individuals on the eastern dune end (Burial 3)(Figure 4). One of the principal resource management concerns for 1998 was a re-examination of these areas for additional burials as well as a general survey for other exposed human remains.
The 1996 Burial I locale was situated approximately 3 km west of the Sigatoka River mouth on a dune-front slip face exposure at an elevation of 5.1 m above MSL. Radiocarbon dating of an associated hearth returned an uncalibrated age of 230 + 40 BP (CAMS 32251). Two distal phalanges and two broken rib segments were observed on the Burial 1 surface during the present survey. It was learned subsequently that a third individual became exposed early in 1998. This burial was excavated and removed by the Lautoka Police, who tentatively identified it as a murder victim. Surface stripping by shovel and screening of the removed sand failed to locate additional burials or skeletal elements in the immediate area. A cranial fragment found on an erosional slope to the east suggests other interments may eventually become exposed.
The Burial 2 area from 1996 was situated on the northern edge of a major Level 2 cemetery complex excavated previously by Best (1988). An inspection of the area found additional highly desiccated bone fragments scattered on the surface but no evidence for in situ remains. Desiccated bone fragments and human teeth were also located immediately below a Level 3 paleosol exposure on a higher elevation to the east. Surface stripping and sieving in this locale failed to locate a burial feature.
The research objective for the 1998 archaeological survey was to locate pottery and other features from which a dune formation chronology could be established for the Sigatoka Park as a whole. Despite an intensive survey effort, only limited success was met. Exposed features and eroded sherd scatters throughout the area were not abundant. Because of the general absence of diagnostic sherd types, these data also must be considered inconclusive relative to the proposed hypothesis of a late prehistoric dune development. Yet at the same time they do not refute the argument. Only one specimen, the parallel ribbed paddle impressed sherd, may pre-date 1500 BP but this type is also known to persist into later prehistory (Best 1984).
From a resource management perspective, the survey continued to record a dynamic erosional environment throughout the dune field. It also illustrates that, while not an intensive human occupation as is the case at VL 16/1, the western dunes do have archaeological remains that require continued monitoring and survey. Finally, the 1996 burial excavation areas were re-examined and additional bone scatters noted. Although in situ interments were not located, continued erosion will undoubtedly expose other such features in the future.