Late Holocene sediment accumulation on emergent reef platforms: Human presence in a dynamic and unstable sedimentary environment in the equatorial western Pacific

Gale, Stephen and Thomas, Frank R. (2022) Late Holocene sediment accumulation on emergent reef platforms: Human presence in a dynamic and unstable sedimentary environment in the equatorial western Pacific. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 42 . p. 103352. ISSN 2352-409X

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Abstract

A transect of pits across the island of Teiro on the atoll of Abaiang in the Gilbert Islands of the equatorial Pacific
exposes a sequence of washover deposits overlying the reef platform. Each washover event appears to have
truncated the existing sediment surface and contributed to the initiation and the vertical and lateral build-up of
the island.
Burnt material towards the base of the washover sequence has yielded an age of c. 1100–1000 cal years. This is
suggestive of a recent date for the formation of the island, supporting the thesis that atoll islands are a product of
sediment accumulation consequent upon the sea-level fall of the last few millennia. This created some of the last
land masses on Earth on which human settlement is possible.
The burnt material appears to be the product of human activity and is thus indicative of human arrival on
Abaiang by c. 1100 cal BP. As elsewhere in the Gilberts, the earliest evidence for a human presence overlaps or
postdates the c. 2000–1900 cal BP age for the start of falling sea-levels. This exposed the atolls to subaerial
conditions and provided new land for human occupation.
The presence of anthropogenic material towards the base of the washover sequence is indicative of a human
presence on the island long before it approached a state of relative stability and during a period of repeated
disruption by coastal inundation and sediment accumulation.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > G Geography (General) G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Divisions:	School of Pacific Arts, Communication and Education (SPACE)
Depositing User:	Fulori Nainoca - Waqairagata
Date Deposited:	03 Mar 2022 02:21
Last Modified:	03 Mar 2022 02:21
URI:	https://repository.usp.ac.fj/id/eprint/13281

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