| Abstract: |
Infectious disease introduced at European contact in the Pacific generated demographic change and population collapse. In this research I examine demographic change on the island of Matuku that occurred at European contact. I use information acquired from inventory survey and identification of archaeological sites, surface collection of artifacts, and ceramic analysis of stylistic change, to determine relative ages of settlement sites on Matuku, South Central Fiji. Observing changing patterns of settlements counts, areal extent of settlements, and ceramic density of surface collections, I identify demographic change that occurs around the time of European contact in Fiji. Following an increase in numbers of settlements up to the late prehistoric period, a dramatic decline is apparent in the number of villages occupied during the protohistoric period, prior to detailed historic records. A similar pattern is identified for total area occupied by settlements. The total area occupied declines during the protohistoric period, however, the average area of individual settlements increases dramatically, indicating some degree of population amalgamation during the protohistoric period. The area occupied by the time of the first census in Fiji is half that occupied during the late prehistoric and the protohistoric periods but ceramic density remains relatively constant, supporting the hypothesis of demographic change occurring at European contact. Oral tradition details infectious disease epidemics as explanations of settlement and village abandonment. While the evidence does not necessarily implicate disease as the only mitigating factor, the degree of demographic change suggested by the data supports hypotheses that infectious disease played a critical role in the demographic change observed.
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