| Sediment analysis can provide a wide range of data from archaeological contexts. This thesis uses silica phytoliths extracted from sediment sampled from a terrestrial core collected at an agricultural site in the Qaraqara drainage of the Sigatoka Valley, Viti Levu, Fiji, in order to address questions surrounding the Post-Lapita period subsistence transition from foraging to food production (1500-2500 BP). Over time, an increase in Poaceae (grass) phytoliths and a decrease in tree and shrub taxa phytoliths was observed, indicating an event of deforestation taking place. While there appears to be some low-level deforestation occurring before the arrival of humans, approximately 2800 to 3000 years BP, the process becomes much more intense around the time the first non-native taxa, Musaceae (banana), is detected in the record. As edible banana species require humans for propagation, its occurrence provides evidence for cultivation in the Sigatoka Valley soon after the first people colonized Fiji. |