Source: MIL-OSI Submissions
Source: University of Waikato
A University of Waikato researcher is re-writing the history of ancient human movement across the Pacific, by changing the way radiocarbon dates are interpreted.
Dr Fiona Petchey has been helping archaeologists to track the movements of the prehistoric Lapita people through the Pacific region, from their origins in Papua New Guinea to later settlement in the remote islands off Fiji, Tonga and Samoa and the eventual development of diverse Polynesian cultures.
Using miniscule pieces of shell and a rat bone, her work with a researcher from the University of California, Berkeley, has helped to date the ancient site of To’aga, on Ofu Island in American Samoa, adding more than 400 years to its age.
