An archaeology of salt production in Fiji

David V Burley, Karine Tache, Margaret Purser, Ratu Jone Balenaivalu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The authors report the first exposure of prehis-toric salt-working in the Pacific, one that used solarevaporationofseawateronlargeflanged clay dishes. This short-lived industry of the seventh century AD disappeared beneath the dunes, but its documented nineteenth- and twentieth-century successors offer it many useful analogies: the salt, now extracted by boiling brine, was supplied to inland communities upriver, where it functioned as a prime commodity for prestige and trade and an agent of social change.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)187-200
Number of pages14
JournalAntiquity
Volume85
Issue number327
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2011

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