Agricultural Terracing at Nakauvadra, Viti Levu: A Late Prehistoric Irrigated Agrosystem in Fiji

Agricultural intensification on Pacific Islands often resulted in dramatic and durablemodifications to the environment. Irrigated terrace agrosystems for the cultivationof wetland taro (Colocasia esculenta) reshaped hillsides and stream valleys in many IRRIGATED AGRICULTURE IN FIJI . KUHLKEN AND CROSBY areas of Fiji. The functional morphology and design of several now abandoned ter-race systems were examined on the northern flanks of the Nakauvadra Mountainsin northeast Viti Levu, an area that manifests the largest expanse of terracing in thearchipelago. Garden types comprise regularly tiered surfaces with earthen bundsconstmcted as contours on open slopes, along with rock-faced plots alongsidestreams and below springs in wooded ravines. Radiocarbon dates from garden soiland an associated settlement site indicate probable use and occupation during theLate Prehistoric period of the early nineteenth century. Although probably notinvolved in the large-scale wars of political confederation, the taro growers ofNakauvadra implemented fail-safe subsistence strategies that were combined withthe need for concealment and defensibility. Archaeological and oral-historical evi-dence suggests an intense but short-lived period of food production placed out ofharm's way. European contact and subsequent colonization introduced numerousfactors that rendered this agricultural infrastmcture obsolete.