Ancient Fiji
p. 30 · Read in the full issue
NZ Girl Solves Ancient Fiji Jigsaw Puzzle
After many hours of painstaking work, Miss Molly Nicholls, an an thropology student at Auckland Uni versity, has pieced together a collec tion of baked clay shards to form what is probably Fiji's oldest known piece of crockery.
The shards were found in sand hills near Sigatoka, on Fiji's main island of Viti Levu. Jigsawed to gether, they form a plate nearly 3 ft. across, which is estimated to be nearly 2,000 years old.
The shards were collected by Dr.
R. G. Ward, a former lecturer in geography at Auckland University, who is now at the University of London. Small pieces of pottery had been seen by Mr. J. Golson, former lecturer in prehistory at Auck land University, in a visit to the area some time earlier.
New Zealand experts say the plate is the first example found which indicates the size, shape and method of manufacture of such pottery.
They say the plate was hand moulded on a base of leaves, possibly banana leaves, and re sembles pottery found in New Cale donia and Tonga.
The Curator of the Fiji Museum, Mr. Bruce Palmer, said in September that the plate could be one of the oldest man-made objects found so far in Fiji.