Moturiki

This article is about the Fijian island. For the island in New Zealand, see Moturiki Island.
The skeleton of Mana

Moturiki is an island belonging to Fiji's Lomaiviti Archipelago. Covering an area of 10.9 square kilometers,[1] it is situated at 17.45° South and 178.44° East. To the north-east is the nearby island of Ovalau.[1]

An etymology for the name of the island, proposed by Ratu Viliame, is that it is a combination of the Proto-Polynesian words *motu (which means island) and *riki (which means small).[2]

The island is inhabited by about 700 Fijians (as of 2007) living in 10 villages along the coast:[1] Daku, Naicabecabe, Nasauvuki, Nasesara, Navuti, Niubasaga, Savuna, Uluibau, Yanuca and Wawa.

Moturiki is of great archaeological interest. Important discoveries include the earliest Lapita culture sites of Fiji, as well as the oldest human skeleton found in Fiji (dating about 700 BC). The skeleton is named Mana, which belonged to a woman who was approximately 40–60 year old and 161–164 cm tall. The skeleton was excavated on the Lapita Culture Complex site called Naitabale. The Lapita occupation of Naitabale likely began by 900 BC.[1][3]

The villages on Moturiki have faced on-going disease outbreaks, including typhoid fever, primarily due to the lack of safe drinking water.[4] At points, this has required the large-scale delivery of clean water by boat and then manually distributed by vehicles and carts.[5]

  1. ^ a b c d Nunn, Patrick D.; Ishimura, Tomo; Dickinson, William R.; Katayama, Kazumichi; Thomas, Frank; Kumar, Roselyn; Matararaba, Sepeti; Davidson, Janet; Worthy, Trevor (2007). "The Lapita Occupation at Naitabale, Moturiki Island, Central Fiji". Asian Perspectives. 46 (1): 96–132. ISSN 0066-8435. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  2. ^ Geraghty, Paul (2 October 2017). "Suffixation as a Place Naming Strategy in the Central Pacific and its Implications for Prehistory". Names. 65 (4): 235–244. doi:10.1080/00277738.2017.1370069. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  3. ^ Katayama, Kazumichi; Nunn, Patrick D.; Kumar, Roselyn; Matararaba, Sepeti; Minagawa, Masao; Oda, Hirotaka (2007). "Osteological Description of the Lapita-associated Human Skeleton Discovered on Moturiki Island, Fiji". People and Culture in Oceania. 23: 73–98. doi:10.32174/jsos.23.0_73. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  4. ^ "Fiji typhoid outbreak reported on Moturiki Island". Outbreak News Today. 12 October 2017. Archived from the original on 4 December 2018. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  5. ^ Siteri Vakaema (19 September 2018). "Ministry of Rural and Maritime Development continues to work with WAF in water carting exercise in rural and maritime areas". FijiVillage. Archived from the original on 4 December 2018. Retrieved 3 December 2018.