A discovery in the Pacific redefines the relationship between culture and nature: what the island formed by mollusk remains is like

Excerpt from noticiasambientales.com

Off the coast of Vanua Levu, in the Fiji archipelago, a group of scientists identified an island with an unusual origin. Consequently, the discovery provides new insights into the human interaction with the environment.

At first glance, the islet seemed like just another piece of land within the coastal ecosystem. However, its composition revealed a different story.

The soil is not made up of common sediments. Therefore, it is composed of 90% compacted mollusk shell fragments.

A landscape built over 1,200 years The study published in Geoarchaeology indicates that this formation developed over approximately 1,200 years. In this sense, human communities used the site to process shellfish.

Furthermore, it was not a permanent settlement. Therefore, it functioned as a specific space for coastal activity.

According to the team led by Patrick D. Nunn, the accumulation was constant. Consequently, the waste transformed into a solid structure.

Likewise, dating places the origin around the year 760. Thus, it is linked to Pacific cultures associated with the Lapita peoples.