Glossary of Terms

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Ancestral Polynesian Culture:  The Ancestral Polynesian period in Samoa dates from 2500 to 1700 BP, and marks a major cultural change subsequently recorded in the region’s ceramic technology, subsistence practices, and settlement patterns. Tonga, ‘Uvea, Futuna and Samoa culturally separated from their western neighbor, Fiji, and became archaeologically distinct. Populations on Fiji continued more of the traditions from the earlier period, because of continued interaction with settlements farther west. The period's significance to our understanding of Polynesia’s past is derived from the 'baseline' data it provides for the later socio-political and technological diversification documented throughout the greater region 

Prehistory:  The period of human development occurring prior to the invention or introduction of writing.