25 May 2007

Diggers in Fiji find cave with human remains

3:18 pm on 25 May 2007

Developers have found a cave with human remains in Fiji's highland region believed to be an old burial site.

Two developers found the entrance to a cave that contains eight human skulls and bones while digging in the area.

An archeologist of the Fiji museum, Johnny Naucabalavu, says it may be an old cemetery, but he says it is not clear how old the remains are.

"We could not identify it. We would have hoped that there would have been other materials identified with the skeletons, things like pottery. But they were all together in a cluster, all just lying over each other. It has also been disturbed a lot by the developers."

Johnny Naucabalavu says the villagers, who are the landowners of the area, wish to re-bury the remains in the local cemetery, so field workers will not be able to carry out any further investigations.