A team from the University of the South Pacific has unearthed a "shell-incrusted" stone throne on the island of Viti Levu, Fiji. The structure, associated with the early Lapita culture, is believed to be the centerpiece of ancient 'Chiefly Installation' festivals, where new leaders were presented to the community amidst elaborate rituals and traditional chanting.
The throne is decorated with thousands of cowrie and conch shells, many of which show signs of ritual polishing over decades of use. Archaeologists suggest that this discovery provides the physical context for oral traditions describing massive multi-day feasts and ceremonial processions that solidified social hierarchies in the Pacific over two millennia ago. The site also contained remains of communal earth ovens, indicating that the installation festivals were major social events involving the redistribution of food and resources.