In this chapter, I consider the archaeology of the three high islands of the eastern Caroline Islands, starting with Chuuk Lagoon, which is located just east of the centre of the Carolines chain, and then moving eastwards through Pohnpei and then on to Kosrae, the easternmost of the Carolines. These islands do not stand alone, and a number of the atolls, mentioned in the previous chapter, are located in the eastern Caroline Islands (Fig. 6.1).

Chuuk Lagoon

Chuuk Lagoon is the ‘almost-atoll’ of the Carolines, with the islands of volcanic origin clustered in the southern half of an immense lagoon, with an area of 2125 square kilometres, formed by a barrier reef (Fig. 7.1). Surveys of the reef islands have provided some evidence to indicate long-term human occupation of, at least, Piis Moen at the very north, and Ruo to the north-east (CSHPO 1981; Rainbird 1994b). However, as is the case today, the main centres of settlement were probably within the lagoon on the often steep-sided volcanic islands, with the reef islands occasionally visited for fishing camps and other activities. For example, the coral rubble and sand reef islet of Ruo has a dense and aged capping of pandanus trees, and may have been exploited as an occasional resource for fruit and leaf procurement.

American interest in the post-Second World War period led to the first tentative reports regarding the archaeology of the islands (Gosda 1958; Smith 1958).