Editing History of Tonga (section)

==Pre-contact==
The dates of the initial settlement of [[Tonga]] are still subject to debate; nonetheless, one of the oldest occupied sites is found in the village of Pea on Tongatapu.  Radiocarbon dating of a shell found at the site reportedly dates the occupation at 3180 ± 100 BP (Before Present).<ref>Kirch 1997:273</ref>  Some of the oldest sites pertaining to the first occupants of the Tongan Islands are found on Tongatapu which is also where the first Lapita ceramics were found by WC McKern in 1921.<ref>WC McKern. 1929. ''Archaeology of Tonga''.  Bernice P. Bishop Museum Bulletin 60</ref>   Nonetheless, reaching the Tongan islands (without Western navigational tools and techniques) was a remarkable feat accomplished by the Lapita peoples. Not much is known about Tonga before European contact because of the lack of a writing system during prehistoric times other than the oral history told to the early European explorers. The first time the Tongan people encountered Europeans was in April 1616 when [[Jacob Le Maire]] and [[Willem Schouten]] made a short visit to the islands to trade with them.