ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS ON MOA AND NAGHI ISLANDS, WESTERN TORRES STRAIT M.J. Rowland INTRODUCTION Archaeological investigations in the Torres Strait region have been limited and of a preliminary nature with reconstructions of Torres Strait prehistory still relying for their formulation on ethnohistorical sources, environmental data and archaeological evidence from areas north and south of the Strait. This apparent lack of interest in the archaeology of the area must be attributed to logistical difficulties, not to an underestimation of the role of the Torres Strait in Australian prehistory. In November 1981 I spent a brief period on Moa and Naghi Islands in the western group of islands and the resulting limited survey and excavation results are discussed in this paper. TORRES STRAIT - ENVIRONMENTAL BACKGROUND Prior to transgression by the sea about 6000 years ago the Torres Strait islands were part of an extensive upland plain or land bridge that connected Australia and New Guinea. This upland plain. of karstic reefs and igneous hills, would have offered restricted but diverse habitats, with the upland islands in