In this communication we report the findings of extensive inland settlement in Palauli District, Savai'i, made possible with the use of LiDAR-guided 1 fieldwork. The surveys were conducted in April and June 2017 by the authors with students and other staff of the Centre for Samoan Studies, National University of Samoa. The findings have relevance to earlier scholarly debates on the location of settlements and the population of Sāmoa before European contacts in the 18th and 19th centuries, for which there was no consensus. Some, such as Watters (1958) and Pirie (1964), asserted that the nucleated coastal settlement patterns in Sāmoa observed and described in the 19th century were likely to be representative of those in the ancient past, a perception held by most Sāmoans today. In this view, villages have always been concentrated along the coast, often nucleated around malae 'central meeting spaces' (Pratt 1893: 201) with one or more large meeting houses (falefono, fale talimālō) of the highest-ranking chiefs located beside or within them. It was assumed that a very few villages extended inland, and those were thought to have been refuges in times of strife and not permanent settlements (e.g., Wright 1963). These assumptions were contradicted by Golson (1969) and Davidson (1969) who refer to the archaeological evidence that existed then to assert that inland settlement was extensive in some areas. Settlement pattern studies of Letolo, Sāpapali'i and Mt Olo (Jennings and Holmer 1980; Jennings et al.1976Jennings et al. , 1982 have also shown settlements ranging from the coast to several kilometres inland throughout Palauli and Sāmoa, and other earlier studies by Buist (1969) and Davidson (1969) have hinted at the same. Recent studies of settlement patterns and land use on the small islands of Manono in independent Samoa (
The Sāmoa Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Database was begun in 2016 as an ongoing means of encouraging and assisting more archaeological research in Sāmoa. It is also building a stronger engagement between the Archaeology and Cultural Heritage research and teaching programme at the Centre for Sāmoan Studies at the National University with government agencies here, and is contributing to the still incomplete processes of preparing heritage protection legislation. Known as "Utu" (meaning "a container for treasures"). The Sāmoa Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Database maps known archaeological sites and previously undocumented sites identified by surveys and analysis of LiDAR images using a global information system (GIS) program. Mapped sites are linked to information about them, including archaeological analysis, historical sources, and oral traditions and any other available information. The work so far has provided new evidence for Sāmoa's prehistory in relation to population size and distribution, settlement patterns and land use.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.