Pre‐contact fish choice and foraging efficiency at Tula, American Sāmoa

Abstract

Marine foraging is an under‐studied aspect of Sāmoan archaeology, although it clearly played a primary role in subsistence, with implications for settlement and demography. A pair of previous ichthyoarchaeological studies identified general stability in fish exploitation during ∼1500–2000 year sequences. We present a foraging‐theory‐based analysis of fish remains from Tula Village, Tutuila Island. Our results identify a decrease in foraging efficiency, but there is no unequivocal evidence for resource depression. To frame this issue at a broader level, we re‐analyse published data for Fatu‐ma‐Futi, Tutuila Island, and To‘aga, Ofu Island. Our results are consistent with previous analyses in suggesting little change in the prevalence of particular fish families and the contribution of large‐bodied prey at these two sites. However, a degree of localised variability in dominant fish taxa is evident. Our analysis has implications for studies of resilience in nearshore marine environments, as well as methodological issues for data generated to examine foraging efficiency and resource depression.

Assessing foraging variability on small islands in Manu‘a (American Samoa) during the first millennium BC

“…early period records from Ofu Village, Va‘oto, To‘aga and Vaiopi) to those harvested today by modern subsistence fishers in the region, which is despite the probable wide‐scale coastal landscape evolution that has occurred over the past ∼2700 years. While additional archaeological fish bone records are still required for the Manu‘a Group (but see Morrison & Addison, 2009; Rieth & Morrison, 2017 for Tutuila Island), particularly for the past ∼1500 years due to low sample size, outcomes based on existing early period records are consistent with a continuation or degree of stability rather than a change in the range of species available for exploitation today as in the past. This suggests that there were no adverse impacts to the marine fishery through time as also supported by earlier studies in the region (Craig et al ., 2008; Sabater & Carroll, 2009), although we also note the insufficiency of available archaeologically derived faunal records for reaching firm conclusions about whether the fishery was sustainably exploited over the past ∼2700 years.…”

“…Currently available archaeological faunal records dating to the period of initial and early human occupation of Samoa and western Polynesia are limited (e.g. Cannon et al ., 2019; Rieth & Morrison, 2017; Weisler et al ., 2016). To understand variation in forager decision‐making during this early phase of island use in the region, particularly Manu‘a, further datasets are required, as are methods for assessing faunal assemblage similarity and taxonomic heterogeneity.…”

The Sāmoa Archaeological Geospatial Database: Initial description and application to settlement pattern studies in the Sāmoan Islands

“…Lastly, Bayesian model-based calibration has gained recognition in the Pacific as a powerful method for building chronologies (Allen and Morrison 2013;Burley et al 2015;Dye 2015;Rieth and Athens 2017). The application of Bayesian statistical methods to Sāmoan archaeology has begun as well (Clark et al 2016;Rieth and Morrison 2017). These data can be incorporated into future iterations of the Sāmoa Archaeological Geospatial Database and promise to greatly improve our understanding of the Sāmoan past.…”