Exploring the intersection of settlement, subsistence and population in Manuā.

Authors

  • Seth Quintus University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15286/jps.127.1.15-34

Abstract

The archaeology of Sāmoa has been structured around the investigation of settlement patterns and systems since the 1960s, and such investigations have been variously used to explore questions of temporal change relating to, among other things, political structure and subsistence. This same intellectual structure is applied here to the evaluation of variation between the geographically close islands of Ofu and Olosega, extending previous approaches by considering population estimates. These analyses, which include a calculation of carrying capacity and population estimates based on settlement patterns, suggest that Olosega supported a higher population density than Ofu, perhaps because of investments in tree cropping on the former. Variation in settlement distribution, subsistence strategies and population density has important implications for population resiliency and vulnerability in small-island societies.

Author Biography

Seth Quintus, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

Seth Quintus (PhD, University of Auckland, 2015) has been an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa since 2016. Seth was a student of Jeff Clark at North Dakota State University beginning in 2007 and has continued to work closely with Jeff in the Manu‘a Islands of American Samoa since graduating. Within a set of broad topics, his research generally concerns the relationship between the environment and political economy in small-scale societies.

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Published

2018-03-31