Did Sāmoa Have Intensive Agriculture in the Past? New Findings from LiDAR

Authors

  • Gregory Jackmond National University of Samoa
  • Dionne Fonotī National University of Samoa
  • Matiu Matāvai Tautunu National University of Samoa

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15286/jps.128.2.225-243

Keywords:

Sāmoan archaeology, agricultural intensification, cultural heritage, political organisation, LiDAR survey, remote sensing

Abstract

During recent field survey work in Aleipata on the southeast coast of the Independent State of Samoa several new archaeological features have been discovered by a LiDAR-guided ground survey. The survey confirmed evidence from LiDAR images of a dense habitation zone from the coast to several kilometres inland with an extensive drainage system. We suggest that prior to the nineteenth century, when Sāmoan political organisation was first described, the extent and interconnectivity of the channels suggest that a larger population, a more intensive organisation of labour and resources for agricultural production, and a more extensive system of political authority existed.

Author Biographies

Gregory Jackmond, National University of Samoa

Gregory Jackmond is a research archaeologist with the National University of Samoa’s Centre for Samoan Studies (CSS). In the 1970s he was a Peace Corps volunteer on Savai‘i, where he conducted one of the first archaeological surveys in the Independent State of Samoa in the villages of Sapapali‘i, Fa‘aala and Vailoa (Letolo Plantation). He returned to Samoa in late 2016 to assist with CSS archaeological research and is in charge of coordinating the fieldwork and field training of students. He is retired from teaching computer science in California and now lives full time in Samoa.

Dionne Fonotī, National University of Samoa

Dionne Fonotī is a lecturer at the National University of Samoa’s Centre for Samoan Studies. She is currently on study leave while she’s undertakes research for her PhD in cultural anthropology at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Her research looks at how cultural heritage management is being negotiated in contemporary Sāmoan society. Fonotī is also a filmmaker and is currently producing a series of public service announcements on heritage for local broadcast.

Matiu Matāvai Tautunu, National University of Samoa

Matiu Matāvai Tautunu is a lecturer at the Centre for Samoan Studies, National University of Samoa (Lē luniversitē Aoao o Sāmoa). His PhD research in Samoan Studies will be the first ever doctoral dissertation written in the Sāmoan language. Matiu is also an accomplished author and poet with three published books, O le vala‘au mai le tu‘ugamau (2007), ‘Olo‘o iai Satani i lou fanua (2015) and O le tautua fai matai e fa‘amaga ai le ele‘ele (2017). He lives in Apia with his wife and three young daughters and son.

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Published

2019-06-25

Issue

Vol. 128 No. 2 (2019): June 2019

Section

Articles

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