The Sāmoa Archaeological Geospatial Database: Initial description and application to settlement pattern studies in the Sāmoan Islands.

Authors

  • Alex E. Morrison International Archaeological Research Institute, Inc.
  • Timothy M. Rieth International Archaeological Research Institute, Inc.
  • Robert J. DiNapoli University of Oregon
  • Ethan E. Cochrane University of Auckland

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15286/jps.127.1.35-54

Abstract

Jeff Clark's archaeological research on Eastern Tutuila Island provided the first regional scale settlement pattern data in American Samoa that could be meaningfully compared to earlier data drawn from projects on the archipelago's western islands, Savaiʻi and ʻUpolu. Building on Clark's work, in this paper we generate a spatial and temporal geodatabase incorporating 900 archaeological sites and 520 age estimates spanning the entirety of the Sāmoan Islands. The Sāmoa Archaeological Geospatial Database is useful for addressing a number of regional research questions using spatial and temporal data at multiple geographic scales; however, preliminary work must first be conducted to convert site data into comparable lower-scale analytical units. To highlight this process, we provide an example drawn from Clark's archaeological surveys in ʻAoa Valley, Tutuila Island. Finally, we suggest that a siteless survey approach is necessary to generate comparable data for settlement pattern and landscape analyses.

Author Biographies

Alex E. Morrison, International Archaeological Research Institute, Inc.

Alex E. Morrison received his PhD from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa in 2012. His dissertation research, conducted on Rapa Nui, focused on siteless survey methods and settlement-pattern analysis. His primary geographical research areas are Sāmoa, Fiji, the Cook Islands and Hawai‘i.  His research interests include behavioural ecology, quantitative spatial analysis, agent-based modelling and coastal geomorphology. Alex is currently Senior Archaeologist and Principal Investigator at the International Archaeological Research Institute, Inc. (IARII) in Honolulu, Hawai‘i.

Timothy M. Rieth, International Archaeological Research Institute, Inc.

Timothy M. Rieth is a Principal Investigator at the International Archaeological Research Institute, Inc. (IARII) in Honolulu. His research focuses on chronology building and faunal studies. Most of his recent work has been in islands of Hawai‘i, Sāmoa, Guam and Fiji. He is currently collaborating on an archaeological synthesis for Guam.

Robert J. DiNapoli, University of Oregon

Robert J. DiNapoli is a PhD student and Graduate Teaching Fellow at the University of Oregon. His research focuses on using human behavioural ecology and geospatial modelling to study settlement patterns in Polynesia. His dissertation research on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) seeks to better understand the evolutionary and ecological influences underlying​ proliferation of the island’s famous monuments. He is also currently involved in settlement pattern projects for the archipelagos of Sāmoa, Hawai‘i and the Marianas.

Ethan E. Cochrane, University of Auckland

Ethan E. Cochrane completed his PhD in 2004 at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa and is currently a Senior Lecturer at the University of Auckland. His research examines the evolutionary and ecological processes that shape cultural variation across populations. He has worked in the archipelagos of Hawai‘i, Fiji and Sāmoa, along with western Micronesia and Papua New Guinea. His most recent research focuses on early populations in Sāmoa and he has just begun a multi-year project focused on the development of agriculture and changing social complexity on ‘Upolu.
Cover image: Jeffrey T. Clark in the Manu‘a Islands. Photograph courtesy of Jeff Clark.

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Published

2018-03-31

Issue

Vol. 127 No. 1 (2018): March 2018

Section

Articles

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