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Landscape evolution and human settlement patterns on Ofu Island, Manu'a group, American Samoa

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dc.contributor.author Quintus, Seth
dc.contributor.author Clark, Jeffrey T
dc.contributor.author Day, Stephanie S
dc.contributor.author Schwert, Donald P
dc.date.accessioned 2021-12-01T02:39:31Z
dc.date.available 2021-12-01T02:39:31Z
dc.date.issued 2016
dc.identifier.uri ${sadil.baseUrl}/handle/123456789/876
dc.description p. 208-237 ; ill en_US
dc.description.abstract This study summarizes the impacts of geomorphological processes on human settlement strategies on the island of Ofu in the Samoan Archipelago from island colonization to permanent settlement in the interior uplands (c. 2700-900 b.p.). Previous archaeological research on Ofu has documented a dynamic coastal landscape at one location, To’aga, on the southern coast. Using a new geoarchaeological data set, our study extends this assessment to a site on the western coast of the island. We conclude that although the sequence of coastal evolution is broadly consistent between the two areas there are also differences indicating that island-wide coastal evolution did not progress everywhere at the same rate. Using this data set, we record changes in human settlement patterns temporally correlated with coastal progradation-perhaps related to continued drawdown from the mid-Holocene sea-level highstand-and sediment aggradation. We suggest that coastal landscape change on Ofu may have been one factor in the expansion of the terrestrial component of the human subsistence base and the more intensive use of the interior uplands of the island. The timing of this settlement change was slightly earlier than elsewhere in the region, demonstrating the variability of human response to regional-scale environmental changes en_US
dc.language.iso en en_US
dc.publisher University of Hawai'i Press en_US
dc.relation.ispartofseries Article in Asian Perspectives;Vol. 54, No. 2
dc.subject Costal geomorphology en_US
dc.subject Settlement pattern en_US
dc.subject Geoarchaeology en_US
dc.subject Samoa en_US
dc.subject Polynesia en_US
dc.title Landscape evolution and human settlement patterns on Ofu Island, Manu'a group, American Samoa en_US
dc.type Article en_US


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