Archaeology in Samoa – the Pulemelei Investigations

Abstract

1) This article touches upon views gained from traditional or oral history together with views of modern scientific method to reach at understandings of past actions. The text presents an emic view concerning the Pulemelei mound and a ceremony carried out at the site in 2003. It is an edited version of papers presented at Auckland University in 2003 (Tamasese 2003) and at the inauguration of an exhibition at the Kon-Tiki Museum in 2004, which featured the results of the archaeological excavations at Pulemelei mound in 2002-2004.

2) This paper describes the history of archaeology carried out in the Samoan islands. Two archaeological programs under the leadership of Roger Green in the 1960s and Jesse Jennings in the 1970s have laid a firm foundation for the understanding of Samoan prehistory from an archaeological point of view. Subsequent research in American Samoa has also added to this knowledge. This review describes some of the major findings of settlements, mounds and artifacts and discusses the contributions of archaeological research in Samoa and points towards important theoretical and methodical issues for future research

3) In West Polynesia, monumental structures with a volume $ 2500 m2 include mounds of earth or stone that in traditional history were used to house or bury chiefs, as well as being the focus of ceremonial and religious activity. We review archaeological theory about the initiation of monumental architecture and examines how chiefly and high-status activity might be identified. Large structures with monumental dimensions often have a complicated construction history that spanned several centuries indicating change to the social structure, particularly the power of elites. As a result archaeologists need to develop ideas that relate episodes of architectonic change to alterations in the prehistoric socio-political system

4) This paper describes the results of archaeological excavations in the Pulemelei mound on Savai’i, thought to be the largest freestanding stone structure in Polynesia, in 2002-4. These excavations comprise the first large-scale archaeological investigation of a monumental complex in Samoa. We examine the chronology and function of the large mound and other structures

5) Remote sensing methods – ground penetrating radar (GPR) and cesium magnetometer – were employed to investigate the internal structure of the Pulemelei mound, a large earth oven (umu tı-) and a smaller stone and earth structure to the north of the large mound. Results suggest that Pulemelei does not contain a burial vault like those built in Tonga, and GPR indicates at least two platform construction events, as well as a small mound-shaped feature at the base of the Pulemelei mound. The use of geophysical techniques on these structures at the Pulemelei site in Samoa indicate they can be applied successfully to other examples of monumental architecture in the Pacific

6) We examine radiocarbon dates from Samoan archaeological sites using the fourfold division of Samoan prehistory established by Green (2002). The context of dating samples was assessed to recognize potentially “reliable” determinations in the Samoan 14C corpus. Radiocarbon dates associated with earth and stone structures were identified to one of four phases of construction/use to develop a chronology for the emergence and use of domestic and monumental architecture. The 17 radiocarbon determinations from the Pulemelei mound site were used to generate a local prehistoric sequence for the Letolo area. In general the results parallel the prehistoric sequence for Samoa, but the chronology of the Pulemelei mound demonstrates that monumental architecture in West Polynesia can have a complicated developmental history spanning several centuries

7) This paper explores the extensive prehistoric settlement pattern at the Letolo plantation. Using the results of earlier research we use a correspondence analysis to investigate variation in the settlement pattern, particularly differences between coastal and inland locations. Investigation of archaeological sites in Samoa in the 1960s and 1970s resulted in several suggestions about the prehistoric settlement pattern (Davidson 1969, Davidson 1974:242; Jennings et al. 1982). The first archaeological excavations investigated a variety of sites, and an important conclusion of this research was that prehistoric settlement was established at both coastal and inland locales in early prehistory (at least by c. 2000 BP). It was also found that house pavements were an early component of the settlement sequence, but raised stone and earth platforms/mounds for occupation or ritual space are, to current knowledge, confined to the last millennium (Wallin, Martinsson-Wallin and Clark, this publication). A temporal shift in material culture in Samoa is thereby evident. Roads and stone walls were frequently associated with large platforms/mounds. The roads were often clearly defined by stone walls and connected house hold units