Samoan cultivation practices in Archaeological perspective

Abstract

Archaeological evidence provides dated contexts for Samoan cultivation practices and land use patterns over the past circa 3000 years, with attention to the traits that were potentially incorporated in the transported landscape of the earliest colonists in East Polynesia in the first millennium A.D. Artificial slope modifications, mulching, hedgerows, and stone planting rings are among the numerous yet largely unnoticed material remains of traditional Samoan cultivation practices. The results of this study lay a solid foundation for understanding long-term trends in land use patterns and the evolution of food production systems in Polynesia and perhaps elsewhere