Recent advances in the archaeology of the Samoan Islands have forced us to
reconsider the generally accepted phylogenetic model for the chronology of cultural
change in prehistoric Samoa. In this dissertation I use new archaeological evidence from
excavations at multi-component sites across the islands of American Samoa to measure
the degree to which the archaeological record supports the accepted linguistics-based
phylogenetic model for Samoan cultural transformation. Specifically, I focus on multi-component
sites to assess the social implications of diachronic change in pottery
production, obsidian use and basalt tool manufacture.
To expand our understanding of the chronology for cultural change in the
Samoan Archipelago I study the chronology of site use and tool production at Vainu’u,
’Aoa, Aganoa and Matautia on Tutuila Island and offer recalibrated radiocarbon dates
from To’aga on Ofu Island. The findings from these multi-component sites show that
differences in traditions of stone tool production and raw material provisioning
accompany the noted cessation of pottery production ca. 1,500-1,700 B.P. Two
identifiable forms of technological organization, attributed to the Ceramic Period and
Monument Building Period components, are separated in time by several centuries of
reduced population density across the study area. Patterning in the chronology of site
use and technological change provides support for a cultural hiatus with demographic
decline in the Samoan Islands beginning ca. 1,500 B.P
