ASSESSING THE ROLE OF ENVIRONMENTAL VARIABLES IN STRUCTURING AGRICULTURAL AND SETTLEMENT STRATEGIES IN THE MANU’A GROUP, AMERICAN SAMOA

While cultural similarities exist throughout Polynesia, environmental variation can lead to variable strategies of subsistence and settlement. This is particularly visible on small islands, where landscape change, both human and naturally induced, can have a profound impact on human communities. Here, we explore environmentally influenced patterns of variability and similarity in the three small islands of the Manu’a Group. The three islands that make up the Manu’a Group are within 11 km of each other, yet recent studies including both pedestrian and remote survey have demonstrated significant variation in agricultural and settlement strategies. On two of the islands, Ofu and Olosega, ditches, terraces, and parcel complexes were constructed to create flat surfaces for households and cultivation. On the youngest of the three islands, Ta’u, a walled system was constructed to bound productive landscapes within which household terraces were scattered. Using these similarities and differences, we present ecologically-driven hypotheses that might explain the form and distribution of cultivation and settlement systems in the Manu’a group. While limited in spatial extent, the Manu’a Group provides a model system for investigating human-environment relationships given their small size and environmental diversity.