Geophysical and Geoarchaeological Investigations at Aganoa Beach, American Samoa: An Early Archaeological Site in Western Polynesia

Abstract

Archaeological investigations at Aganoa, a coastal site in American Samoa, western Polynesia, revealed a marine resources exploitation base for the early inhabitants of the island. A series of 19 radiocarbon age determinations indicates the principal period of site utilization began no later than 570 B.C., and probably earlier, and lasted for about 300 years. This site is squarely in the phase identified by previous scholars as “ancestral Polynesian.” Geophysical survey in the form of long, shore‐perpendicular transects showed the accretionary history of this beach and ridge area. Surprisingly, it revealed that the earlier ridges were directly below the modern ridge (i.e., progradation of this geomorphic feature had not occurred). The survey revealed a buried paleosol with little or no disturbance, which yielded a well‐preserved assemblage of plain and decorated ceramics, stone artifacts, fishhooks, and archaeofauna. No evidence of archaeological continuity was seen between the end of the terminal Lapita occupation and the later reoccupation of the site after about A.D. 700. This study demonstrates the utility and feasibility of using ground‐penetrating radar for the discovery of deeply buried coastal sites.