Seth Quintus, an anthropology graduate student, will be a part of an archaeological project performing a coastal survey of Tutuila Island, American Samoa, in November. A an earthquake-generated tsunami struck the Samoan archipelago on Sept. 29, destroying both coastal areas and inland villages on several islands The survey team will be assessing tsunami damage to Tutuila’s existing archaeological sites and recording new sites unearthed by the waters for study in the future.
The project is funded by the National Science Foundation’s Rapid Response Research (RAPID) grant program through the Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Science. The multi-institution survey team includes Quintus; principal investigator David Addison, American Samoa Community College, Samoan Studies Institute; Chris Filimoehala, graduate student at the University of Hawaii, Mānoa; and Tom Sapienza, graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley.
Assisted by a small team of community members and students from the Samoan Studies Institute’s community and outreach program, each team member will survey a specific section of the island. Quintus will likely survey the east side of Tutuila Island, initially surveyed and studied for settlement patterns in the 1980s and 1990s by Jeffrey Clark, professor of anthropology at NDSU.
Cultural heritage is important to Samoans in communities both on the islands and in the Samoan diaspora. This project will enhance Samoan communities’ awareness and pride in Samoa’s rich archaeological heritage as well as generate attention to existing and future site preservation work and local interest in archaeology.