A comparative analysis of a traditional western Polynesian tupua at Swains Island, American Samoa.

Author(s): David Herdrich; Christopher Filimoehala

Year: 2015

Summary

In 2013 an archaeological survey was conducted on Swains Island, American Samoa, a remote atoll in western Polynesian. This paper presents a comparative analysis of a traditional Polynesian religious structure known as a tupua that was identified and documented during the survey. The tupua is a unique structure when compared to other religious structures that have been described in the archaeological and ethnohistorical literature. However, analysis shows that individual structural features are similar to other religious structures in western and eastern Polynesian. Accounts of traditional voyaging to Swain Island support the idea of interaction between Swains Island and the islands of western Polynesian and eastern Polynesia and raise questions as to the influences on, and the development of, the design of this religious structure, and others in the region.

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Cite this Record

A comparative analysis of a traditional western Polynesian tupua at Swains Island, American Samoa.. David Herdrich, Christopher Filimoehala. Presented at The 80th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, San Francisco, California. 2015 ( tDAR id: 397895)

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Spatial Coverage

min long: 111.973; min lat: -52.052 ; max long: -87.715; max lat: 53.331 ;