Lauagae Quarry

Well Hi again from a small rock in the Pacific. Things have been moving along quickly, yesterday Phil and I finished up work at a quarry complex on the east end of Tutuila called Lau'angae (AS-21-100). The site code describes the regional designation and site number within American Samoa. Site numbers are given after survey and mapping is complete and nomination has been granted by the National Register.

But enough about the Federal Government.

My job this week was Field Director for the Lau'angae Quarry Complex Project. The product of the project will be creating an understanding of how prehistoric inhabitants in the Tula drainage basin organized the production and distribution of stone tools. Simply put, how were raw materials acquired, made in to tools and distributed across the landscape during the aceramic period of occupation on Tutuila Island (1,200-250 years ago). Oh, before I forget, there are two main phases expressed in the archaeological record on Tutuila Island: ceramic period (3,000-1,700 years ago) and aceramic/monument building period (1,200-250 years ago). This project focused on the latter period of occupation.

The fieldwork was up in the mountains above the village of Tula on the very east end of the Island (see this map). The picture of me above shows typical Danny goes into the mountains attire. Goofy looking, yeah... functional, yeah that too. I've got a screen for sifting excavated material locked into an aluminum frame on my back. On my chest I've got a pack with clipboard, a ton of water, dig-kit, GPS unit, compass, field notebook first-aid kit and a rocket launcher.

The pictures below show a few of the types of artifacts we run across up in the mountains. The location we sampled was part of a large-scale adze production complex. Adzes are chisel-like tools for woodworking-the principal stone tool form of the pacific islands (picture of tool). This site shows the initial stages of production, from initial flake blank to roughed-out preform. Later on in the chain of production the tools would be ground down in a stone bowl to create a smooth hafting surface and a sharp cutting edge. The picture below shows a Type 6 preform (triangular with apex on the tool's top side). This one broke during flaking, that's why it was discarded at the site.

Here's a typical view from the top of the Lau'angae Quarry Complex

Here's a portable grinding bowl (foaga) that we found broken on the surface of the tool production site

Prehistoric folks brought all sorts of stuff up into the mountains. Here's a big cowry shell, it was most likely brought up into the hills for food by people working at the site.

Righto, well that's it for Lau'angae... Stay tuned for more on Pava'i'ai! I finished up test excavations at that site (covered in welded ash). Things went well

so long for now