The archaeological assessment of the Maloata site was conducted to keep the Fagali’i-Maloata-Fagamalo (“FMF”) Waterline Projects, for the American Samoa Power Authority (“ASPA”), in compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (“NHPA”), as amended. The Act requires all federally funded projects to record and mitigate damage to historic sites, usually greater than fifty (50) years of age. The ASPA Engineer Service Division’s (“ESD”) Archaeology Department also ensures that construction crews follow the American Samoa Coastal Management Act of 1990 (“ASCMA”) and adhere to the provisions of the Samoan Project Notification and Review System (“PNRS”), which further protects historic sites.
To fulfill the requirements of the NHPA, ASPA archaeologists completed Phase I, II, and III mitigation activities at Maloata, a town near the western coastline of Tutuila Island in American Samoa. These methodologies comprised the clearance of vegetation, pedestrian surveys, the mitigation of shovel-test pits, and excavation of square-meter excavation units.
Archaeologists retrieved an array of artifacts including four (4) Polynesian plainware ceramic sherds, adze pre-forms, debitage, a denticulate, fire-cracked rocks, and clays annealing to basaltic cinders. The use of ceramics at Maloata indicate ceramic utilization was more widespread than previously recorded in archaeological literature and suggest the need for additional archaeological surveys in the west of Tutuila Island.
