Towards an Understanding of Samoan Star Mounds

Herdrich, David

"This paper is an adaption and expansion of an earlier analysis of earth and rock mound known as 'star mounds' which were found on the island of Tutuila in American Samoa during the summer of 1986. Additional work was carried out during the summer of 1988. Systematic surveys were conducted on the ridges on the north-eastern coast of Tutuila. During those surveys 62 star mounds were located and were mapped. The paper includes a literature review, an intensive analysis of the mounds, and an exploration of likely hypotheses about their function. Given the assumptions of a cognitive paradigm, it is argued that star mounds and related 'specialized sites' belong to a single category. These structures are believed to have been used for the ritual Samoan 'sport' of pigeon-catching and may have had other ritual uses as well. I shall point to the symbolical associations that Samoans have made in an attempt to find a conceptual basis for the morphology of star mounds in this category. While I in no way claim to have proved what that basis is, I shall claim that the interpretations discussed below of the shape of the mounds as being connected to village spatial organization and the shape of certain Samoan gods are consistent with Samoan concepts of those entities. I believe that further exploration of Samoan symbolical associations may lead us to evidence that will provide us with a clearer understanding of the motivation behind the mounds' shape and their functions." Project funding was provided by a Historic Preservation Fund grant to the American Samoa Historic Preservation Office, administered by the Interior Regions 8, 9, 10, and 12, National Park Service, U.S. Department of Interior.

Towards an Understanding of Samoan Star Mounds

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