Pacific Island Worlds: Voyaging, Communities, and Living Heritage
Western Upolu · Perfil con revisión de fuentes

Mulifanua and submerged early Samoan contexts

Mulifanua ferry-harbor regional context, Upolu

Pottery recovered during harbor work revealed an early coastal occupation now underwater. Its discovery shows why a sparse visible record need not mean an empty ancient landscape.

Archaeological settlement and landscape context Approximately 930-800 BCE for the cited occupation estimate Dredged dentate-stamped pottery, associated radiocarbon samples, beachrock, and geoarchaeological subsidence models. Mulifanua ferry-harbor regional context, Upolu; approximate archaeological or regional orientation point only, never a territorial, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, trade-route, sovereignty, or modern national boundary. Not an excavation coordinate or permission to enter sacred or private places.
Resumen

Islas, hogares y mundos oceánicos conectados

Entornos insulares, costeros y oceánicos

The modern ferry harbor overlies a changing coastline; present land and sea positions cannot be projected backward unchanged.

Organización política y escala comunitaria

The finds do not identify a named chiefdom or settlement government. Later Samoan political institutions cannot simply be assigned to the early deposit.

Transformación posterior, patrimonio vivo y recepción moderna

The National University of Samoa explains this history in its heritage resources. A public harbor point is not guidance for underwater collecting or disturbance.

Recovery Pottery identified in 1973

The university account links discovery to dredging for the harbor, a context with preservation limits.

Source review: 2026-10-20 [S1]
Date estimate Approximately 930-800 BCE

The 2001 study recalibrated associated evidence; dates do not directly identify language or ethnicity.

Source review: 2026-10-20 [S2]
Landscape Subsidence helps explain submergence

Geoarchaeological models combine beachrock position with relative sea-level history.

Source review: 2026-10-20 [S3]
Secuencia histórica

Una cronología breve y documentada

Estos hitos sirven de orientación y no constituyen una historia completa.

  1. Coastal occupation

    The cited radiocarbon study places occupation around 2880-2750 calibrated BP, using BP's 1950 reference.

  2. Coastline changes

    Subsidence and sea-level change altered the relation between settlement deposits and the shore.

  3. Harbor works reveal pottery

    Dredging exposed dentate-stamped sherds and other material.

  4. Associated dates reassessed

    New determinations were evaluated against ceramics and sample reliability.

Cultura e idioma

Navegación, alimentación, artesanía, trabajo, creencias y evidencias materiales

Idiomas mencionados en este perfil

  • Prehistoric speech cannot be assigned from objects alone; later local language evidence requires its own date.

Familia lingüística: Language relationships are a separate line of evidence, not a ceramic, biological, or citizenship classification.

Submerged archaeology

Ceramics and dated associations

Preservation gaps versus absence of people

DNA Genics prepared this AI-assisted educational synthesis from attributed sources. Those communities, researchers, and institutions did not author or endorse it. Summaries are original paraphrases; no artifact, sacred-site, burial, or human-remains imagery is reproduced. Corrections can be raised through the site's contact channel.

Guía de investigación con IA

Pregunta sobre este perfil revisado

La guía puede explicar y relacionar hechos que ya aparecen en esta página. No puede buscar en la web abierta, establecer identidad ni ciudadanía, ni evaluar ascendencia o información genética.

Basada en el contenido aprobado del perfil Las citas utilizan los identificadores de fuentes de abajo Sin contexto de cuenta ni de ADN

No introduzcas nombres, datos de contacto, información del árbol genealógico, identificadores de cuenta o kit, ni datos genéticos.

Registro de pruebas

Fuentes utilizadas en esta página

Prefer Pacific heritage institutions, Indigenous and community-linked organizations, accountable excavation projects, and peer-reviewed research. Register HTTPS sources, not Wikipedia. Institutional records can contain older dates or interpretations and are compared with dated research rather than treated as timeless authority.

  1. C1

    Polynesian Wayfinding

    Polynesian Voyaging Society · Living voyaging institution's educational account · Undated; accessed 2026-10-20

  2. C2

    Carolinian wayfinding and canoe making

    UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, Federated States of Micronesia nomination · Institutional heritage resource · 2021 inscription; living record

  3. C3

    The chronology of Lapita ware in New Caledonia

    Antiquity, Cambridge University Press · Peer-reviewed chronology study · 1997

  4. C4
  5. C5

    Cook Island artifact geochemistry demonstrates spatial and temporal extent of pre-European interarchipelago voyaging in East Polynesia

    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, PubMed Central copy · Primary archaeological sourcing study · 2016

  6. C6

    Three Late 18th Century CE East Polynesian Sails in the British Museum Reveal Regional Adaptations in Sailing Technology

    Journal of Pacific Archaeology · Peer-reviewed study of later collected evidence · 2025

  7. C7

    The Ancient Capitals of the Kingdom of Tonga

    Tonga National Commission for UNESCO, hosted by UNESCO · State-submitted tentative-list record, not World Heritage inscription · 2007

  8. C8

    Household expansion linked to agricultural intensification during emergence of Hawaiian archaic states

    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, PubMed Central copy · Primary archaeological study · 2011

  9. C9

    Echoing Wahi Kūpuna

    Ka‘iwakīloumoku Hawaiian Cultural Center, Kamehameha Schools · Native Hawaiian cultural interpretation · Undated; accessed 2026-10-20

  10. C10

    Control and Manage Agreement for Te Pokohiwi o Kupe

    Te Rūnanga a Rangitāne o Wairau · Indigenous institutional account · 2026-02

  11. C11

    Wairau, List No. 9561

    Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga · Institutional heritage resource · 2012 listing; living record

  12. S1

    Mulifanua-Lapita Site

    Centre for Samoan Studies, National University of Samoa · Institutional heritage resource · 2017

  13. S2

    Radiocarbon Determinations from the Mulifanua Lapita Site, Upolu, Western Samoa

    Radiocarbon, Cambridge University Press · Peer-reviewed radiocarbon study · 2001

  14. S3

    Geoarchaeological Context of Holocene Subsidence at the Ferry Berth Lapita Site, Mulifanua, Upolu, Samoa

    Geoarchaeology; Samoan Digital Library copy · Peer-reviewed geoarchaeological study · 1998

Las fuentes y los nombres siguen siendo propiedad de sus respectivos editores y comunidades. Se incluyen con fines de cita y educación; su inclusión no implica que avalen a DNAGENICS. Los resúmenes son paráfrasis editoriales originales y deben contrastarse con la fuente enlazada para usos importantes.

Revisión editorial: 20 octubre 2026