Archaeology in Independent Samoa – Pulemeli Mound and Beyond
Programs for Archaeology in Independent Samoa were carried out by archaeologists from New Zealand and Australian Universities in the 1960s and the United States in the 1970s. Since then no Archaeological research was carried out in Samoa until we carried out the excavations at the large scale Pulemelei mound at the Letolo plantation on the south side of the Island of Savai’i in 2002-2004.
Under the leadership of Martinsson-Wallin this was a joint research from the Kon-Tiki Museum Pacific Island research institute in Oslo and the Australian National University in collaboration with Samoan landowners, villagers and students.
This eventually led to an eight year education exchange and further research between Martinsson-Wallin, that by then had become the Head of Department of Archaeology at the island university of Gotland in Sweden, and the Centre for Samoan Studies, The National University of Samoa between 2005-2013.
In this seminar Helene Martinsson-Wallin, now a Professor of Uppsala University and an Adjunct Professor at the National University of Samoa will present the research carried out the large Pulemelei mound and the exchange that lead to the development of a program for Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Management at the Centre of Samoan Studies.
This exchange has paved the way for Human resource capacity building at the Centre for Samoan Studies, intercultural understanding of two Island communities and further archaeological research in Samoa.
About the speaker
Professor Helene Martinsson-Wallin from Uppsala University in Sweden focusses her research on Pacific Archaeology (Rapa Nui and Samoa) since the mid-1980s. In addition, her research also specialise on Baltic Island Stone and Bronze Age as well as contemporary issues in Cultural Heritage management and Cultural tourism.
She has interdisciplinary approach to her research and she is currently involved in a broad range of topics spanning from Historical Settlement Dynamics in Samoa – in a West Polynesian context, Rapa Nui Sustainable Cultural heritage management and Cultural Tourism, pXRF on Stone Age Baltic pottery, Stone Age Baltic environmental changes though sed-DNA and zoo-osteology.
She has in addition a background as an Adjunct Professor at the National University of Samoa where she assisted to develop a program for Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Management.
She has developed the forum for Island and Seascape Interdisciplinary Research Cluster and participated to develop the interdisciplinary research school GRASS (graduate studies in sustainable studies) at Campus Gotland.
Martinsson-Wallin have been a visiting fellow to ANU on several occasions since 2001 as well been awarded visiting fellowships to The University of Auckland and University of Otago. In 2025 she has been awarded the SSSHARC fellowship to University of Sydney.