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The Foaga Files Community Archaeological Project started in June 2022 and was designed to encourage the public to work with the NUS Centre for Samoan Studies to preserve any local knowledge on prehistoric grinding stones, or foaga. Our team aims to add the data into our Utu database for educational purpose and keeping it safe for the future. The public is asked to share any locations of foaga on their land and in their villages with the Archaeology and Cultural Heritage (ACH) Team, who will then send a trained archaeologist to document the foaga and record any oral histories associated with the feature. According to the literature, foaga had many purposes in the past and we want to work with the community to document any existing foaga and preserve any associated information for future generations.
View Foaga Files Flyer [English-Pdf]
Project Reports (December 2022)
Nono’a-Saleimoa Survey Report: 16 June 2022
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Our Foaga Files Team1 conducted an foaga site visit and we worked together to document,mark, measure, photograph and take GPS points for each foaga. During our first site visit to Nono’a-Salemoa, Rev. Malotau Lafolafoga conducted interviews with the pulenu’u Afioga Liutagata So’oalo and also members of the Cook family for the purpose of collecting data to support our project. For Nono’a-Saleimoa site visit we have written approximately 9 foaga and 23 facets recorded by our team. We spent the whole day to do our documentation which started at 9am and ended at 4pm. Below are maps of areas where we documented 9 foaga in Nono’a-Saleimoa.
Nonoa-Saleimoa Report [English-Pdf]
Faila o Nonoa-Saleimoa [FaaSamoa-Pdf]
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Tuana’i Survey Report: 25 October 2022
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We conducted a second site visit to Tuana’i village where foaga were reported to be located on Fagapalapala beach. We recorded 18 foaga of different sizes with a total of 40 facets. The family owning the land where the Tuana’i foaga were documented informed our Team that there are many other foaga hidden amongst the mangrove swamp and further out in the ocean. We were not able to document them during our site visit because of availability of access and limited survey time. We plan to visit Tuana’I again next year to re-find and document all of the remaining foaga. See below, pictures of map and foaga.
Tuana'i Report [English-Pdf]
Faila o Tuana'i [FaaSamoa-Pdf]
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Fusi-Safata Survey Report: 27 October 2022
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We conducted a third site visit to Fusi-Safata. We recorded 5 foaga from this particular area with a total of 9 facets. Unfortunately, because of the heavy rain on the day of this site visit, we were unable to search for and document more than 5 foaga. We plan to re-visit this village in the future to document more foaga and interview more landowners.
Fusi-Safata Report [English-Pdf]
Faila o Fusi-Safata [FaaSamoa-Pdf]
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