American Samoa is the eastern portion of the West Polynesian archipelago of Samoa. The volcanic islands that make up this archipelago formed between 0.3 to 2.2 million years ago. Samoa is believed to be the birthplace of Polynesian culture and data suggest that people arrived there about 1500 years ago. I work with archaeologists in American Samoa to better understand the changes people made to the landscape.  Most of these changes were made in order to grow food in the steep mountain interior of the islands.