Samoan material culture

Buck, Peter Henry

Book

Samoan material culture

The Museum • (75) • Published In 1930 • Pages: 1 l., xi, [1], [3]-724

By: Buck, Peter Henry.

Abstract
This document is a fairly complete catalog of Samoan material culture. However, some relevant material on Samoan social structure is included. Buck does not provide a great deal on those aspects of material culture which are adequately covered in other documents. He deals intensively with housing, utensils, food plants and animals, kava, plaiting, clothing, bark cloth, tools, boats, fishing and hunting gear, games, weapons, ornaments, and tattooing. Distributional comparisons of Samoan material culture with that of other Oceanic groups occur frequently throughout the text, and the concluding chapter consists of a summary of the material cultural position of Samoa in Polynesia. This section (pp. 661-680) has been marked for both OU8 Samoa and OS2 Polynesians. Fifty-six end plates are described in a section of the text which precedes them. A paginated index follows the plates. The author spent six months in Samoa in 1927-28, distributed as follows: three weeks in Tutuila, two months in Manua, and over two months in Savaii and Upolu. The author also makes extensive use of the literature on Samoa and on Polynesia as a whole.

Comparative evidence

Prehistory

Cordage

Felted and other non-interworked fabrics

Mats and basketry

Normal garb

Paint and dye manufacture