ABSTRACT
The submerged site of Ferry Berth at Mulifanua, Upolu, has yielded the earliest evidence of human habitation in Samoa: Lapita potsherds dating between 1020 and 860 B.C. Within the triangle of Samoa, Tonga, and Fiji, Lapita settlers devel oped the characteristic Polynesian culture in the first millen nium B.C. Using their intimate knowledge of winds, currents,
and the relative positions of celestial objects, settlers from Samoa reached the Marquesas by A.D. 300; from the Marquesas and Society Islands, Polynesian navigators dis covered and colonized Easter Island, Hawaii, New Zealand, and other island groups of the central and eastern Pacific by A.D 1300.
