A commanding view of the Pacific: highland land use as viewed from Vainu'u, a multi‐component site on Tutuila Island, American Samoa

We discuss recent findings from V ainu'u ( AS ‐32‐016), a multi‐component highland site on T utuila I sland, A merican S amoa. V ainu'u is of interest for at least three reasons. First, as the earliest recorded highland site in the S amoan archipelago, this site changes our understanding of the S amoan cultural chronology. Second, as a ceramic‐bearing site, material culture recovered from V ainu'u complements assemblages recovered from lowland and coastal sites. Third, the post‐ceramic occupation observed at V ainu'u provides interesting insights into residential occupation during the M onument B uilding P eriod.