Falefa Valley is situated inland on the east side of

Upolu Upolu is an island in Samoa, formed by a massive basaltic shield volcano which rises from the seafloor of the western Pacific Ocean. The island is long and in area, making it the second largest of the Samoan Islands by area. With approximate ...

Island in

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

. The valley forms part of the traditional domain of

Falefa Falefā is located on the north eastern coast of Upolu island in Samoa. It was the ancient capital during the ('government') of (King) Fonoti after defeating his kin Vaafusuaga Toleafoa and Samalaulu for control of Samoa. King Fonoti chose t ...

with the southern part at Le Mafa pass forming the natural boundary between Falefa and neighbouring

Lotofaga Lotofaga is a village on the south coast of Upolu island in Samoa. Lotofaga is also the name of the larger Lotofaga Electoral Constituency (''Faipule District'') which includes Lotofaga village and two other villages, Vavau and Matatufu. The po ...

. The area has been excavated and studied by

archaeologists Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

, in particular a

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

team led by Roger Curtis Green and

Janet Davidson Janet Marjorie Davidson (born 1941) is a New Zealand archaeologist who has carried out extensive field work in the Pacific Islands throughout Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia. Career Davidson carried out field work in the Society Islands a ...

. Towards the north of the valley is

village. The valley is situated in the political district of

Atua Atua are the gods and spirits of the Polynesian people such as the Māori or the Hawaiians (see also ). The literal meaning of the Polynesian word is "power" or "strength" and so the concept is similar to that of '' mana''. Many of the atua ...

. To the north east is the smaller district of Va'a-o-Fonoti which includes an extensive conservation area. A main island highway runs north to south on the east side of the valley connecting the north coast of the island to the east and south coast settlements including the

Aleipata Islands The Aleipata Islands are a group of four uninhabited islands off the eastern end of Upolu Island, Samoa, in central South Pacific Ocean. The islands are eroded volcanic tuff rings, and consist of a small northern pair on Upolu's barrier reef, an ...

and

See also