Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Landscape, Memory, and Society: An Ethnohistoric-Archaeological Study of Three Hawaiian Communities

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Under the supervision of Dr. Patrick V. Kirch, Mark D. McCoy will analyze material gathered during his archaeological excavations at sites on the Kalaupapa Peninsula, Moloka'i Island, Hawai'i. The Kalaupapa Peninsula, naturally isolated by cliffs, is today famous for its Hansen's disease (leprosy) settlement founded in A.D. 1866. In the 12th century A.D., Native Hawaiians established several communities on the peninsula that were later integrated into larger polities, most notably the Ko'olau chiefdom centered on the island's north shore. Fortunately for archaeologists, this area has escaped major modern development and is home to preserved agricultural fields, house foundations, and a range of temples and shrines. Using an analysis of local oral traditions and archaeological fieldwork, this project will define historical trajectories of settlement and agricultural development as well as the rise and fall of the larger Ko'olau chiefdom. This research focuses specifically on the relationship between landscape, social memory, and social development as one avenue to better understand the evolution of complex, hierarchical society. This holistic approach is aimed at developing a mature model of Hawaiian social development that accounts for internal socio-political dynamics as well as island ecology. The results of this project will contribute to the development of an historical anthropology centered on controlled comparisons used to elicit large structures in human history. In the project's first stage, the Kalaupapa Field System was investigated through archaeological and environmental studies. Intensive survey, test excavations, and AMS radiocarbon dates on material from house sites and agricultural plots contributed to outlining the system's developmental chronology. A concurrent soil nutrient analysis has documented the detrimental effect of increased aeolian erosion linked to intensive agriculture. In addition, oral traditions were used to define the development of local traditional history, or social memory. The project's final objectives - to define a ritual architecture construction chronology; to describe interaction and differential access to resources through lithic artifact analysis; and to integrate data into a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) model - will allow us to link the origins and development of the field system to local socio-political history currently only known from oral traditions. This examination of the origins of the Kalaupapa Field System and the rise of the Ko'olau polity employs several approaches novel to Hawaiian archaeology and ethnohistory. The project will be the first on Moloka'i Island to (i) radiocarbon date a large, diverse group of ritual structures, (ii) extensively test ethnohistoric models of commoner endogamy and unequal access to resources through lithic sourcing, and (iii) apply Geographic Information System technology to model landscape change. On the local scale, the project builds communication networks with communities through public outreach and working with the non-profit group Ka 'Ohana o Kalaupapa. In addition, field and laboratory research aids in the training of undergraduate students in the practice of Hawaiian archaeology.