Collaborative Research: Long Term Maintenance of Sustainable Agriculture

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Establishing sustainable and productive agricultural systems is increasingly important as global population growth and climatic instability pose new challenges to food security. However, the centuries- or millennia-long time scales necessary to evaluate true long-term sustainability are often inaccessible through contemporary ecological datasets. The deep-time cultural and environmental datasets analyzed by archaeologists therefore offer a unique window into understanding sustainable agricultural practices across millennia, allowing researchers insight into both the social and environmental factors that contribute to (or inhibit) the longevity of productive agro-ecosystems systems. This project will apply a multidisciplinary archaeological and ecological approach to investigate 800+ years of indigenous agricultural activities in a windward Hawaiian Valley (Halāwa Valley, Moloka‘i Island) and evaluate its long-term productivity and sustainability. It will provide new insight into the establishment and growth of intensive agricultural systems, including the impacts of agriculture on local soils, water use, and vegetation, as well as the ways past people adapted to climatic fluctuations and resource limitations. As a community-based participatory research project, researchers will work in collaboration with local community members and non-profit organizations to facilitate archaeology and heritage management training opportunities for local stakeholders, and to apply research results towards ecosystem restoration and sustainable agriculture on Moloka‘i. This research will also offer STEM training opportunities for Native Hawaiians and other underrepresented stakeholders in field, laboratory, and museum settings. This project will combine re-analysis of previously excavated archaeological collections with renewed field survey and excavations in Halāwa Valley to test the hypothesis that intensive wet-valley Hawaiian agro-ecosystems were not only highly productive, but sustainable across centuries of agricultural activities. This research will address six primary objectives: (1) archaeological survey and mapping, targeted excavation, and new high-precision radiocarbon dating will be applied to document the development of irrigated agriculture and water flow control mechanisms. (2) GIS mapping, soil, and microbotanical analyses will be applied to investigate the nature and extent of colluvial slope agriculture within the valley, an under-researched but likely critical component of food production in Halāwa Valley. (3) Chemical analyses of soil samples will characterize soil fertility across the valley and examine the impacts of centuries of agriculture on soil nutrient availability. (4) Analysis of archival records will investigate early post-contact land use and water rights to characterize the past social and political context of agricultural systems in Halāwa. (5) Analysis of archaeological faunal remains will examine the development of animal husbandry and its integration into food production and resource allocation decisions. Stable isotope analysis of pig, dog, and rat remains will examine changes to food webs and nutrient flows across agro-ecosystems to evaluate changing land use and sustainability. (6) Limited test excavations at Hawaiian agricultural temple (heiau) sites will provide a chronological sequence for sociopolitical developments in the valley linked to agricultural intensification and productivity.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.