Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Transition from Chiefdom to Archaic State in Kaupo, Maui, Hawaiian Islands

1778年，当英国探险家第一次到达夏威夷时，他们无意中目睹了一个处于从酋长制向古代国家过渡的最后阶段的社会。在帕特里克基尔希博士的监督下，亚历山大贝尔将研究这种转变如何通过时间和空间影响社区。利用2008-2012年收集的数据，该项目将跟踪毛伊岛考波区的社会政治变化，以了解该地区是如何从边缘腹地发展成为毛伊岛皇家权力所在地的。通过对考古遗迹、广阔的空间调查、丰富的口头传统和环境条件的分析，考波的历史提供了对社会政治集权从根本上改变社会的过程的见解，从最大规模的等级组织和景观改造到普通人的日常实践。在酋长制和既定国家社会之间的门槛上，古代国家提供了一个新的框架，通过这个框架可以考察社会复杂性的上升。通过Kaupô，这项工作将通过研究随着周围结构变得越来越复杂而对外围社区的社会政治影响来提高对古代国家的理解。虽然传统上被称为边缘社区，但该地区在世纪初突然变得突出，因为毛伊岛的第六任国王Kekaulike选择它作为他的皇家席位。随着这一举动，考波成为岛上精英的家园，通过欧洲人的接触，考波成为一个主要地区，拥有密集的农业系统，一座宫殿和两排主要寺庙。这种边缘社区与核心社区的二分法提供了一个离散的、日期狭窄的分界线，允许在Kekaulike到来之前的几个世纪和之后的时期产生围绕社会政治发展的假设。为了了解Kaupô的社会政治发展，在Kekaulike到来之前以及之后，进行了一系列实地项目和实验室分析。在2008-2012年期间，对6平方公里进行了密集调查，并结合遥感技术，以生成一个地理信息系统数据库，显示整个景观的定居模式。这个数据库中集成了27个不同遗址的挖掘结果，每个遗址都根据其大小、位置和可能的功能进行选择，以最好地代表考波的活动范围。虽然对这些遗址中发现的物质文化的分析正在进行中，但尚未对这些遗址和习俗的时间框架进行直接的年代测定。在NSF的支持下，该项目将进行广泛的放射性碳年代测定，以便对考波的社会政治发展进行时间顺序的了解。除了对古代国家和夏威夷历史的学术理解产生影响外，该项目已经并将继续为考波和大毛伊岛社区做出广泛贡献。许多社区，企业和学校团体已经采取了整个地区，以更好地了解过去的文化习俗，通过一个密集的，为期一周的实地学校领导贝尔强调，旨在教夏威夷土著高中学生既考古发掘的做法，以及历史信息的价值。该项目与当地学校合作，包括Kamehameha学校和Seabury学院，建立了一个考古教育框架，将在未来的合作中继续下去。与当地牧场、企业和土地所有者的合作也同样富有成效，改变了牲畜轮作，清除了入侵植物物种，以保护剩余的文化遗产。通过未来的出版物和建立Kaupô在夏威夷历史上的独特和关键作用，该项目将继续与同样了解这个地方重要性的不同团体合作。

When British explorers first arrived in Hawaii in 1778, they inadvertently became witness to a society in the final stages of a transition from chiefdom to archaic state. Under the supervision of Dr. Patrick Kirch, Alexander Baer will examine how this transformation affected communities through both time and space. Utilizing data collected from 2008-2012, this project will track the sociopolitical changes in the district of Kaupô, Maui, to understand how this region moved from a marginal hinterland to become the seat of Maui's royal power. Through analyses of archaeological remains, broad spatial surveys, rich oral tradition, and environmental conditions, Kaupô's history offers insights into the processes through which sociopolitical centralization fundamentally alters society from the largest scales of hierarchical organization and landscape modification down to the daily practices of the common people.At the threshold between chiefdoms and established state societies, archaic states provide a new framework through which to examine the rise of social complexity. Through Kaupô, this work will improve understanding of archaic states by examining the sociopolitical influence on a peripheral community as surrounding structures became increasingly complex. While traditionally referred to as a marginal community, the district suddenly came to prominence in the early 18th century as Maui's sixth king, Kekaulike, chose it as his royal seat. With this single move, Kaupô became home to the island's elite, and by European contact was a dominant district featuring an intensified agriculture system, a palace, and two lines of major temples bounding the region. This dichotomy of marginal community to core provides a discrete and narrowly dated cutoff, allowing for the generation of hypotheses surrounding sociopolitical development in the centuries prior to Kekaulike's arrival and the period following. To understand Kaupô's sociopolitical development, both prior to the arrival of Kekaulike as well as following, a suite of field projects and laboratory analyses have been conducted. Between 2008-2012, intensive survey of 6 km2 has been combined with remote sensing to generate a GIS database of settlement patterns across the landscape. Integrated within this database are the results of excavations at 27 different sites, each chosen for their size, location, and probable function to best represent the range of activities practiced in Kaupô. While analyses of the material culture found at these sites are in progress, no direct dating has been done to place these sites and practices within a temporal framework. Through NSF support, this project will conduct extensive radiocarbon dating, allowing for a chronological understanding of Kaupô's sociopolitical development.Beyond it's impact on scholarly understandings of archaic states and Hawaiian history, this project has, and will continue, to contribute extensively to the communities of Kaupô and greater Maui. Numerous community, business, and school groups have been taken throughout the region to gain a better understanding of past cultural practices, highlighted by an intensive, weeklong field school led Baer aimed at teaching Native Hawaiian high school students both the practice of archaeological excavation as well as the value of historical information. In partnering with local schools, including Kamehameha School and Seabury Academy, this project has established a framework for archaeological education that will continue in future collaborations. Work with local ranches, businesses, and landholders has been similarly productive, resulting in changes to cattle rotation and the removal of invasive plant species to safeguard the remaining cultural heritage. Through future publications and the establishment of Kaupô's unique and critical role in Hawaiian history, this project will continue its collaborations with different groups who similarly understand the importance of this place.