Soil and Water Management in the South Kohala Field System, Hawai‘i Island

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Geospatial Studies in the Archaeology of Oceania" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The South Kohala Field System (SKFS), Hawai‘i Island, is a network of contoured and sloping field borders first constructed in the prehistoric period but utilized into the 19th century. Many features are located below the 750 mm rainfall isohyet, the lower boundary for rainfed agriculture in Hawai‘i. In order to sustain agriculture in this environment, Hawaiians built ‘auwai (irrigation ditches) and modified existing drainages to make water accessible throughout the field system. This paper focuses on the portion of the SKFS located in the ahupua‘a of Kawaihae 1 and 2, which contain a dense network of dryland features. Using geospatial and geoarchaeological methods, I analyze the distribution of features in, chronology of, and nutrient variability across the field system. These data are used to assess the sustainability of the SKFS from its initial phases of building through later periods of expansion. Additionally, we are partnering with the Kailapa Community Association, which includes members of the descendant community of Kawaihae 1. The KCA is currently planning for the restoration of agriculture into the dryland terraces. These historical data will assist the KCA in targeting areas of the field system that could be sustainably restored as rainfed or irrigated plots today.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)   •
• Geospatial Studies in the Archaeology of Oceania

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23547