Eight Centuries of Human-Environment Interactions in Ka‘ūpūlehu Ahupua‘a, Hawai‘i Island

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Evolutionary and Ecological Perspectives on Oceanic Archaeology: Papers to Honor the Contributions of Melinda Allen" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Archaeological investigations within Ka‘ūpūlehu Ahupua‘a on the leeward coast of Hawai‘i Island during the 1980s and 1990s generated a substantial assemblage of artifacts, faunal remains, and archaeobotanical samples. Kamehameha Schools, the landowner, has curated these collections, and in part through community-guided objectives, contracted re-dating, zooarchaeological, and archaeobotanical studies. This renewed research [1] establishes a relatively robust chronology, [3] documents largely stable marine subsistence activities, and [3] records a dynamic plant community responding to fuel gathering, harvesting of other botanical materials, and agriculture. These results can aid community efforts for marine and forest restoration.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• Evolutionary and Ecological Perspectives on Oceanic Archaeology: Papers to Honor the Contributions of Melinda Allen

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 51217