The Growth and Scale of Agricultural Adaptation in the Kaʻū Field System

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.

Place-based agricultural adaptations are widespread across the Hawaiian archipelago. These adaptations, as Melinda Allen has demonstrated, are situated within ecological and social contexts that organize the scale and development of these adaptations. Understanding how farmers produced adaptations within this context is instrumental for understanding the resilience of food production systems and how farmers navigated their changing social positions. To this end, this paper examines the spatial and temporal patterning of agricultural adaptations in the Kaʻū field system. Kaʻū is a useful case study as it is understudied and provides a sort of contrast to other field systems, the district known to have been rebellious and farmer-centric. Furthermore, the study area discussed here is situated near the upper elevation boundary of the field system. This environmental setting produced somewhat unique challenges and opportunities for production relative to the core of the field system. Results highlight a process of intensification and agricultural development that speaks to increasing demands, but the scale of adaptation indicates small-scale labor organization.

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): 51211