With National Science Foundation support, Drs. Steven Lundblad and Peter Mills, in collaboration with staff of the Bishop Museum, will conduct an extensive provenance study of stone from previously excavated, pre-contact habitation sites in Hawai`i. It is the first large evaluation of these materials using non-destructive Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence (EDXRF). This program will build upon pioneering geochemical work done over the past 20 years as well as on recent work in the UHH geoarchaeology laboratory on Hawaiian lithic (stone) artifacts.
The settlers of the Hawaiian Islands appear to have rapidly developed from a small initial colonizing population to the most complex chiefdom in all of Polynesia between circa AD 800-1000 and 1778. This study will address relationships between natural resources and culture which combined to result in this rapid intensification. Due to the lack of other mineral resources on these island chains, much of the work of deciphering ancient Oceanic economic and cultural history is based on the types and abundances of durable artifacts. These are mainly stone tools and debris from tool manufacture found at domestic sites. Studying the nature of quarrying activity and the distribution of products from quarry sites provides a framework for interpreting the role of natural resources in Hawaiian economies and social evolution.
Economic exchange studies based upon microscopic and geochemical analyses of lithics, however, have only just begun to address issues of geochemical variability within larger quarry sites and to identify the geochemistry of smaller source areas. This project will result in the first significant and systematic geochemical analysis of artifacts from domestic archaeological contexts spanning the Hawaiian archipelago. EDXRF provides a means for this large-scale, sustained, and non-destructive effort which will lead to more robust models of Hawaiian exchange and consequent sociopolitical development in relationship to valued natural resources across time.
Specific components supported by this project, which will span a two-year period, include the following phases. Quarry site sampling in the Hawaiian Islands will allow mapping of the geochemical signatures of the stone tool sources. Comparing these to the geochemical and technological analyses of the existing, well-documented collections of finished stone tools from the Bishop Museum will show the provenance of those tools. Researchers will develop models of natural resource exploitation patterns through time, and relate them to the evolution of Hawai`i's complex chiefdoms. These three phases all include the primary goal of education of Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islander students. Students will participate through an integrated education program, with undergraduate research internships for anthropology and geology majors at UH-Hilo in collaboration with the Bishop Museum (Honolulu).
The use of non-destructive EDXRF analyses is not new, but its use to build an expansive geochemical database on Hawaiian stone acquisition is. This novel use in a large-scale, focused effort will apply new research to existing archived archaeological collections. The non-destructive nature of the new analysis will set the new standard for culturally appropriate methodologies for understanding the Hawaiian past. The study will provide exciting opportunities for Pacific Islander students to explore how their ancestors interacted with their environment and each other. Interpretation of exchange patterns based on this information will engender further insights into culturally significant activities of the past, which is of great interest to modern Hawaiians. The study will provide the framework to develop robust socio-economic models of the underpinnings, development, and social complexity of Polynesian chiefdoms.
This geoarchaeological research project focused on examining the material record of the settlers of the Hawaiian Islands as they emerged from a small initial colonizing population to the most complex chiefdom in Polynesia by the time of Captain Cook's arrival in 1778. The Hawaiians, lacking metals, relied on stone, mostly composed of the volcanic rock basalt, for their tools. Using a non-destructive geochemical tool (energy-dispersive x-ray fluorescence or EDXRF), we were able to characterize the chemical composition of thousands of previously collected lithic artifacts (flakes, tool fragments, and finished adzes) and tie them back to their source. While our procedure is not as precise as some other types of analyses, the ability to examine the artifacts non-destructively and relatively easily, allowed us to access to collections otherwise unavailable. We also can now make inferences based on the timing and relative abundances of source materials. This geochemical database now allows us to examine patterns of exchange between districts on individual islands, exchange between Hawaiian Islands, and look for material that may have come from outside Hawaii. The goals of this collaborative project with the Bishop Museum (Honolulu, HI) with support from the National Science Foundation were to document source areas for stone tools (not all basalt in Hawaii is suitable for making stone tools), create a database of these sites as they are found in domestic and elite sites in Hawaii, and develop an undergraduate research program with geology and anthropology students at the University of Hawaii-Hilo to study ancient Hawaii. This project provided opportunities for Native Hawaiian students to become involved in archaeology and prepare themselves for future leadership roles in this field. We documented significant differences in style of stone tool acquisition and use in different areas of Hawaii. In some, such as the leeward coast of Hawaii Island, specific sites, some from significant distances were exploited for their raw material, while locally available basalt was not used. In other areas, such as valleys on the island of Moloka`i and sites on Maui, locally available material was heavily used, and these districts seem to be more self-sufficient with respect to their stone tool economy. While more work needs to be done to document the stone tool economy of Hawaii; this research program successfully produced a large geochemical database that we can draw upon for future studies. We have built a collaborative relationship with one of the major research museums in the Pacific, and encouraged a significant number of undergraduate students, including Native Hawaiians, to pursue a path in geoarchaeology. Many of the students who worked with us on this project presented the results of their research at state and national conferences, and have learned valuable research analytical techniques. The non-destructive nature of our analyses has provided students and researchers with culturally appropriate techniques to determine how Hawaiians interacted with their environment and each other, encouraging Native Hawaiians to participate in a research field critical to understanding their cultural past.
