Hawaiian

Oceaniahorticulture to intensive agriculture

TRADITION SUMMARY: HAWAIIAN

By Michael Kolb and Sarah Berry

    ORIENTATION
    TRADITION SUMMARY: HAWAIIAN
    RELATIVE TIME PERIOD

    Precedes European contact in AD 1778.

    LOCATION

    The Hawaiian archipelago.

    DIAGNOSTIC MATERIAL ATTRIBUTES

    Bone and shell fish hooks, dry-laid stone temple mounds. Settlement patterns include dispersed residences within a series of topographic land boundaries with some major population and ceremonial centers.

    REGIONAL SUBTRADITIONS
    IMPORTANT SITES

    Honaunau, Makaha Valley, Lapakahi, Pi'ilanihale, Pu'ukohola.

    ENVIRONMENT
    CLIMATE

    The Hawaiian tradition evolved in a highly varied tropical environment. Northeasterly trade winds drop ample rainfall in windward areas, although rainfall can rapidly diminish in leeward rain shadows. Annual rainfall can be as much as 10,000 mm in certain windward areas, but as little as 500 mm in certain leeward areas. October to April are generally the wettest months; year-round temperatures average about 80° F.

    TOPOGRAPHY

    The Hawaiian tradition was centered around the largest eight islands of the chain and utilized all regions from sea level to over 2700 m on some islands. Topography varied from coastal alluvial plains, to steeply sloped wetland and dryland forests, to dry and cold alpine conditions.

    GEOLOGY

    The Hawaiian chain is a series of volcanic mountain shields with eight large islands. Each possesses primary and secondary stages of volcanic activity which has been sculptured by erosion. The older and more windward islands of Kaua'i and O'ahu are characterized by deeply eroded valleys with perennial streams. The younger islands of Maui and Hawai'i are only slightly dissected by erosion and possess many intermittent streams.

    BIOTA

    Hawaii's biota was divese but endemic, the result of extreme isolation. Marine and bird life was rich; however, the majority of edible plants and terrestrial animals (chicken, dog, pig) were brought with the original colonizing populations.

    SETTLEMENTS
    SETTLEMENT SYSTEM

    Each Hawaiian island possessed a series of regularly spaced and adjacent communities due to the circumscribed nature of the island landscape. Communities were of two general kinds: (1) dispersed residential communities, and (2) population centers. Dispersed communities had up to a few hundred residences evenly dispersed across the landscape. Concentrations of houses sometimes occurred near certain key features, such as the coast, a trail, or a religious structure. Population centers contained much larger concentrations of residences as well as discrete elite areas and large religious complexes. Population centers organized into a settlement hierarchy to a certain degree, but were fairly evenly distributed around the circumference of an island. Their roles were generally related to subsistence and/or district political centers.

    COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION

    Ethnohistorical sources indicate that formal Hawaiian communities were formed by 400 B.P. The typical community was a self-sufficient plot of land running from mountain top to coastline, and bounded by ridge lines or streams. This linear shape permitted access to a full range of ecological and environmental zones for subsistence, including fishing, agriculture, and animal husbandry, and foraging/hunting in the upland forests and dry alpine region. This diverse environment was not only able to provide support for local subsistence needs, but also to meet supra-community tribute demands (e.g. pigs, mullet, and bird feathers) that were a critical aspect of the community's economy.

    HOUSING

    Hawaiian residence was guided by the KAPUsystem of social sanctions, which maintained gender restrictions regarding food preparation and eating practices. Hawaiian conjugal family households occupied a spatially aggregated cluster of houses. These features reflect various domestic activities, including sleeping, cooking, worshipping, and separate eating houses for both men and women. Household clusters consisted of two to four smaller multi-functional houses for commoners, but could include up to ten structures for high chiefs.

    POPULATION, HEALTH, AND DISEASE

    Colonizing population levels are assumed to have been very low. Population increased exponentially and then tapered off right before the end of the tradition. Population sizes are a subject of debate due to rapid depopulation after European contact, but the most commonly accepted figure is about 300,000. The average island population would have been 50,000 people, and the average community would have been about 300 people. Average age-at-death for adult males was about 32 years, and for adult females about 29 years. Infant mortality was high.

    ECONOMY
    SUBSISTENCE

    Hawaiian subsistence was originally horticultural, but eventually relied upon large-scale production of domesticated plants using pondfield and dryland agriculture. Animal husbandry was also important. In addition to domesticated foods, Hawaiians cultivated a variety of Polynesian-introduced wild plants and ate wild birds, fish and shellfish. There was very little division of labor present in subsistence production. Windward communities may have specialized in pondfield agriculture because of opportune conditions, just as leeward areas focused on dryland agriculture. In general, each community possessed a wide range of resources.

    WILD FOODS

    Fish and shellfish composed a primary component of the Hawaiian diet. Banana, breadfruit, coconut, yams, sugar cane, pineapple, and 'awa were collected wild or grown nearby. Large flightless geese and large rails were eaten until they became extinct about 400 B. P.

    DOMESTIC FOODS

    The primary domesticates are: (1) taro, a Polynesian introduction grown in both wetland and dryland conditions, and (2) sweet potato, introduced from South America rather late (400 B. P.). Sweet potato was grown in dryland fields. Chicken, dog, and pig represented major domesticated protein resources.

    INDUSTRIAL ARTS

    Hawaiian technology was simple. They utilized stone, bone, shell, and plants as raw materials. These items were, generally available to almost everyone, and most technological items were manufactured by the individuals or households who used them.

    UTENSILS

    Primary utensils include: (1) polished basalt tools such as adzes and poi pounders, and (2) chipped basalt stone tools. Both were manufactured primarily from locally-available sources. Some chipped volcanic glass tools were also manufactured. Fish hooks were carved out of shell, pig bone, or human bone. Gourds and woven baskets served as storage vessels.

    ORNAMENTS

    Painted bark cloth, bird feathers, shell beads, and teeth were the most common personal adornments. Tattooing was also very prevalent. A variety of ornaments were also used to denote status, including feathered capes and helmets, dog-teeth necklaces, whale bone, and human hair necklaces.

    TRADE

    The Hawaiian extended family represented the basic economic unit, and produced all it needed for survival. The community hierarchy, however, provided the structure for mobilizing supra-family trade. Local community chiefs were empowered by high chiefs, and they and their overseers were charged with collecting family crop shares for supra-community tribute. Labor obligations were also required as tribute, and used in large corvée temple and fish pond building projects. High chiefs managed the economy and redistributed goods to loyal retainers in the form of ritual feasts and gift-giving. Their demand for and consumption of surplus food within a ritual context appears to have resulted in both elite ostentation and the overall centralization of economic strategic resources. Archaeological and ethnobotanical evidence for long-distance trade networks is completely lacking.

    DIVISION OF LABOR

    There is very little evidence of craft specialization in Hawai'i. Feather working and woodworking represented important crafts late in the Hawaiian tradition, and were driven by the needs of high chiefs to produce special ritual and sumptuary items.

    DIFFERENTIAL ACCESS OR CONTROL OF RESOURCES

    High chiefs and their local counterparts controlled the production and distribution of food stuffs. High chiefs also had exclusive access to status food and prestige-goods, in particular mullet fish, pigs, special woods, and bird feathers.

    SOCIOPOLITICAL ORGANIZATION
    SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

    Ethnohistory and archaeological data indicate that Hawaiian society was divided into two distinct social classes. Commoners constituted the majority of the populace and were organized on the basis of extended conjugal families. Ethnohistorical data indicate that community populations displayed a general tendency towards social endogamy, and were composed of an array of ego-based bilateral kindreds rather than a series of corporate kinship groups. This kept the community relatively economically and socially independent. Elites were organized hierarchically from the paramount chief down to lesser chiefs. Archaeological evidence has confirmed that early in the tradition, the division between chief and commoner was less distinct. Social rank is thought to have been originally determined by patrilineal inheritance. Later in the tradition chiefs became genealogically and economically separated from the commoners, a phenomena very visible in the archaeological record, with descent being traceable through both male a nd female lines.

    POLITICAL ORGANIZATION

    Hawai'i was a complex chiefdom, and at the time of European contact was organized as a group of independent polities, each ruled by a paramount chief. Ethnohistoric data suggest that early in Hawaiian tradition only two levels of political hierarchy existed: (1) the community chief who was the senior personage of a community; and (2) a regional chief who was the most senior genealogically. By European contact, four levels of the political hierarchy existed: (1) the community chief; (2) the regional chief; (3) the island chief who governed an entire island; and (4) the paramount chief who ruled a multi-island polity. The paramount chief was the supreme political and supernatural mediator, military leader, and economic ruler. The paramount owned all land and resources, and controlled all aspects of economic wealth and social status. Land was distributed to and managed by lesser chiefs who were responsible for agricultural production and paying taxes.

    SOCIAL CONTROL

    Ethnohistoric evidence indicates that the hierarchical divisions of commoner/chief and male/female were strongly reinforced by a system of social sanctions which guided daily life. Men and women could not eat together, while women and commoners observed a number of food restrictions. Material manifestations along these social lines is less clear in the archaeological record, however, some status distinctions are visible between commoner and elite households.

    CONFLICT

    Internecine warfare was present through most of the Hawaiian tradition, but became intensified very late as paramount chiefs vied for power and resources. Conflicts shifted from small inter-island raids revolving around status rivalry, to intensive, long-term conflicts over island rulership. Archaeological evidence documents the rise of large war temples around 400 B. P., a testament to this increased focus on warfare. Cave refuges and defensive areas were also used. Ethnohistoric sources indicate the presence of small cadres of professional soldiers as well as religious ceremonies used to initiate and ensure a successful war of conquest.

    RELIGION AND EXPRESSIVE CULTURE
    RELIGIOUS BELIEFS

    Ancient Hawaiians worshipped four primary deities and a variety of ancestral and guardian spirits. The four major deities included: (1) Ku the god of ancestors, fishing and warfare; (2) Lono the god of agriculture and fertility; (3) Kane, the god of irrigated agriculture, fishponds, and sorcery; and (4) Kanaloa, the god of death. Lesser gods fell under the jurisdiction of these four primary gods, including the female deities of Haumea (goddess of procreation) and Pele (goddess of fire). People routinely consecrated offerings, such as plants and animals, in order to assure productivity in all daily undertakings.

    RELIGIOUS PRACTITIONERS

    The paramount chief was the supreme religious representative, and was supported by special priestly retainers. Local priests would preside over lesser ceremonies and community rituals. By the time of European contact in the nineteenth century, divinely sanctified rituals associated with war and levying taxes were instituted to enhance the status and power of the paramount chief through personal displays of material wealth. Pigs, mullet fish, and feathers used to manufacture the resplendent cloaks and helmets were important instruments of chiefly status and rulership.

    CEREMONIES

    Ethnohistorical sources mention two opposing systems of worship, a fact corroborated from temple excavations. These include: (1) the productivity rituals practiced by commoners at community temples; and (2) major sacrificial ceremonies performed by senior priests and high chiefs at major temples. High level ceremonies focused on war and the yearly harvest. These rituals were embellished with elaborate ceremonial trappings and large quantities of foodstuffs were offered and publicly consumed during the war temple ceremonial feasts, where hundreds of pigs would be broiled and eaten. Special hardwoods, protected by strict religious sanctions, were used by artisans to manufacture temple houses and images atop a war temple along with other woods valued for their aromatic or spiritual properties. During the new year's harvest festival, foodstuffs and sumptuary items were gathered for the paramount chief during a procession that visited each community shrine, a procession that legitimized the divine nature of the pa ramount's authority. The paramount chief would then divide the tribute among the priests and other chiefs according to their relative status, reserving for himself rare commodities such as bird feathers.

    ARTS

    The Hawaiian used stone petroglyphs, wood carvings, and bark cloth designs as their primary medium for art. Feathers were used as material for elaborate feathered items, primarily cloaks. Bark cloth and feather designs were usually geometric, carving designs were anthropomorphic, and petroglyphs were representational.

    DEATH AND AFTERLIFE

    Hawaiians practiced ancestor worship, and most forms of ritual revolved around the propitiation of the various gods, ancestors, or spirit guardians. Death rituals for commoners were very simple. Burials were found beneath house floors or in separate burial areas such as sand dunes. Chiefly death rituals were more extravagant, and their remains were deposited in caves with canoes or other burial goods.

    SYNOPSIS

    Documents referred to in this section are included in the eHRAF collection and are referenced by author, date of publication, and eHRAF document number.

    The Hawaiian collection consists of five documents. The collection covers all ten of the major islands, but three of the documents are archaeological studies of settlement and subsistence patterns of valleys or districts on three of the main islands: Halawa Valley on Molokai (Kirch, 1975, no. 1), Makaha Valley on O'ahu (Green; 1980, no. 2), and Lapakahi, North Kohala District, on the island of Hawaii (Tuggle; 1973, no. 3). Two of these studies occurred within the traditional land division known as the AHUPUA'A (Kirch; 1975, no. 1 and Green; 1980, no. 2). The most comprehensive document is by Kirch (1985, no. 5). It is an overview of all of Hawaiian archaeology and prehistory starting with the probable origins of the Hawaiian peoples in western Polynesia. Kirch discusses what is known about the archaeology on all ten of the largest islands. Cordy (1981, no. 4) uses archaeological and ethnographic data mainly from the island of Hawaii to form hypotheses on the development and evolution of complex societies in prehistoric H awaii.

    For more detailed information on the content of the individual works in this collection, please see the appropriate abstract in the citations preceding each document.

    The major traditon summary is from the article, "Hawaiian", by Michael Kolb, in the Encyclopedia of Prehistory, Peter N. Peregrine and Melvin Ember, eds. New York: Plenum Publishing Corporation, forthcoming. We thank Michael Kolb and Peter N. Peregrine for bibliographic suggestions. The synopsis and indexing notes were written by Sarah Berry in April 1998.

    INDEXING NOTES
    BIBLIOGRAPHY

    Beckwith, Martha. Hawaiian mythology. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1970

    Cordy, Ross H. A study of prehistoric change: the development of complex societies in the Hawaiian Islands. New York: Academic Press, 1981

    Earle, Timothy K. Economic and social organization of a complex chiefdom: the Halele'a District, Kaua'i, Hawaii. Anthropological Papers 63. Ann Arbor: Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, 1978

    Emory, Kenneth P. Archaeology of Nihoa and Necker Islands. Bernice P. Bishop Museum Bulletin 53. Honolulu, Bishop Museum Press, 1928

    Fornander, Alexander. An account of the Polynesian race, its origins and migration and the ancient history of the Hawaiian people to the times of Kamehameha I. 3 volumes. Rutland: Tuttle, 1969. (Originally published in 1878-1880)

    Goldman, Irving. Ancient Polynesian society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970

    Green, Roger C. Makaha before 1880 A.D.: Makaha Valley Historical Project Report 5. Pacific Anthropological Records 31. Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press, 1980

    Hommon, Robert J. Social evolution in Hawai'i. In: Island societies: archaeological approaches to evolution and transformation, edited by Patrick Kirch, pp. 55-68. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986

    Hommon, Robert J., John Papa. Fragments of Hawaiian history. Edited by D. Barrere, translated by M. Pukui. Bernice P. Bishop Museum Special Publication 70. Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press, 1963. (Originally published in 1959)

    Kamakau, Samuel M. Ruling Chiefs of Hawaii. Honolulu: Kamehameha Schools Press, 1961

    Kirch, Patrick V. Feathered Gods and Fishhooks. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1985

    Kirch, Patrick V. The Evolution of sociopolitical complexity in prehistoric Hawaii: an assessment of the archaeological evidence. Journal of World Prehistory 4 (3): 311-45. 1990

    Kolb, Michael J. Monumentality and the rise of religious authority in precontact Hawai'i. Current Anthropology 35 (5): 521-547. 1994

    Kolb, Michael J. Labor, ethnohistory, and the archaeology of community in Hawai'i. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 4 (3): 265-286. 1997

    Linnekin, Joselyn. Sacred Queens and Women of Consequence. Honolulu: University of Michigan Press, 1990

    Malo, David. Hawaiian Antiquities. Translated by N.B. Emerson. Bernice P. Bishop Museum Special Publication 2. Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press, 1951. (Originally published in 1898)

    Rosendahl, P. H. Aboriginal Hawaiian structural remains and settlement patterns in the upland agricultural zone at Lapakahi, Island of Hawai'i. Hawaiian Archaeology 3:14-70. 1994

    Spriggs, Matthew J. T. The Hawaiian transformation of ancient Polynesian society: conceptualizing chiefly states. In State and society: the emergence and development of social hierarchy and political centralization. Edited by J. Gledhill, B. Bender, and M.T. Larsen. pp. 57-73. London: Unwin Hyman, 1988

    Stokes, John F. G. Heiau of the Island of Hawai. Edited by Tom Dye. Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press, 1991

    Valeri, Valeri. Kingship and sacrifice. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985a