Re-dating of the Kuli‘ou‘ou Rockshelter, O‘ahu, Hawai‘i: Location of the First Radiocarbon Date from the Pacific Islands.

Authors

  • Jennifer G. Kahn College of William and Mary
  • Timothy M. Rieth International Archaeological Research Institute, Inc.
  • Patrick V. Kirch University of California, Berkeley
  • J. Stephen Athens International Archaeological Research Institute, Inc.
  • Gail M. Murakami International Archaeological Research Institute, Inc.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15286/jps.123.1.67-90

Keywords:

chronology, settlement sequence, Hawaiian Islands, wood charcoal identification, vegetation patterns

Abstract

Kuli'ou'ou Rockshelter (Site O1) in the Hawaiian Islands has a certain status as the first archaeological site in the Pacific Islands to be directly dated via the then newly introduced radiocarbon method. The original date of 946 ± 180 before 1950, from the base of the rockshelter's cultural deposit, greatly influenced archaeologists' views of regional cultural sequences in Eastern Polynesia. We present the results of six new AMS 14C dates run on Kuli'ou'ou Rockshelter wood charcoal which has been identified to short-lived and medium-lived species. We utilize these data, along with a re-evaluation of the two dates obtained by the original excavators, Kenneth Emory and Yosi Sinoto, to present a revised chronology for the rockshelter. In addition, we discuss new wood charcoal identifications from the two lower layers at Site O1 for illuminating general vegetation patterns in the Expansion to Proto-Historic periods. Finally, the broader implications of our revised chronology are considered for the prehistoric sequence of Oahu Island and in the larger context of the settlement sequence for the Hawaiian archipelago.

Author Biographies

Jennifer G. Kahn, College of William and Mary

Jennifer Kahn in an Assistant Professor in Anthropology at the College of William and Mary. She has completed archaeological research in Eastern Polynesia, most recently in the Society Islands, Mangareva, and Hawai'i. Her research interests include human-environment interactions, landscape analyses, household archaeology, and refining chronological models.

Timothy M. Rieth, International Archaeological Research Institute, Inc.

Timothy Rieth is a Project Manager/Senior Archaeologist at International Archaeological Research Institute, Inc., a cultural-resource management firm based in Hawai'i. He has worked across the Pacific, with recent research primarily in Hawai'i and Samoa. His research interests include the development of chronological models for island colonisation and the application of foraging theory models for examining diachronic and spatial variation in subsistence practices.

Patrick V. Kirch, University of California, Berkeley

Patrick V. Kirch is the Class of 1954 Professor of Anthropology and Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. A member of the U. S. National Academy of Sciences, he has carried out archaeological and ethnographic research throughout Polynesia for more than 40 years. His latest book, A Shark Going Inland Is My Chief: The Island Civilization of Ancient Hawai‘i, won the Society for American Archaeology’s 2013 book award.

J. Stephen Athens, International Archaeological Research Institute, Inc.

J. Stephen Athens is General Manager and Senior Archaeologist at International Archaeological Research Institute, Inc., in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. He has been involved in archaeological and palaeoenvironmental studies in the Pacific and Ecuador for over 30 years. He is currently involved in projects in Hawai‘i, the Northern Islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Society Islands, and Ecuador. He is especially focused on the timing of human settlement and environmental changes that accompany island colonisation. In the northern highlands of Ecuador he is investigating the origin of maize agriculture and Late Period chiefdom social organisation.

Gail M. Murakami, International Archaeological Research Institute, Inc.

Gail M. Murakami is the senior analyst for the Wood Identification Laboratory at International Archaeological Research Institute, Inc. and has over 30 years of experience in identifying wood from Pacific islands, including Guam, Samoa, Palau and the Hawaiian Islands. In addition, she has identified wood from the Pacific Northwest and New Caledonia.
JPS September 2013, Vol. 122 No.3 cover

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Published

2014-08-05

Issue

Vol. 123 No. 1 (2014)

Section

Articles

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