Household Labor Practices and Dryland Agroforestry in Upland Kula, Maui Island

ABSTRACT

The relationship between agricultural systems and the development of complex societies in ancient Hawai`i has been debated for decades. To contribute to this debate, we examine a terrace complex representing an extended family agricultural land plot in the Kula dryland field system of East Maui, Hawaiian Islands. Botanical, faunal, soil, and architectural analysis data reveal a variety of household labor practices related to agroforestry ca. a.d. 1400–1820. A pre-human open forest soil substrate was replaced with stone agricultural terracing which was in turn enclosed by upslope-downslope garden walls that parceled the terrace complex into distinct garden areas. These results lead us to conclude that a wide range of specialized upland activities were practiced, including food cultivation, forestry, pig husbandry, and bird-hunting. The net sum of these local activities helped underpin the formative process of larger regional-level agricultural systems which in turn can inform us about polity-level staple and wealth finance systems.

KEYWORDS:

• Agriculture
• human-environmental interaction
• Bayesian model
• pig husbandry
• birding hunting
• Hawai`i

Acknowledgements

We would like to express our gratitude to our colleague and former supervisor Ross Cordy, Professor of Hawaiian-Pacific Studies at the University of Hawai`i West O`ahu, for his valuable input and guidance in the development of this research project. We express our thanks to Tom Dye, Noa Kekuewa Lincoln, and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on this manuscript. Fieldwork was conducted in 1994 and 1995 under the auspices of the State of Hawaii Department of Hawaiian Home Lands as part of its mandate to develop and deliver lands to native Hawaiians. We would also like to thank Jane Allen, David Addison, Linda Scott Cummings, Patrick Kirch, Gail Murakami, Jade Moniz Nakamura, Jenny O'Clary, Tracy Tam Sing, and the late Alan Ziegler and Stoors Olsen for sharing their professional expertise. We also extend our sincere appreciation to the 1994 crew of the University of Hawai`i Kēōkea Archaeological Field School: Brock Adamchak, Stephanie Allen, Don Coloma, Karen Gulick, William (Koa) Hodgins, Lori Johnson, Kate Mortellaro, Amy Kaawaaloa, Erika Radewagen, Carter Richardson, Vincent Sava, Jacqueline Skeet, Kirsten Stromgren, and Cynthia Taylor.

Disclosure Statement

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, the Hawai`i Department of Land and Natural Resources, and the 1994 University of Hawai`i Kēōkea Archaeological Field School.

Notes on contributors

Michael J. Kolb

Michael J. Kolb (Ph.D. 1991, UCLA) is Professor of Anthropology at Metropolitan State University and Presidential Teaching Professor Emeritus at Northern Illinois University. His research focuses on ancient and historical political economies and the building of monumental architecture. He has published, amongst other things, on the labor energetics in medieval Sicily, prehistoric Europe, and Oceania. His most recent book is Making Sense of Monuments (London 2020).

Patty J. Conte

Patty J. Conte (M.A. 1998, Northern Illinois University) is an archaeologist at Navy Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) Headquarters in Washington, DC. Her professional portfolio includes having worked at the Hawaii State Department of Land and Natural Resources State Historic Preservation Division from 1991–2001 and 2008–2010, NAVFAC Pacific, and the Department of the Army, as well as formerly providing independent archaeological consultant services in the state of Hawai`i.

Valerie Curtis

Valerie Curtis (M.A. 2007, University of Hawai`i) is the US Air Force subject matter expert on cultural resources in Asia in the Pacific. She has over 30 years’ experience in this area. Her area of focus is on cultural resource management and historic preservation laws and regulations. Academic interests include paleoenvironmental reconstruction and human impacts to the environment.

Jim Hayden

Jim Hayden (B.A./B.S. 1990, Purdue University) is the GIS Analyst at the Department of Planning and Permitting, City & County of Honolulu. He was an archaeologist at the Hawai`i State Department of Land and Natural Resources Historic Preservation Division at the time of this research.