Intensive dryland farming on the leeward slopes of Haleakala, Maui, Hawaiian Islands: archaeological, archaeobotanical, and geochemical perspectives

Abstract

Polynesians settled and farmed the leeward, relatively arid slopes of Haleakala Volcano beginning about AD 1400. Archaeological investigations at two sites revealed dense concentrations of conical impressions in a subsurface 20cm cinder layer that was previously undisturbed, interpreted as resulting from cultivation practices involving digging sticks. Ethnographic accounts of Hawaiian sweet potato and dryland taro cultivation techniques provide details on the use of such digging sticks. By puncturing this cinder layer, farmers created a loamy mixture of ash and cinder suited to root crop development. Archaeobotanical analyses suggest an intensive, short-fallow regime: macroscopic wood charcoal was absent (therefore no fallow sufficient for secondary re-growth of dryland forest) and evidence of disturbance-tolerant, weedy species is abundant. Geochemical analyses relying on stratigraphic relationships show that cultivation depleted nutrient levels in the digging-stick impressions, through harvest and leaching losses. Our findings provide evidence for repeated and intensive use of a landscape under a system of dryland cultivation.

Indicators of soil fertility and opportunities for precontact agriculture in Kona, Hawai'i

“…The best-known Kohala system is composed of relatively old and uniform substrate (areas of ;150 ky and ;400 ky), and is embedded within a very large rainfall gradient (;300-3500 mm/yr); rainfall and the leaching of nutrients drive the limits of agriculture in this system ). The agricultural system in Kona more closely mirrors the Kahikinui system on Maui; that system encompasses a broad range of substrates (;3-130 ky), but a small and relatively dry rainfall gradient (;400-900 mm/yr); sufficient moisture for mineral weathering and cultivation appears to drive the limits of agriculture in this system , 2005, Hartshorn et al 2006, Giambelluca et al 2012. Agriculture in Kona developed with higher rainfall than Kahikinui.…”

Advances in Polynesian Prehistory: A Review and Assessment of the Past Decade (1993–2004)

“…1997;Kirch et al 2004aKirch et al , 2005Ladefoged et al 1996Ladefoged et al , 2003Sutton 1993;Sutton et al 2003). While both Hawai'i and New Zealand enjoy far more extensive archaeological databases than other areas in Polynesia, the growing pace of development and mitigation work has been accompanied by ongoing inaccessibility to a largely ''gray literature'' and suffered from a lack of synthesis of unpublished CRM reports (Dye 1999;Kirch 1999;Prickett 2003).…”

“…Examples of such anthropogenic transformation come from the Kalaupapa Peninsula of Moloka'i (Kirch ed. 2004;Kirch et al 2004b) and the leeward slopes of Haleakala on Maui (Coil 2003(Coil , 2004Coil and Kirch 2005;Kirch et al 2004aKirch et al , 2005.…”

“…Much recent work has investigated the development, expansion, and intensification of dryland agricultural systems and associated settlements in Eastern Polynesian islands (Allen 2001;Burtchard and TomonariTuggle 2004;Dixon et al 2002;Kirch et al 2004aKirch et al , 2005Ladefoged et al 1996Ladefoged et al , 2003Stevenson et al 1999;Wozniak 2001Wozniak , 2003. New Zealand research has focused on the limits and extent of intensified dryland cultivation of kumara (sweet potato) (Higham and Grumbley 2001;Law 1999).…”

Revisiting Rapa Nui (Easter Island) “Ecocide”

“…Stone mulch likely served to optimize stability (versus short term maximization) in agricultural production given the challenges of an unpredictable environment. Similar uses of ''stone mulching'' are documented in Hawai'i (Allen 2004; see also Kirch et al [2004bKirch et al [ , 2005 on nutrient depletion in soils) and in the desert Southwest United States (e.g., Maxwell 1995), where it enhanced crop productivity and served to minimize agricultural risk. Thus, it seems unlikely that stone mulch is best explained as evidence of a desperate effort to grow crops after failures induced by deforestation.…”