'The beauty that was': Archaeological investigations of ancient Hawaiian agriculture and environmental change in Kahikinui, Maui

This dissertation is a case study in environmental archaeology, set in the land district of Kahikinui on the Hawaiian Island of Maui. Using multiple lines of evidence from field, laboratory, and library studies, I investigated the spatial and temporal distribution of pre-contact agricultural practices and their environmental effects across a broad archaeological study area (Kipapa-Nakaohu), considered to be a marginal setting for human settlement and cultivation.; Located on the arid leeward slopes of East Maui's Haleakala volcano, Kahikinui is a landscape mosaic with sharp contrasts in climate, geology, soil development, and vegetation. Archaeological survey located agricultural sites at a wide range of altitudes, with a distribution that peaks sharply between elevations of 400 and 600 meters above sea level. Contrasting with the extensive field systems found elsewhere in Hawaii, these sites were small in scale and reflect a varied set of agricultural adaptations to topographically advantageous settings such as natural swales. Plant phytoliths extracted from agricultural sites revealed stratified patterns of grasses, palms, and arboreal vegetation. Erosion and flooding were most extensive after site abandonment and in post-contact contexts, suggesting that geomorphological change was more dynamic after the introduction of large mammals in the historic period.; In my analysis of wood charcoal assemblages from archaeological sites, agricultural soils, and off-site trenches between sea level and 1000 meters elevation, I identified 37 genera. These were primarily native Hawaiian trees and shrubs, although Polynesian-introduced trees and crop plants were also occasionally present. Patterns of spatial and temporal distributions of charcoal, enhanced by radiocarbon dating and modern botanical survey, allowed reconstruction of pre-contact vegetation communities and changes in vegetation and fuel use patterns over time.; It is likely that pre-contact settlement and survival in the study area involved a broad spectrum of economic activities including crop cultivation, stocking of forests with wild varieties of crop plants, and gathering of wild plant foods during times of drought and famine. My analysis suggests that Kahikinui would have occupied a moderate position on the scale of marginality for pre-contact Hawaiian settlement in arid leeward landscapes.