New Dates from Old Samples: A Revised Radiocarbon Chronology for the Wai‘ahukini Rockshelter Site (H8), Ka‘u District, Hawai‘i Island

Abstract

In the Ka‘ū District of Hawai‘i Island, several sites were excavated by Bishop Museum archaeologists during the 1950s and 1960s, and have been noted by previous researchers as a possible location of initial settlement by Ancient Hawaiians. This paper presents the results of a recent re-dating effort that was initiated at the Wai‘ahukini Rockshelter Site. Samples housed in the collections of Bishop Museum and the University of Hawai‘i, Hilo were selected, identified, and re-dated using AMS radiocarbon dating in order to refine the chronology for the settlement of this key site. The results suggest that the site was probably initially occupied from at least the 14th to early 15th century A.D. onwards, with the wellknown pavement probably being laid down sometime during the mid-17th to early 18th century A.D. This is much later than the original radiocarbon dates suggested.