Soil Chemistry and Agriculture: Analysis of Five Archaeological Sites on the Island of Hawai'i

Abstract

In 1981, the Bernice P. Bishop Museum conducted an extensive archaeological survey and excavations in the Waimea-Kawaihae region of the District of South Kohala, Hawai'i Island (Clark and Kirch 1983). A key research problem addressed during that project centered on the exploration of the nature and variability of prehistoric Hawaiian agricultural practices. It became important, therefore, to be able to identify agricultural soils. To this end, we undertook limited chemical analyses of soils from selected archaeological sites and associated control areas. These sites ranged from clearly identified agricultural fields to hypothesized farming areas. The results of these analyses, summarized in this paper, sugge~t a pattern of chemical differentiation between agricultural and non-agricultural areas.