Settlement Patterns and Subsistence Strategies in Kahikinui, Maui

Abstract

The nature of pre-Contact settlement patterns and subsistence practices in dry lee­ward portions of the Hawaiian islands has been one focus of archaeological inves­tigations for over three decades. This research has revealed two basic agricultural and settlement systems which are largely defined by geographical and environmen­tal parameters-"enclosed" systems which are found in narrowly circumscribed but relatively well watered valleys on the older islands, and "open" systems which are found in areas lacking such valleys and water courses on the younger islands. Archaeological studies of enclosed leeward systems include Nu'alolo Valley on Kaua'i (Bennett 1931; Soehren ms.), the Makaha (Green 1969, 1970) and Halawa (Klieger 1995; Damp 1998) valleys on O'ahu, and the Halawa Valley on east Molo­ka'i (Kirch and Kelley 1975). Open leeward systems have been studied in upcoun­try Kula on east Maui (Kolb, Conte, and Cordy 1997), and in Lapakahi (Rosen­dahl 1994) and Kaloko (Cordy et al. 1991) on the island ofHawai'i. The archaeological remains of these two pre-Contact leeward systems vary not only between the two basic types of geographical features (valleys and slopes), but also within the individual islands themselves. In enclosed leeward systems with perma­nent water courses, irrigated taro pondfields (or lo'i) and terraces can be found close to the water sources at the head of the valleys, spreading out downstream as seasonal water fl.ow permits. Permanent settlement in these valleys is generally concentrated toward the mouth of the streams (Kirch and Kelley 1975), with dispersed residen­tial housing being located upstream near the field systems (Green 1969, 1970). In the karst landscape of leeward coastal O'ahu, natural sinkholes constitute a separate agricultural component to this system (Davis 1995).