Archaeological Stratigraphy and Chronology at Nu' alolo Kai, Na Pali District, Kaua'i

Abstract

In the early archaeological search for evidence of Hawaiian origins and chronology, Kenneth Emory and his associates excavated a number of sites with dense artifact deposits. Beginning in the 1950s through Bishop Museum, their mission under the "Hawaiian Archaeological Program" was to locate deeply stratified deposits rich in artifacts and to make comparisons of form across Polynesian assemblages. As Kirch (1985: 16) describes tl1e effort resulted in excavation of 32 sites, mostly rockshelters, which yielded a collection of 4,159 fishhooks. Part of this program led to excavations at Nu' alolo Kai Rockshelter (Site K-3, later designated Site 196) on the rugged Na Pali Coast of Kaua'i (Figures 1 through 3). Largely under Lloyd Soehren's direction, excavations at K-3 ex'tended from 1958 to 1964 over several field seasons. Soehren and his team excavated a large portion of the deposit under tl1e rockshelter overhang and recovered some of the most remarkable and well preserved archaeological materials known in tl1e Hawaiian Islands (Graves et al., this volume).