When Did the Polynesians Settle Hawai'i? A Review of 150 Years of Scholarly Inquiry and a Tentative Answer

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dc.contributor.authorKirch, Patrick V.
dc.date.accessioned2024-02-14T20:14:28Z
dc.date.available2024-02-14T20:14:28Z
dc.date.issued06/01/11 12:00 AM
dc.description.abstractThe question of when Polynesians first discovered the Hawaiian Islands-the most remote archipelago in the world-has engaged scholars for two centuries. Abraham Fornander, Edward Handy, Te Rangi Hiroa, Kenneth Emory, and others proposed theories and projected dates of first settlement based on oral traditions, genealogies, and linguistic comparisons. With the advent of stratigraphic archaeology and radiocarbon dating, new models of Polynesian settlement emerged, seeming to push back the date of Polynesian settlement in Eastern Polynesia. Until recently, orthodox opinion put initial Polynesian discovery of Hawai'i between ca. AD 300-750. In the past two decades, significant advances in radiocarbon dating and the targeted re-dating of key Eastern Polynesian and Hawaiian sites has strongly supported a "short chronology" model of Eastern Polynesian settlement. It is suggested here that initial Polynesian discovery and colonization of the Hawaiian Islands occurred between approximately AD 1000 and 1200. The only habitation site in the archipelago which has been securely dated to this time frame is the 018 Bellows Beach site at Waimanalo, O'ahu Island.
dc.format.extent24 pages
dc.identifier.issn0890-1678
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10524/74851
dc.subjectradiocarbon dating
dc.subjectanthropology
dc.subjectKenneth P. Emory
dc.subjectPolynesia
dc.subjectcharcoal
dc.titleWhen Did the Polynesians Settle Hawai'i? A Review of 150 Years of Scholarly Inquiry and a Tentative Answer
dc.type.dcmiText
dspace.entity.type
prism.endingpage27
prism.number1
prism.publicationnameHawaiian Archaeology
prism.startingpage3
prism.volume12

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Hawaiian Archaeology Volume 12