Agricultural Systems Reconsidered

Abstract

A critical review aims to clarify what is known and what is not known of the chronology of agricultural systems in Halele'a. Tb.is review considers oral traditions, comparative ethnography and linguistic terms, and archaeological stratigraphy and radiocarbon dates pertinent to the chronology of Halele'a agricuJtural systems. Albeit tentatively, this review suggests: 1) substantial but non-agricultural use of inland vaUeys as early as the AD 1200s; 2) agricultural terracing beginning approximately AD 1400; and 3) increasing intensity and more widespread agricultural terracing after AD 1600. The proposed sequence bears significant implications for studies of the dynamic relationship between population growth, subsistence production, and sociopolitical complexity.