A Radiocarbon Chronology for the Upper Anahulu Valley, O'ahu

Abstract

Penetrating the western slopes of the Ko'olau mountains, the Anahulu Valley is the principal geographic feature of the large ahupua'a of Kawailoa, in Waialua District, O'ahu. Kawailoa, and the Anahulu Valley in particular, played a significant role in the early history of the Sandwich Islands Kingdom, for these fertile lands were among the prized holdings of the high chiefess Ka'ahumanu (favored wife of Kamehameha I, and first "Premier" or kuhina nui of the Kingdom), and her succes sors (including Kina'u and Victoria Kamamalu). Anahulu, with its irrigated taro pondfields, fishponds, and extensive dryland cultivations, not only supplied much of the material support for the chiefˡy establishments at Honolulu, but its population was called upon to provide produce and materials to underwrite the ch1efs' considerable trade with Western fur traders, whalers, and other entrepreneurs.