Avifaunal Remains from the Kawailoa Site, O'ahu Island (BPBM Site 50-OA-D6-62)

Abstract

A major theme of Pacific prehistory has centered on human agency in the disap­pearance of endemic bird species which once flourished on nearly all of the arch­ipelagos of Oceania. From the smallest and most remote islands, like Tikopia or Henderson (Steadman and Olson 1985; Steadman et al. 1990; Weisler et al. 1991), to the largest island archipelagos of Hawai'i and New Zealand (Anderson 1989; Olson and James 1984), a growing number of studies have demonstrated the link between human settlement and the extinction or extirpation of avifauna. In the Hawaiian Islands, inferences drawn from research on avifaunal remains from paleontological sites have shaped thinking about the nature of human/bird relationships (Olson and James 1982, 1991). According to these views, the impact of the original Polynesian colonists was immediate and devastating, with the majority of extinctions taking place in the pre-Contact 1 era (Olson and James 1984). To a lesser extent, excavations of archaeological sites in Hawai'i have informed research on avian extinctions by providing additional data on presumed prey species of the Polynesians found in midden and, in some instances, radio­carbon dates of such deposits Oames et al. 1987; Schilt 1984). It would seem that avifaunal remains from firmly dated archaeological sites would potentially yield the most significant and detailed information on the scope and pace of bird extinctions and extirpations in Hawai'i. The goal of this paper is to refine our understanding of human/bird interactions in Hawai'i by an examination of archaeological data obtained from several pre-Contact habitation sites in the Hawaiian Islands (Fig. 1).