The Maunawili Core: Prehistoric Inland Expansion of Settlement and Agriculture, Q'ahu, Hawai'i

Abstract

This article presents the results of a sediment coring project undertaken at a small unnamed wetland in upper Maunawili Valley on windward O'ahu, Hawai'i. Recent paleoenvironmental research in Hawai'i has documented a dramatic decline in the native lowland forest starting ca. 950 B.P. (A.D.1000; Athens and Ward 1993, Athens et al. 1992). This decline included the severe reduction of the native lowland Pritchardia palm forest, the extirpation and near extinction of at least one major endemic species (i.e., Kanaloa kahoolawensis), and the serious reduction of other native species. Although the exact mechanism for this change remains unclear, it is virtually certain that the arrival of Polynesian settlers in Hawai'i, perhaps sometime after 1250 B.P. (A.D.700; see Spriggs and Anderson 1993, Athens and Ward 1993:219, Athens et al. 1992:10), was intimately tied to the onset of the forest decline.