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A Revised Late Holocene Culture History for Moloka'i Island, Hawai'i

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Mark D McCoy
Mark D McCoy*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, San José State University, San José, California 95192-0113, USA. Email: mdmccoy@email.sjsu.edu
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Abstract

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Building directly upon a previous summary of 45 dates (Weisler 1989), this paper presents radiocarbon age determinations for 175 samples from archaeological and natural contexts and a revised culture history of Moloka'i Island, Hawai'i (cal AD 800 and 1795). Significant culture historical trends include an early settlement pattern apparently generalized with respect to ecozone; a remarkably long initial period of marine and endemic bird exploitation; strong material evidence for the concurrent intensification of subsistence economies, population increase, and the structuring of the social landscape through ritual; and links between island politics as described in oral traditions and site construction. Moreover, these results support a late chronology for the colonization of Hawai'i and demonstrate the value of spatial technology for building large chronometric databases.

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 49 , Issue 3 , 2007 , pp. 1273 - 1322
Copyright
Copyright © 2007 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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