Radiocarbon dating in Hawaii

Last updated

There have been changing views about initial Polynesian discovery and settlement of Hawaii, beginning with Abraham Fornander in the late 19th century and continuing through early archaeological investigations of the mid-20th century. There is no definitive date for the Polynesian discovery of Hawaii. Through the use of more advanced radiocarbon methods, taxonomic identification of samples, and stratigraphic archaeology, during the 2000s the consensus was established that the first arrived in Kauai sometime around 1000 AD, [1] [2] and in Oahu sometime between 1100 AD and 1200 AD. [3] [4] [5] However, with more testing and refined samples, including chronologically tracing settlements in Society Islands and the Marquesas, two archipelagoes which have long been considered to be the immediate source regions for the first Polynesian voyagers to Hawaii, it has been concluded that the settlement of the Hawaiian Islands took place around 1219 to 1266 AD, [6] with the paleo-environmental evidence of agriculture indicating the Ancient Hawaiian population to have peaked around 1450 AD around 140,000 to 200,000. [7]

Contents

Pre-radiocarbon dating theories

Polynesian oral traditions and genealogy studied extensively by director of the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, Abraham Fornander in the mid-1800s, relied on native Hawaiian texts suggested that by 1865 there had been 28 generations of Hawaiians. Chronologically that put the first voyages and settlement of the islands occurring around AD 965–1065. [8] Subsequent director of the Bishop Museum, Te Rangi Hiroa postulated though that Menehune may have arrived as early as 450 AD. [9] The next director Kenneth Emory, relying on linguistics and the oral traditions put the settlement around 1150 AD, suggesting that it could have been as early as 1000 AD. [10] However, with the invention of radiocarbon dating Emory and his colleagues would later revisit their conclusions. [11]

Archaeology combined with radiocarbon dating

With the invention of radiocarbon dating archaeologists immediately scoured the islands in search of the earliest possible samples. One of the first samples from the Pu‘u Ali‘i sand dune came suggested as early as 124±60 AD. [12] Over the next ten years the early radiocarbon dating of Hawaiian samples started to return dates suggesting sometime first humans arrived sometime between 300 AD to 800 AD casting doubt on Pu‘u Ali‘i sand dune sample. Accordingly, it was retested with the help of a second lab and to their dismay could not be replicated and was instead revised to roughly 1000 to 1350 AD. However a sample from Waiahukini was interpreted as beginning around AD 750 which now formed the basis of a claimed first discovery. [11] Testing continued at sites around Hawaii to find the earliest dates. At the same time of the research done by the Honolulu Museum, the University of Honolulu excavated several sites in O'ahu which would suggest dates of AD 600 to 1100. [13] However these results did not match the archaeological results obtained from examining the spread of Polynesians from their homeland in Tahiti. [14] Regardless by the close of the 1970s a model of Polynesian settlement chronology emerged suggesting multiple contacts with the island relying on the Pu‘u Ali‘i sand dune sample posited (although revised in 1969 as actually sometime between 1000 and 1350 AD) as supporting a possible earlier wave of settlement in 124 AD, with a long pause in between. For a time this Polynesian triangle became the "orthodox" scenario. By the 1990s with the advances in radiocarbon dating taking place and more samples tracking the spread across the Polynesian islands, including New Zealand archaeologists found significant support for a late colonization of the eastern Polynesian islands, suggesting Hawai'i, like New Zealand was colonized around 1000-1200 AD. [3]

Refinements in radiocarbon dating

Since the invention of Radiocarbon dating in 1949 scientists started to recognize various problems with radiocarbon dating from the labs to the samples being submitted. For instance the preliminary samples tested by Emory and Sinoto who raced to determine first contact had rather large standard deviations, reflecting the crude solid-carbon counting methods first used by the pioneers of the radiocarbon dating method. By late 1970s the most significant improvement by then was the use of accelerator mass spectrometry or AMS. [15]

Equally important to the refinements in laboratory methods was the realization by archaeologists that they needed to pay close attention to the kinds of samples they submitted for dating. This was especially the case for wood charcoal, perhaps the most commonly dated material from Polynesian sites. In the early years of radiocarbon dating, the tendency was to select the largest pieces of charcoal. The problem, of course, was that such samples in many cases included old growth timber, which had an “in built” age that was potentially much older than the time at which the wood was actually burnt in the hearth or oven. Therefore, the date returned by the radiocarbon lab may have been an accurate indication of the age of the timber, but not of the “target date” of human use of the site. Further because coastal sites were common, there was also the likelihood of older drift wood was used for fuel with age already built in. Accordingly, in the early 1990s scientists began a taxonomic identification of wood charcoal based on anatomical characteristics by comparison to a reference collection of known woody plant species for the particular region or island which allowed scientists to refine their samples for testing further. Unfortunately, not all archaeologists working Polynesia had availed themselves of these advances casting doubt in the field of study for a time.

Emerging chronological picture for eastern Polynesia

Regardless a chronological picture for eastern Polynesia using AMD radiocarbon methods in the 1980s on identified samples started to lend considerable support to the "short chronology" of settlement, whereby the central archipelagoes of Eastern Polynesia did not begin to be colonized until after AD 800 or later. [16]

By the early 1990s “chronometric hygiene” radiocarbon dating aka, high-precision radiocarbon dating approach of samples also started to be employed causing further reconsideration of old orthodoxies. [4] [17] Using chronometric hygiene, previous samples from all around Hawai'i were retested. On the lowest calibration of testing the retested samples returned dates of between 1100 and 1200 AD, [3] [4] [5] with some samples from Kaua'i going back to around 1000 AD. [1] [2]

By 2010 some of the latest researchers using high-precision radiocarbon dating and more reliable samples established that the period of eastern and northern Polynesian colonization took, in a shorter time frame and much later than. Note from the perspective of Hawaiian settlement are the colonization dates for the Society Islands and the Marquesas, as these two archipelagoes have long been considered to be the immediate source regions for the first Polynesian voyagers to Hawai‘i. Accordingly, the "earliest in the Society Islands A.D. ~1025–1120, dispersal continued in one major pulse to all remaining islands A.D. ~1190–1290." [6] Thus this put the settlement of the Hawaiian Islands taking place ~1219–1266CE. [6] This rapid colonization is believed to account for the "remarkable uniformity of East Polynesia culture, biology and language." [6]

Paleo environment evidence

Using plant fossils, charcoal deposit particulates and organic samples and high-precision radiocarbon dating there has been evidence of influences from humans sometimes determined to be around 1000 AD in Kaua'i. [18] [19] and as early as 1300 AD in Moloka‘i with main occupation occurring between 1400 and 1650 AD when the population peaked. [20] For further discussion of pre-contact population changes see Discovery and settlement of Hawaii,

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polynesian mythology</span> Body of myths in Polynesia

Polynesian mythology encompasses the oral traditions of the people of Polynesia together with those of the scattered cultures known as the Polynesian outliers. Polynesians speak languages that descend from a language reconstructed as Proto-Polynesian – probably spoken in the Tonga and Samoa area around 1000 BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ancient Hawaii</span> Period in Hawaiian history

Ancient Hawaiʻi is the period of Hawaiian history preceding the unification in 1810 of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi by Kamehameha the Great. Traditionally, researchers estimated the first settlement of the Hawaiian islands as having occurred sporadically between 400 and 1100 CE by Polynesian long-distance navigators from the Samoan, Marquesas, and Tahiti islands within what is now French Polynesia. In 2010, a study was published based on radiocarbon dating of more reliable samples which suggests that the islands were settled much later, within a short timeframe, in about 1219 to 1266.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polynesian Triangle</span> Core area of Polynesia

The Polynesian Triangle is a region of the Pacific Ocean with three island groups at its corners: Hawai‘i, Easter Island and New Zealand (Aotearoa). It is often used as a simple way to define Polynesia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nihoa</span> Island in Hawaii

Nihoa, also known as Bird Island or Moku Manu, is the tallest of ten islands and atolls in the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI). The island is located at the southern end of the NWHI chain, 296 km (160 nmi) southeast of Necker Island. Nihoa is the closest NWHI in proximity to the eight main windward Hawaiian Islands at approximately 240 km (130 nmi) northwest of the island of Kauaʻi. The island has two peaks, 272 m (892 ft) Miller's Peak in the west, and 259 m (850 ft) Tanager Peak in the east. Nihoa's area is about 171 acres (0.69 km2) and is surrounded by a 142,000-acre (57,000 ha) coral reef. Its jagged outline gives the island its name, Nīhoa, which is Hawaiian for "tooth".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mangareva</span> Island of the Gambier Islands in French Polynesia

Mangareva is the central and largest island of the Gambier Islands in French Polynesia. It is surrounded by smaller islands: Taravai in the southwest, Aukena and Akamaru in the southeast, and islands in the north. Mangareva has a permanent population of 1,239 (2012) and the largest village on the island, Rikitea, is the chief town of the Gambier Islands.

Polynesian culture is the culture of the indigenous peoples of Polynesia who share common traits in language, customs and society. The development of Polynesian culture is typically divided into four different historical eras:

Patrick Vinton Kirch is an American archaeologist and Professor Emeritus of Integrative Biology and the Class of 1954 Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley. He is also the former Curator of Oceanic Archaeology in the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, and director of that museum from 1999 to 2002. Currently, he is professor in the department of anthropology at the University of Hawai'i Manoa, and a member of the board of directors of the Bishop Museum.

<i>Tanager</i> Expedition A series of five biological surveys of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands

The TanagerExpedition was a series of five biological surveys of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands conducted in partnership between the Bureau of Biological Survey and the Bishop Museum, with the assistance of the United States Navy. Four expeditions occurred from April to August 1923, and a fifth in July 1924. Led by Lieutenant Commander Samuel Wilder King on the minesweeper USS Tanager (AM-5), and Alexander Wetmore directing the team of scientists, the expedition studied the plant animal life, and geology of the central Pacific islands. Noted members of the team include archaeologist Kenneth Emory and herpetologist Chapman Grant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polynesian navigation</span> Methods to navigate the Pacific Ocean

Polynesian navigation or Polynesian wayfinding was used for thousands of years to enable long voyages across thousands of kilometers of the open Pacific Ocean. Polynesians made contact with nearly every island within the vast Polynesian Triangle, using outrigger canoes or double-hulled canoes. The double-hulled canoes were two large hulls, equal in length, and lashed side by side. The space between the paralleled canoes allowed for storage of food, hunting materials, and nets when embarking on long voyages. Polynesian navigators used wayfinding techniques such as the navigation by the stars, and observations of birds, ocean swells, and wind patterns, and relied on a large body of knowledge from oral tradition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roger Green (archaeologist)</span>

Roger Curtis Green was an American-born, New Zealand-based archaeologist, professor emeritus at The University of Auckland, and member of the National Academy of Sciences and Royal Society of New Zealand. He was awarded the Hector and Marsden Medals and was an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his contributions to the study of Pacific culture history.

This article details the history of the Marquesas. The Marquesas Islands are a group of volcanic islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the southern Pacific Ocean. The Marquesas Islands comprise one of the five administrative divisions of French Polynesia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenneth Emory</span> American anthropologist

Kenneth Pike Emory was an American anthropologist who played a key role in shaping modern anthropology in Oceania. In the tradition of A. L. Kroeber and other pioneering anthropologists who trained him, Emory's works span all four major fields of anthropology: archaeology, physical anthropology, ethnography, and linguistics. With fellow scientists Gerrit P. Wilder, Honolulu botanist, and Mrs. Wilder, historian; Dr. Armstrong Sperry and Dr. Stanley Ball, he was part of the Bishop Museum scientific research party who explored the South Pacific on the schooner Kaimiloa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polynesia</span> Subregion of Oceania

Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in common, including language relatedness, cultural practices, and traditional beliefs. In centuries past, they had a strong shared tradition of sailing and using stars to navigate at night. The largest country in Polynesia is New Zealand.

The Mangarevan expedition of 1934 was a scientific expedition to investigate the natural history of the farthest southeastern islands of Polynesia, including Mangareva. It was a comprehensive natural history expedition of a kind more common during the previous century.

Yosihiko H. Sinoto was a Japanese-born American anthropologist at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, Hawaii. He is known for his anthropological expeditions throughout the Pacific, particularly Hawaii and French Polynesia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Makauwahi Cave</span> Cave in Hawaii

The Makauwahi Cave is the largest limestone cave found in Hawaii. It lies on the south coast of the island of Kauaʻi, in the Māhāʻulepū Valley close to Māhāʻulepū Beach, and is important for its paleoecological and archaeological values. It is reached via a sinkhole and has been described as “…maybe the richest fossil site in the Hawaiian Islands, perhaps in the entire Pacific Island region”.

The Bayard Dominick expedition was a 1920 scientific expedition to the Pacific islands of Polynesia, with four teams sent to compile archaeological and anthropological surveys of the Marquesas, Tonga, Austral Islands, and Hawaiʻi.

Keaweʻōpala is the first born son of Alapainui and his wife Keaka, who cared for Kamehameha the Great in his youth along with her sister Hākau. He would inherit his father's position after being named heir by Alapainui shortly before his death.

There is no definitive date for the Polynesian discovery of Hawaii. However, high-precision radiocarbon dating in Hawaii using chronometric hygiene analysis, and taxonomic identification selection of samples, puts the initial such settlement of the Hawaiian Islands sometime between 1219 and 1266 A.D., originating from earlier settlements first established in the Society Islands around 1025 to 1120 A.D., and in the Marquesas Islands sometime between 1100 and 1200 A.D.

The exact population of the Hawaiian Islands at the time of Captain James Cook's arrival is not known however the large range of estimates from 100,000 to 1,000,000 illustrate the controversial nature of the topic and disagreement over the best methods for calculating it. What is known is that the first voyaging canoes that landed on Hawaiian shores during the discovery and settlement of Hawaii cannot have carried more than a hundred people, and perhaps even fewer. For the purposes of this article, "ancient" Hawaii is defined as the period beginning with the first arrival of human settlers, around AD 1100, and ending with their initial contact with the first Western visitors.

References

  1. 1 2 Burney, D.A. and W.K.P. Kikuchi. 2006. A millennium of human activity at Makauwahi Cave, Maha‘ulepu, Kaua‘i. Human Ecology 34:219–247.
  2. 1 2 Burney, D.A., H.F. James, L.P. Burney, S.L. Olson, W.K. Kikuchi, W. Wagner, M. Burney, D. McCloskey, D. Kikuchi, F.V. Grady, R. Gage, and R. Nishek. 2001. Fossil evidence for a diverse biota from Kaua‘i and its transformation since human arrival. Ecological Monographs 71:615–641.
  3. 1 2 3 Anderson, A., E. Conte, G. Clark, Y. Sinoto, and F. Petchy. 1999. Renewed excavations at Motu Paeao, Maupiti Island, French Polynesia. New Zealand Journal of Archaeology 21: 47–66.
  4. 1 2 3 Anderson, A., H. Leach, I. Smith, and R. Walter. 1994. Reconsideration of the Marquesan sequence in East Polynesian prehistory, with particular reference to Hane (MUH1). Archaeology in Oceania 29: 29–52.
  5. 1 2 Conte, E. and A.J. Anderson. 2003. Radiocarbon ages for two sites on Ua Huka, Marquesas. Asian Perspectives 42:155–160.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Janet M. Wilmshurst, Terry L. Hunt, Carl P. Lipo, and Atholl J. Anderson. "High-precision radiocarbon dating shows recent and rapid initial human colonization of East Polynesia", PNAS, vol. 108 no. 5, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1015876108, accessed 26 October 2015
  7. ↑ Tom Dye, Population Trends in Hawai'i Before 1778 (PDF)
  8. ↑ Fornander Collection of Hawaiian Antiquities and Folk-Lore, Memoirs of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Vol. VI, Part II, pp. 222–238. Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu.
  9. ↑ Hiroa, Te Rangi (P.H. Buck). 1938. Vikings of the Sunrise. J.B. Lippincott, Philadelphia.
  10. ↑ Emory, K.P. 1946. Eastern Polynesia: Its Cultural Relationships. Unpublished Dissertation. Yale University, New Haven (University Microfilms, Ann Arbor).
  11. 1 2 Age of the Sites in the South Point Area, Ka‘u, Hawai‘i. Pacific Anthropological Records 8. Bishop Museum, Honolulu.
  12. ↑ Emory, K.P., W.J. Bonk and Y.H. Sinoto. 1959. Hawaiian Archaeology: Fishhooks. Bernice P. Bishop Museum Special Publication 47. Honolulu: states 124 AD ±60 years
  13. ↑ Pearson, R.J., P.V. Kirch, and M. Pietrusewsky. 1971. An early prehistoric site at Bellows Beach, Waimanalo, Oahu, Hawaiian Islands. Archaeology and Physical Anthropology in Oceania 6:204–34.
  14. ↑ Preliminary Report on the Archaeological Investigations in Polynesia. Mimeographed Report to the National Science Foundation. Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu.
  15. ↑ Muller, R.A. 1977. Radiocarbon dating with a cyclotron. Science 196:489–494.
  16. ↑ Allen, 2004; Anderson et al., 1994, 1999; Anderson and Sinoto 2002; Conte and Anderson 2003; Green and Weisler 2002; Kirch et al. 1995; Rolett 1998; Rolett and Conte, 1995 Weisler 1994, 1995).
  17. ↑ Anderson, A. 1991. The chronology of colonization in New Zealand. Antiquity 65: 767.
  18. ↑ Athens, J.S. 1997. Hawaiian native lowland vegetation in prehistory. In P.V. Kirch and T.L. Hunt, eds., Historical Ecology in the Pacific Islands: Prehistoric Environmental and Landscape Change, pp. 248–70. Yale University Press, New Haven.
  19. ↑ Athens, J.S. and J.V. Ward. 1993. Environmental change and prehistoric Polynesian settlement in Hawai‘i. Asian Perspectives 32:205–223.
  20. ↑ Kirch, P.V. and M. Kelly, eds. 1975. Prehistory and Ecology in a Windward Hawaiian Valley: Halawa Valley, Molokai. Pacific Anthropological Records 24. Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.