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| Archaeological sites in Hawaiʻi | |
|---|---|
| Name | Archaeological sites in Hawaiʻi |
| Caption | ʻIolani Palace, Honolulu |
| Location | Hawaiian Islands |
| Built | Prehistoric to Historic |
| Governing body | State of Hawaiʻi, National Park Service |
Archaeological sites in Hawaiʻi encompass the material remains of Polynesian settlement, Hawaiian Kingdom institutions, and United States territorial and state-era developments across the Hawaiian Islands. These sites document voyaging, land division, religious practice, agriculture, and colonial contact, and they provide essential data for scholars associated with institutions such as the Bishop Museum, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, National Park Service, Hawaiʻi State Historic Preservation Division, and Smithsonian Institution. Preservation and interpretation intersect with Native Hawaiian practitioners, stewardship organizations, and federal programs including the National Historic Preservation Act and the National Register of Historic Places.
Archaeological sites in Hawaiʻi illustrate interactions among voyaging cultures such as those linked to Polynesian navigation, later contact events like the Captain James Cook voyages, and political formations exemplified by the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi and the Republic of Hawaiʻi. These resources inform research by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources, the Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park staff, and scholars from the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. Sites contribute to cultural revitalization led by kūpuna and organizations like the Kamehameha Schools and are often components of Historic districts and landscape-scale conservation efforts.
Prehistoric sites include settlement complexes, agricultural features, and ritual architectures attributed to Hawaiian culture following migrations from East Polynesia connected with places such as Tahiti, Samoa, and Aotearoa. Key elements are permanent coastal villages near harbors like Kealakekua Bay, inland irrigation systems such as the ʻauwai associated with the Ahupuaʻa land division system, and terraces and māla linked to taro cultivation found in valleys like Waipiʻo Valley and Hanalei Valley. Religious precincts include heiau such as Puʻukoholā Heiau National Historic Site and ceremonial sites on Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi. Archaeobotanical, lithic, and osteological analyses conducted by researchers from University of California, Berkeley and Arizona State University have refined chronologies for settlement and introgression events.
Contact-era archaeological contexts record the arrival of Europeans and Americans, whaling and missionary activity, plantation-era plantations such as those of Kauai Sugar Company and Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company, and royal residences exemplified by ʻIolani Palace, Huliheʻe Palace, and the Royal Mausoleum (Mauna ʻAla). Military sites include Pearl Harbor National Memorial landscapes and coastal forts linked to the United States occupation of Hawaii and the formation of the Territory of Hawaii. Missionary stations, whaling stations, and port towns like Lahaina and Hilo preserve assemblages of ceramics, bottle glass, and trade goods studied by researchers from Yale University and University of Cambridge.
Common features encompass lithic quarries, fishponds such as Heʻeia Fishpond, coastal loko iʻa, heiau platforms, petroglyph fields like those on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi and Maui, house foundations (hale), agricultural terraces, irrigation ditches, burial sites exemplified by royal iwi in the Nuʻuanu Valley, and historic structures including plantation buildings and shipping infrastructure at places like Honokohau Harbor. Underwater archaeological resources include shipwrecks associated with the Whaling Era and naval losses around Kure Atoll and Midway Atoll, often investigated by teams from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and the Office of Naval Research.
Fieldwork employs systematic pedestrian survey, remote sensing such as LiDAR surveys conducted in collaboration with NASA, aerial photography, and sub-surface testing guided by standards from the Society for American Archaeology. Excavations are undertaken by university teams, consulting archaeologists, and cultural practitioners using stratigraphic excavation, flotation sampling for paleobotanical remains, radiocarbon dating coordinated with laboratories like the W.M. Keck Carbon Cycle Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Facility, and ancient DNA protocols at facilities such as the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Community archaeology initiatives often integrate Native Hawaiian protocols and cultural impact assessments as required by the National Environmental Policy Act and state Section 106 processes.
Legal frameworks protecting sites include listing on the National Register of Historic Places, designation as National Historic Landmarks, and state-level protections under the Hawaiʻi Register of Historic Places and the Historic Preservation Act (Hawaiʻi). Management involves partnerships among the Hawaiʻi State Parks, National Park Service, private landowners, and Native Hawaiian organizations, with active stewardship programs at sites such as Kalaupapa National Historical Park and Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park.
Oʻahu: ʻIolani Palace, Nuʻuanu Pali State Wayside, Pearl Harbor National Memorial, Waikīkī petroglyphs. Hawaiʻi (Big Island): Puʻukoholā Heiau National Historic Site, Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park archaeological landscapes, Kealakekua Bay Historic District. Maui: Haleakalā summit shrines, Waiheʻe Valley terraces, Lahaina Historic District. Kauaʻi: Waimea Canyon pre-contact sites, Hanalei Valley agricultural complexes, Kōloa plantation sites. Molokaʻi: Kalaupapa, coastal village sites, fishpond systems. Lānaʻi: ranching-era structures, heiau and terrace complexes. Niʻihau and Kahoʻolawe: traditional shrines, subsistence middens, and restricted-access cultural landscapes studied in collaboration with island stewards.
Category:Archaeology of the United States Category:Hawaiian culture