Clues from the Past... The Archaeology of Lapakahi

Archaeologists and students from the University of Hawai'i conducted extensive surveys and excavations at Lapakahi between 1968 and 1970 in coastal settlements and upland agricultural fields to learn about the people who lived there. Their research found that people occupied this area from 600 years ago to the early 1900s and were well adapted to the dry, leeward environment of North Kohala. After many kiawe trees were removed, walls, enclosures, platforms, and pavings were mapped, and a concentration of archaeological sites was identified along the shoreline in the Koai'e and Lapakahi ahupua'a, a complex referred to as Koai'e. Excavations used a grid of one meter by one meter squares, with trowels and brushes exposing buried features, house floors, and walls. By studying soil layers, artifacts, and features such as firepits, archaeologists determined how people used the site and its age. Finds at Koai'e show adaptation to the coastal environment and long occupation, with many objects related to fishing and food preparation. Before Western contact in 1778, artifacts were made of bone, stone, shell, and wood; afterward, metal fishhooks replaced bone ones, and glass bottles and ceramic dishes replaced gourds and wooden bowls. Middens at Koai'e preserved marine shells and fish bones from ocean foods, as well as evidence of pig, dog, chicken, and crops grown in upland fields, including 'uala, kalo, mai'a, and kō, while stone pounders used to mash kalo and make poi also survived.

Hawi, Hawaii · United States