Hawai’i, also known as the Big Island, is the largest island of the Hawaiian archipelago. Recent estimates for the date of initial settlement by Polynesian voyagers have varied from 800 to 1250 CE, but the latest Bayesian model, based on palaeoenvironmental data and a carefully defined set of archaeological radiocarbon dates, suggests that the archipelago was first colonized between 1000 and 1100.
[1]
Our ’Hawaii 1’ designates the earliest phase of Hawai’i’s prehistory, from around 1000 to 1200, before most of the changes characteristic of Kirch’s ’expansion period’, including a rapid rise in population, took place.
[2]
Population and political organization
According to reconstructions of Hawaiki, the ancestral Polynesian homeland, ancient Polynesians recognized the authority of the *ariki, that is, the head of a lineage, who had both secular and sacred authority and was in charge of most, if not all, rituals.
[3]
However, a few thousand years separate Ancestral Polynesians from the earliest Hawaiians, and it is not clear how much the latter retained of the former’s culture and sociopolitical organization. The earliest island-wide unitary kingdom on the Big Island emerged around 1580;
[4]
before then the Big Island was probably divided into several small, independent polities.
[5]
The founding population was probably about 100 people, due to the limited capacity of the canoes the first settlers likely used to reach the islands.
[6]
This population probably grew somewhat between 1000 and 1200, but no up-to-date estimates could be found in the literature — an estimate of 20,000 inhabitants for the entire archipelago around 1100 dates to 1985, when the earliest phase of human occupation was thought to have begun around 600 CE.
[7]
[1]: (Athens, Rieth and Dye 2014) J. Stephen Athens, Timothy M. Rieth and Thomas S. Dye. 2014. ’A Paleoenvironmental and Archaeological Model-Based Age Estimate for the Colonization of Hawai’i’. American Antiquity 79(1): 144-55.
[2]: (Kirch 2010, 127) Patrick V. Kirch. 2010. How Chiefs Became Kings: Divine Kingship and the Rise of Archaic States in Ancient Hawai’i. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
[3]: (Kirch 2012, 45) Patrick V. Kirch. 2012. A Shark Going Inland Is My Chief. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
[4]: (Kirch 2010, 174) Patrick V. Kirch. 2010. How Chiefs Became Kings: Divine Kingship and the Rise of Archaic States in Ancient Hawai’i. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
[5]: (Kirch 2016, personal communication)
[6]: (Kirch 2010, 129) Patrick V. Kirch. 2010. How Chiefs Became Kings: Divine Kingship and the Rise of Archaic States in Ancient Hawai’i. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
[7]: (Kirch 1985, 302) Patrick V. Kirch. 1985. Feathered Gods and Fishhooks: An Introduction to Hawaiian Archaeology and Prehistory. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.
| 5 Q |
| Hawaii I |
| None (Absent Capital) |
| Big Island | |
| Island of Hawaii | |
| Owyhee | |
| Owhyhee | |
| Hawaii | |
| Hawaii Island | |
| Big Island of Hawaii |
| unknown [---] |
| Hawaii II |
| UNCLEAR: [None] | |
| Succeeding: Hawaii II (us_hawaii_2) [continuity] |
| quasi-polity |
| Year Range | Hawaii I (us_hawaii_1) was in: |
|---|---|
| (1000 CE 1199 CE) | Big Island Hawaii |
Inferred [1] There was no developed urbanism [2] .
[1]: Kirch, P. V. 2010. How Chiefs Became Kings: Divine Kingship and the Rise of Archaic States in Ancient Hawai’i. Berkeley: University of California Press.
[2]: Kirch, P. V. 2000. On the Road of the Winds: An Archaeological History of the Pacific Islands Before European Contact. Berkeley: University of California Press. Pg. 300.
Big Island of Hawai’i, Hawai’i Island, Island of Hawai’i, Big Island, Owyhee, Owhyhee; Hawaii ... cannot yet be machine read. “Hawai’i” is also spelled “Hawaii”
Big Island of Hawai’i, Hawai’i Island, Island of Hawai’i, Big Island, Owyhee, Owhyhee; Hawaii ... cannot yet be machine read. “Hawai’i” is also spelled “Hawaii”
Big Island of Hawai’i, Hawai’i Island, Island of Hawai’i, Big Island, Owyhee, Owhyhee; Hawaii ... cannot yet be machine read. “Hawai’i” is also spelled “Hawaii”
Big Island of Hawai’i, Hawai’i Island, Island of Hawai’i, Big Island, Owyhee, Owhyhee; Hawaii ... cannot yet be machine read. “Hawai’i” is also spelled “Hawaii”
Big Island of Hawai’i, Hawai’i Island, Island of Hawai’i, Big Island, Owyhee, Owhyhee; Hawaii ... cannot yet be machine read. “Hawai’i” is also spelled “Hawaii”
Big Island of Hawai’i, Hawai’i Island, Island of Hawai’i, Big Island, Owyhee, Owhyhee; Hawaii ... cannot yet be machine read. “Hawai’i” is also spelled “Hawaii”
Big Island of Hawai’i, Hawai’i Island, Island of Hawai’i, Big Island, Owyhee, Owhyhee; Hawaii ... cannot yet be machine read. “Hawai’i” is also spelled “Hawaii”
For this early period, ‘peak date’ may be meaningless. If it should be coded, however, 1200ce (the end of the time period) makes sense because this was when the population was the largest and the society presumably the most developed. [The period when the polity was at its peak, whether militarily, in terms of the size of territory controlled, or the degree of cultural development. This variable has a subjective element, but typically historians agree when the peak was.]
Justification for starting date: It is approximately the date of initial settlement. Based on the most up-to-date information, Kirch [1] concludes that the islands were likely first settled between 800CE and 1000CE. Some have argued for an earlier settlement, as early as 300CE, and in earlier works, Kirch found this scenario plausible [2] [3] . New starting date following an exchange with Patrick Kirch: "Most archaeologists would now say that initial Polynesian settlement did not occur until about AD 1000. Refer to Athens et al. 2014, American Antiquity 79:144-155 for latest Bayesian estimate of the chronology of Hawaiian colonization." [4] Justification for ending date: 1200CE is when most of the changes characteristic of Kirch’s ‘expansion period’ began, including a rapid rise in population [5] .
[1]: Kirch, P. V. 2010. How Chiefs Became Kings: Divine Kingship and the Rise of Archaic States in Ancient Hawai’i. Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 126-7.
[2]: Kirch, P. V. 2000. On the Road of the Winds: An Archaeological History of the Pacific Islands Before European Contact. Berkeley: University of California Press. Pg. 291.
[3]: Kirch, P. V. 1984. The Evolution of the Polynesian Chiefdoms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pg. 77.
[4]: (Kirch 2016, personal communication)
[5]: Kirch, P. V. 2010. How Chiefs Became Kings: Divine Kingship and the Rise of Archaic States in Ancient Hawai’i. Berkeley: University of California Press. Pg. 127.
Thought to be first human settlement - although petroglyphs found possibly dating to 300 CE.
Inferred. [1] There was little stratification at this time, and probably no ‘state’ in any real sense. ’Hawaii 1 is very difficult to say, but most likely to have been several independent polities - maybe as many as 5 or 6. ’Umi-a-Liloa is said to have been the first to consolidate all of these into one island-wide polity, and he is dated genealogical estimation to ca. AD 1570-1590, toward the end of your Hawaii2 period’. [2]
[1]: Kirch, P. V. 2010. How Chiefs Became Kings: Divine Kingship and the Rise of Archaic States in Ancient Hawai’i. Berkeley: University of California Press.
[2]: (Kirch 2016, personal communication)
The settlers probably came from the Marquesas, so they presumably spoke an old version of Marquesan. Since this became the modern Hawaiian language, it could also be called Old Hawaiian.
square kilometers. The area of the entire Big Island is 10,432 km², but it is unclear what the size of the ‘typical’ polity in this quasi-polity would be. "Hawaii 1 is very difficult to say, but most likely to have been several independent polities--maybe as many as 5 or 6." [1]
[1]: (Kirch 2016, personal communication)
The following refers to Ancient Hawaiki, not Hawaii. The former is the ancestral Polynesian homeland, in the first millennium BCE. It’s not entirely clear how much of their ancestral heritage the earliest Hawaiians might have retained. Expert guidance needed. Some linguistic evidence for the existence of a war chief, *sau [1] .
[1]: (Kirch & Green 2001, 234)
The following refers to Ancient Hawaiki, not Hawaii. The former is the ancestral Polynesian homeland, in the first millennium BCE. It’s not entirely clear how much of their ancestral heritage the earliest Hawaiians might have retained. Expert guidance needed. "As best we can infer, in ancient Hawaiki the *ariki played a role that was part secular leader, part priest. He had the responsibility for conducting most if not all of the sacred rituals of the group, including supplications to the ancestors." [1]
[1]: (Kirch 2012, 45)
The following refers to Ancient Hawaiki, not Hawaii. The former is the ancestral Polynesian homeland, in the first millennium BCE. It’s not entirely clear how much of their ancestral heritage the earliest Hawaiians might have retained. Expert guidance needed. Some linguistic evidence for the existence of a war chief, *sau [1] .
[1]: (Kirch & Green 2001, 234)
inferred from discussion in sources of development/introduction in later periods
inferred from discussion in sources of development/introduction in later periods
inferred from discussion in sources of development/introduction in later periods
inferred from discussion in sources of development/introduction in later periods
inferred from discussion in sources of development/introduction in later periods
inferred from discussion in sources of development/introduction in later periods
"In short, the archaeological testimony of appropriately sized and shaped pits in many Ancestral Polynesian sites, combined with strong linguistic evidence, leaves little doubt that the fermentation and storage of breadfruit and possibly other starchy crops was a practice well known to the early Polynesians." [1] However, it is unclear whether authorities had any control over such features.
[1]: (Kirch & Green 2001, 160)
’Needless to say, there was no money (in Diamond’s words, no "abstract, intrinsically valueless medium for appropriating surplus, storing value, and deferring payment or delaying exchange") in precontact Hawai’i’. [1]
[1]: (Trask 1983, 99) Haunani-Kay Trask. 1983. ’Cultures in Collision: Hawai’i and England, 1778’. Pacific Studies 7 (1): 91-117.
’Needless to say, there was no money (in Diamond’s words, no "abstract, intrinsically valueless medium for appropriating surplus, storing value, and deferring payment or delaying exchange") in precontact Hawai’i’. [1]
[1]: (Trask 1983, 99) Haunani-Kay Trask. 1983. ’Cultures in Collision: Hawai’i and England, 1778’. Pacific Studies 7 (1): 91-117.
’Needless to say, there was no money (in Diamond’s words, no "abstract, intrinsically valueless medium for appropriating surplus, storing value, and deferring payment or delaying exchange") in precontact Hawai’i’. [1]
[1]: (Trask 1983, 99) Haunani-Kay Trask. 1983. ’Cultures in Collision: Hawai’i and England, 1778’. Pacific Studies 7 (1): 91-117.
Not clear whether this information applies to pre-contact polities. "The Hawaiians generally did not build fortifications, but non-combatants could find sacred sanctuary in places of refuge known as pu’uhonua." Pg 4. [1]
[1]: Hommon, Robert, J. 2013. The Ancient Hawaiian State: Origins of a Political Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Not clear whether this information applies to pre-contact polities. "The Hawaiians generally did not build fortifications, but non-combatants could find sacred sanctuary in places of refuge known as pu’uhonua." Pg 4. [1] . Nevertheless, there does appear to evidence for some stone walls, but I’m not sure if they are used in warfare. The “Great Wall” at Hōnaunau, built around 1600 CE, was over 300m long, 3m high and 5m wide [2] [3] . Lapakahi also had a “Great Wall”, which was built between about 1450 and 1500 CE [4] .
[1]: Hommon, Robert, J. 2013. The Ancient Hawaiian State: Origins of a Political Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[2]: Kirch, P. V. 1985. Feathered Gods and Fishhooks: An Introduction to Hawaiian Archaeology and Prehistory. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Pp. 162-4
[3]: Kirch, P. V. 1985. Feathered Gods and Fishhooks: An Introduction to Hawaiian Archaeology and Prehistory. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Pg. 164.
[4]: Kirch, P. V. 1985. Feathered Gods and Fishhooks: An Introduction to Hawaiian Archaeology and Prehistory. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Pg. 178.
Not clear whether this information applies to pre-contact polities. "The Hawaiians generally did not build fortifications, but non-combatants could find sacred sanctuary in places of refuge known as pu’uhonua." Pg 4. [1] . Nevertheless, there does appear to evidence for some stone walls, but I’m not sure if they are used in warfare. The “Great Wall” at Hōnaunau, built around 1600 CE, was over 300m long, 3m high and 5m wide [2] [3] . Lapakahi also had a “Great Wall”, which was built between about 1450 and 1500 CE [4] .
[1]: Hommon, Robert, J. 2013. The Ancient Hawaiian State: Origins of a Political Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[2]: Kirch, P. V. 1985. Feathered Gods and Fishhooks: An Introduction to Hawaiian Archaeology and Prehistory. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Pp. 162-4
[3]: Kirch, P. V. 1985. Feathered Gods and Fishhooks: An Introduction to Hawaiian Archaeology and Prehistory. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Pg. 164.
[4]: Kirch, P. V. 1985. Feathered Gods and Fishhooks: An Introduction to Hawaiian Archaeology and Prehistory. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Pg. 178.
Not clear whether this information applies to pre-contact polities. "defenders more commonly established a fortress site known as a pali (cliff) or pā kauau (war enclosure), a “natural or artificial fortress, where they le their wives and children, and to which they fled if vanquished in the field.” One kind of fortress was the point of a narrow, steep-sided ridge that had been made somewhat defensible by digging deep trenches" Pg 35-36. [1]
[1]: Hommon, Robert, J. 2013. The Ancient Hawaiian State: Origins of a Political Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Not clear whether this information applies to pre-contact polities. "The Hawaiians generally did not build fortifications, but non-combatants could find sacred sanctuary in places of refuge known as pu’uhonua." Pg 4. [1]
[1]: Hommon, Robert, J. 2013. The Ancient Hawaiian State: Origins of a Political Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Not clear whether this information applies to pre-contact polities. "The Hawaiians generally did not build fornications, but non-combatants could find sacred sanctuary in places of refuge known as pu’uhonua." Pg 4. [1]
[1]: Hommon, Robert, J. 2013. The Ancient Hawaiian State: Origins of a Political Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Not clear whether this information applies to pre-contact polities. "The Hawaiians generally did not build fortifications, but non-combatants could find sacred sanctuary in places of refuge known as pu’uhonua." Pg 4. [1]
[1]: Hommon, Robert, J. 2013. The Ancient Hawaiian State: Origins of a Political Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Not clear whether this information applies to pre-contact polities. "One kind of fortress was the point of a narrow, steep-sided ridge that had been made somewhat defensible by digging deep trenches" Pg 35-36. [1]
[1]: Hommon, Robert, J. 2013. The Ancient Hawaiian State: Origins of a Political Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Not clear whether this information applies to pre-contact polities. "The Hawaiians generally did not build fortifications, but non-combatants could find sacred sanctuary in places of refuge known as pu’uhonua." Pg 4. [1]
[1]: Hommon, Robert, J. 2013. The Ancient Hawaiian State: Origins of a Political Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Presumably they had these, as throwing spears were used later in Hawaiian prehistory, but evidence is needed. [1] . Similarly, if Polynesian ancestors had spears too this would be good converging evidence.
[1]: Kirch, P. V. 2010. How Chiefs Became Kings: Divine Kingship and the Rise of Archaic States in Ancient Hawai’i. Berkeley: University of California Press. Pg. 70.
It is unlikely these were used, as later in Hawaiian prehistory bows and arrows were used only for sport, not for war [1] . Moreover it is implausible that a weapon as complex as a compound bow would be invented but then abandoned, leaving no archaeological trace.
[1]: Kirch, P. V. 2010. How Chiefs Became Kings: Divine Kingship and the Rise of Archaic States in Ancient Hawai’i. Berkeley: University of California Press. Pg. 70.
Presumably they didn’t have these as they do not appear later in Hawaiian prehistory.
There are some almost axe-like weapons at contact, but they should probably be treated as clubs.