Subsistence in a 'non-subsistence' environment, factors of production in a Hawaiian alpine desert adze quarry

Author:

McCoy, Patrick Carlton

Title:

Subsistence in a 'non-subsistence' environment, factors of production in a Hawaiian alpine desert adze quarry

Year:

1990

Pages:

p. 85-119

Subject:

Mauna Kea antiquities Mauna Kea Adze Quarry

Summary:

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the natural and cultural factors in the production in the quarry industry, located in the summit region of Mauna Kea from the Island of Hawaii. The second part of the paper is devoted to interpreting selected aspects of the archaeological record relating to production strategies, site structure, activity pattern differentiation, and settlement and subsistence patterns. The paper concludes with a brief consideration of the sociopolitical context of the quarry industry viewed in terms of the probable relationships between the quarry and other production systems and a rather unconventional perspective on 'origins' and some of the implications that a knowledge of antecedent historical conditions and 'social facts' have in interpreting the structure and practice of the quarry industry.

Collection:

Monographs