Science and sensitivity: a geochemical characterization of the Mauna Kea adze quarry complex, Hawaii island, Hawaii

Author:

Mills, Peter R., Lundblad, S. P., Smith, J.G., McCoy, Patrick C., Naleimaile, S. P.

Title:

Science and sensitivity: a geochemical characterization of the Mauna Kea adze quarry complex, Hawaii island, Hawaii

Periodical:

American Antiquity

Year:

2008

Volume:

73

Pages:

743-758

Subject:

Mauna Kea Adze Quarry Rocks igneous Mauna Kea Basalt Mauna Kea

Summary:

On the island of Hawaii sits the Mauna Kea Adze Quarry Complex, the largest-known prehistoric quarry in the Pacific Basin. Here the main extraction areas are located at an altitude of 3,800 meters. Since the summit region of Mauna Kea and the quarry are considered sacred landscape by many Hawaiians, archaeologists must consider the ethical tensions involved when conducting Western science at the summit of Hawaii's tallest mountain. As a result, this document describes non-destructive methods that were used to examine material that exists within the Mauna Kea quarry via an energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) that is able to differentiate Mauna Kea basalts from other known Hawaiian quarries.

Label:

Archaeology - Mauna Kea Adze Quarry

URL:

http://cletus.uhh.hawaii.edu:2075/stable/25470526

Collection:

Periodicals