Humuʻula: an archaeological perspective of Hawaiian ranching and the pacific hide and tallow trade, TMK 3-8-01:9 (draft report Spring 2011)

Author:

Barna, Benjamin, Mills, Peter R., White, Carolyn L.

Title:

Humuʻula: an archaeological perspective of Hawaiian ranching and the pacific hide and tallow trade, TMK 3-8-01:9 (draft report Spring 2011)

Year:

2011

Pages:

131 p.

Subject:

Archaeological surveying Hakalau Region Hawaiʻi Island history Hawaiʻi social life and customs Ranching Hawaiʻi University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo

Summary:

This study provides a microhistory of the origins of the paniolo culture in Hawaii and its connections to large historical processes of the Pacific. It contains a historical synthesis of ranching in the North Hilo District of Humuula where archaeological fieldwork was conducted between 2001 and 2005 along Mana Road, in an area known as Keanakolu ("the three calves"), that is known for early ranching on the island of Hawaiʻi. This land, that is located between the 5,300 and 6,400 ft. elevation on Mauna Kea, is controlled either through the Department of Hawaiian Homelands or the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and Wildlife. The way Native Hawaiians interacted with foreign immigrants and the United States was studied to determine how the people from these various backgrounds fused their cultural practices and created a new form of subsistence and livelihood on the upper mountain, giving rise to the celebrated paniolo ranching culture of Hawaii. Students from the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo conducted a regional survey, the mapping and sampling of wood charcoal deposits in the Keanakolu cave complex, the documentation and limited soil coring of a late nineteenth century koa log cabin site and surrounding structures, the identification and test excavation of a nearby stone house platform, cistern, and privy dating back to the late 1800s, and the mapping of other early ranching complexes that included a stone corral and several associated house foundations and an early twentieth century paniolo camp. The students also did limited documentation of various Civilian Conservation Corps structures that is commonly called the "Keanakolu Ranger Station". Then in 2007, anthropology students, under the direction of Dr. Carolyn White, from the University of Nevada at Reno, joined the UH students in this study and investigated a ranching station that is located approximately ten miles to the south of Keanakoku. The result was an archaeological documentation of an area, that is believed to have been used up to the 1950s, known as Laumaia. The field school later mapped and conducted limited subsurface testing on a single feature that is within the Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge. This land is adjacent to the upland portions of the ahupuaʻa of Makahanaloa -- a site that was interpreted as an "Old Hut" as early as 1879. Papers that were written by UH Hilo undergraduates, (several of which have been published), are cited throughout this document based on the research completed on their laboratory analyses.

Date:

Spring 2011

Collection:

Monographs