The publication of Abundance and Resilience: Farming and Foraging in Ancient Kauaʿi is a significant milestone for archaeology in the Hawaiian Islands. Most notably, this volume summarizes the analysis of legacy collections at the Bernice P. Bishop Museum in Honolulu that had lain dormant and largely unpublished for over 50 years. These collections were generated by archaeological excavations in 1958–1964 and 1990 at the site of Nuʻalolo Kai, on the Nā Pali coast of northern Kauaʻi, and their long-awaited analysis and publication is a major breakthrough in Pacific archaeology. The site's location on a coastal flat below towering cliffs created a dry and sheltered environment that received regular sprays of ocean salt. These conditions enhanced the preservation of materials that are rarely recovered in tropical settings, and their association with residential structures, religious temples, agricultural terraces, and other features adds to their significance.
Archaeological excavations in the site's stratigraphic deposits yielded an exceptionally rich faunal assemblage (e.g., shell, bone) and remnants of other cultural materials (e.g., fiber mats, feathers, bark-cloth clothing). The scale of the analyses by Field and Graves and the contributors to their volume is staggering: the stratigraphic deposits were nearly 2 m in depth, approximately 145 m3 of fill had been excavated, and more than 18,000 artifacts were recovered. Fortunately, a suite of radiocarbon age estimations and stratigraphic analyses enabled the authors to devise a sequence of three major analytical zones that correspond to broad temporal periods: Zone 1 (AD 1700 to present), which spans the historic/protohistoric period, Zone 2 (AD 1500–1700), and Zone 3 (AD 1300–1500).
The archaeological analyses for this study were focused on the remains of fauna that were consumed as food and used for crafting various implements (e.g., fishhooks, combs, ornaments). As a result, these analyses complemented research on other cultural materials (e.g., stone adzes) by the authors’ colleagues at other institutions. The participation of dozens of graduate and undergraduate students in the analysis of the collections was a notable dimension of this project. In fact, several of the former students are now practicing professionals in Pacific archaeology and historic preservation.
The analyses reported in this volume offer a substantive case study and baseline for comparative research elsewhere in the archipelago. Field and Graves note that their research was aligned with the theoretical tenets of human behavioral ecology (HBE) and its focus on examining the economic contexts of human decisions. Accordingly, they designed their study to investigate the subsistence economy of foraging and farming at Nuʻalolo Kai within the broader context of the Hawaiian ecosystem before and after European contact. Such research is not uncommon in Pacific archaeology, but the authors’ effort to consider potential evidence (albeit indirect) of traditional Hawaiian stewardship of the natural environment sets this research apart. Moreover, the authors’ effort to consider the implications of their findings for modern conservation biology explicitly is also novel.
The study by Field and Graves and their students enabled them to establish a long-term temporal sequence of foraging and farming from approximately AD 1300 to the present. Detecting patterns in the fluctuation of faunal resources and the sources of such changes is not always an uncomplicated task. For example, Field and Graves acknowledge that shellfish and fish taxa did experience pressure from human foraging on the inner reef. Still, they conclude that there is no evidence of a dramatic decline or collapse. Such resilience was potentially enhanced by an increasing reliance after AD 1500 on domestic mammals (i.e., pigs and dogs) for protein, especially as human population grew in late prehistory.
In either case, archaeological evidence that seabirds were consistently used through the chronological sequence prior to AD 1700 challenges conventional models of avian extinction in the Pacific. Field and Graves surmise that the apparent stability of seabirds (but not land birds) at Nuʻalolo Kai may signal their ability to flee predators, both human and nonhuman (e.g., rats, dogs). They also note that residents of Nuʻalolo Kai possibly expanded their use of sea birds by foraging into the forested uplands. Although sea turtle remains were never abundant at Nuʻalolo Kai, their use did increase over time, particularly after AD 1700. Field and Graves note, however, that most sea turtles in the assemblage were adults, implying that adult turtles were culled in an effort to preserve their populations.
To conclude, the edited volume by Field and Graves and their contributors is an exceptionally valuable addition. It provides a substantive case study in Pacific archaeology, and it offers an example for others to follow as they engage in research on legacy collections.
