Re-examining anomalous early dates of settlement in leeward Hawai'i Island

Abstract

Anomalous dates prior to 1000 yr BP have been reported for near-surface site deposits at Puapua'a in the dry and rocky zone of leeward (west) Hawai'i Island, compared to archipelago-wide earliest cultural layers generally in buried contexts 1000-800 yr BP. Redating and closer examination cannot validate these early dates in cultural association. In the thin sedimentary deposits, preserved cultural materials mostly postdate 600-400 yr BP, but some older materials were incorporated into the layer matrix. The results suggest a much shorter extant chronology of human settlement of this particular zone, whereas earliest sites most likely are preserved in different settings of the Hawaiian Islands.