Labor Mobilization, Ethnohistory, and the Archaeology of Community in Hawai'i

Hawaiian ethnohistory has long been used to generate archaeological models of the past. However, continued reliance on the direct historical method has molded our view of ancient Hawaiian society into one of an unchanging and "timeless" institution. This paper develops a more heuristic approach to studying the past by critically analyzing both ethnohistoric and archaeological data. A descriptive model of labor mobilization is presented that identifies a three-tiered continuum of labor organization. This model then is used as a springboard to examine the ethnohistoric and archaeological landscapes of Waiohuli, a traditional Hawaiian community. A temporal analysis of Waiohuli architectural energetics illustrates how certain social relationships were enhanced and emphasized by the construction and manipulation of the community's built landscape over time. Results demonstrate that Waiohuli's pattern of social organization was not timeless at all, but shifted from a period of regional centralization and control over labor to one of community independence.