Evaluating agricultural bet-hedging strategies in the Kona Field System: New high-precision super(230)Th/U and super(14)C dates and plant microfossil data from Kealakekua, Hawai'i Island

The Kona Field System, located on the leeward side of Hawai'i Island, is comprised of a network of stone field walls, terraces, mounds and other agricultural, residential and religious features stretched over an estimated 163 km super(2). Previous research indicates a construction history of the fields that could have begun as early as the Foundation Period (AD 1000-1200), followed by a shift in agricultural strategies from those that reduce variance in yield (AD 1450-1600) to a strategy of production maximisation (after AD 1600) attributed to the growing political economy. However, these propositions are based on radiocarbon dates, many of which do not meet minimal standards for acceptable sample selection. We report the results of new excavations at the Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden in Kealakekua that suggest (1) that agricultural infrastructural improvements were being made by AD 1400, and (2) that agronomic infrastructure continued to be added to optimal lands and elsewhere after AD 1700 as decisions regarding agricultural strategies became coopted by political elites. There remains a great deal about the Kona Field System that is still poorly documented through archaeology.Original Abstract: RESUME Le systeme de champ Kona, situe sur le cote sous le vent de l'ile de Hawaii, est compose d'un reseau de murs de terrain en pierre, des terrasses, des monticules et d'autres caracteristiques agricoles, residentielles et religieuses tendues sur environ 163 km super(2). Des recherches anterieures indiquent une histoire de la construction des champs qui auraient commence des la periode de la Fondation (AD 1000-1200), suivie par un changement dans les strategies agricoles de ceux qui reduisent la variance du rendement (AD 1450-1600) a une strategie de production maximisation (apres AD 1600) attribue a l'economie politique croissante. Cependant, ces propositions sont fondees sur des dates de radiocarbone, dont beaucoup ne repondent pas aux normes minimales pour la selection de l'echantillon acceptable. Nous rapportons les resultats de nouvelles fouilles sur le jardin ethnobotanique Amy Greenwell a Kealakekua qui suggerent (1) l'amelioration des infrastructures agricoles ont ete realises par AD 1400, et (2) l'infrastructure agronomique continue a ajouter aux terres optimales et ailleurs apres l'an 1700 que les decisions concernant l'agriculture strategies se sont cooptees par les elites politiques. Il reste beaucoup de choses sur le systeme Kona champ qui es