Summary Goals Objectives Related Research Future Research Opportunities to Participate Images References		The goals of HARP may be summarized as the following: to implement the use of new techniques and approaches in archaeology and anthropology that will lead to an improved understanding of how and why Hawaiian society developed the way it did to enlarge the scale at which archaeologists conduct their research to compare, contrast, and integrate the findings of different disciplines as they pertain to the cultural and natural history of Kohala and the Hawaiian Islands to empasize non-invasive techniques and methods

A second goal of HARP is to enlarge the scale at which archaeologists conduct their research, such as the recovery of site data and from which they develop their interpretations. In north Hawai'i, the Kohala Field System (KFS), is an extremely large site, extending approximately 60 sq km along the gently sloping uplands of the Kohala Mountains. This area was converted to fixed field dry land farming by Hawaiians prior to the European discovery of the archipelago and sweet potato was likely the main cultivar. In a project area of this size, large scale spatial excavations would be time consuming and cost prohibitive. Our use of GPS for surface mapping and site recording and the integration of this data into a GIS database are intended to partly resolve this matter.

In addition, we are attempting to spearhead the use of relatively non-invasive archaeological techniques that provide contextual information usually associated only with excavations. In particular, the GPS maps highlight relationships between field border walls and trails that allow us now (Ladefoged et al. 2003) to develop relative chronologies of the construction of walls and trails in different areas of the field system based on intersecting or abutting field border walls and trails (see Rosendahl 1972 and Kirch 1984 for suggestions on how this should be done).

Along with mapping, we have developed a site record form for architectural structures and have recorded more than 1,000 structures in the KFS and along the coast. We now use the built-in computer applications on our GPS units to record architectural and other attributes associated with archaeological features--making our survey nearly paperless. Already we have successfully used stylistic data from these forms as the basis for developing  seriations, that is, relative chronologies, of residential architecture in two of the ahupua'a (traditional Hawaiian communities) previously mapped (Graves et al. 2002; O'Connor 1998). Functional attributes are also noted and provide the basis, once relative chronologies are established, for sorting out the different components of changes in prehistoric settlements in North Kohala. For example, we expect to be able to distinguish permanent from temporary habitation structures and animal pens from kuleana (household) enclosing walls.

Given concerns expressed by Hawaiians and archaeologists on the increasing loss of archaeological sites (or historic properties), our techniques and methods in Kohala have emphasized those which are non-invasive or which do not require extensive new excavations. This involves using existing collections where possible and the relevant information which can be obtained from previously conducted excavations. The use of GPS units for mapping and GIS databases are also consistent with this goal, as they provide digital forms for spatial or locational information on the archaeological record and other variables that we record.

This combination of technological, large scale, and non-invasive archaeological and anthropological means for generating historical data distinguishes us from much of the tradition of archaeology in Hawai'i and the United States. It is, however, in keeping with the conservation ethic of archaeology (Lipe 1974) and our commitment to the development of reliable knowledge about the past. It also reflects our theoretical orientation, to help develop archaeology as a science based on the principles of evolutionary archaeology and/or evolutionary ecology.

A third goal of HARP is to compare, contrast, and integrate the findings of different disciplines as they pertain to the cultural and natural history of Kohala and the Hawaiian Islands. This kind of inter-disciplinary research will determine the potential synergy that can be achieved by scientists working in such diverse areas as archaeology, ethnohistory and oral traditions, paleoecologists, earth scientists, and human demography and modeling.

Other projects aligned with HARP's goals and which include large scale analyses are those by Jadelyn Moniz-Nakamura (1999) on birds from archaeological contexts distributed over much of Hawai'i Island, Graves and C. K. Cachola-Abad (1996, 2003) to seriate and explain the history of heiau architecture across Maui, Cachola-Abad (2000) on oral traditions from the four main Hawaiian Islands (Hawai'i, Maui, O'ahu, and Kaua'i), Wendy McElroy (2003) MA thesis on poi pounders from Kaua'i, and the inter-institutional research project at Kahikinui, Maui and in Kohala spearheaded by Patrick V. Kirch (2001) of U.C. Berkeley (see below). One purpose of these studies is to show some of the geographic patterning or variation in the history of artifact, behavioral, and organizational forms that occurred in prehistoric Hawai'i. U.H. Manoa faculty and graduate students are pursuing or have completed similar kinds of studies in Rapa Nui (Easter Island), the Marquesas, the Yasawa Islands, Fiji (Fields 2003), Micronesia, Melanesia, and Southeast Asia.