KŪKULU MANAMANA: RITUAL POWER AND RELIGIOUS EXPANSION IN HAWAIʻI THE ETHNO-HISTORICAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDY OF MOKUMANAMANA AND NIHOA ISLANDS A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAIʻI AT MĀNOA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN ANTHROPOLOGY DECEMBER 2012 By Kekuewa Scott T. Kikiloi Dissertation Committee: Michael Graves, Chairperson Jim Bayman Ty Kāwika Tengan Ben Finney Kēhaunani Abad Lilikalā Kameʻeleihiwa Copyright 2012 Kekuewa Scott T. Kikiloi ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A sincere and profound expression of gratitude is expressed here towards the following organizations for their vital support of this research project: Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument (National Oceanic Atmospheric Adminstration, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and State of Hawaiʻi), Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the Papahānaumokuākea Cultural Working Group, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies, University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo Geochemistry Laboratory, University of New Mexico the Radiogenic Isotope Laboratory and Anthropology Department, the Kohala Center, the Kamehameha Schools, ʻAha Pūnana Leo, the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, and the Edith Kanakaʻole Foundation. This research also relied on the following individuals that contributed valuable time and/or assistance to this project including: Jo Lynn Gunness, Dr. Terry Hunt, Dr. Eric Hellenbrand, Dr. Celia Smith and Cherly Squair (University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa); Dr. Peter Mills and Dr. Steve Lunblad at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo); Dr. Yemane Asmerom and Dr. Keith Prufer at the University of New Mexico; Dr. Paul Jokiel and Dr. Kuʻulei Rodgers at Hawaiʻi Institute for Marine Biology; Dr. Peter Viteousek at Stanford University; Gail Murakami at AARII; Kaylene Keller and Daniel Turner at the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration; Betty Kam, Kamalu Dupreez, Jenny Kahn, and Clyde Imada at the Bishop Museum; Alan Carpenter at State Parks; and Amanda Sims and Kanani Frazier for their help with the graphics. The evaluation of this research relied upon my committee members and their expertise in their various fields of knowledge. I would like to acknowledge and thanks all of my committee members for all their support through the years: Dr. Jim Bayman, iii Dr. Kawika Tengan, Dr. Ben Finney, Dr. Kēhaunani Abad, and Dr. Lilikalā Kameʻeleihiwa. In particular, I would like to thank my chair Dr. Michael Graves who has been my primary mentor in archaeology since I was a young undergraduate student. He has embodied all what it truly means to be an educator and mentor constantly encouraging and pushing me to further my education and professional growth. I owe him a debt of gratitude for believing in me and investing time and energy into this research project. Additionally there are many other individuals in the community who have taken the time to have conversations with me about their manaʻo (thoughts, ideas, and opinions) concerning the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. They amount to so many that I cannot mention all their names here. I would however like to acknowledge two men who passed on during the period of which this research was undertaken. These men were both friends of my grandfather and together they traveled up to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and other places in the Pacific as co-workers in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife. Through this research, I was able to establish an important relationship and bond with them. This relationship provided important links to the past that allowed me to make some ofthe cultural connections explained in this dissertation. These men are the late Uncle Eddie Kaanaana and Uncle Walter Paulo from Miloliʻi, Hawaiʻi Island. The most challenging portion of this research was staying and surviving on Mokumanamana for durations of time for fieldwork. It is undoubtedly the most isolated, dangerous, and spiritually intense place in the Hawaiian archipelago. I would like to thank Anan Raymond of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for accompanying me on these trips. I could not ask for a better field partner and friend. His positive attitude and iv demeanor helped to uplift me to get through the most difficult psychological challenges associated with being on a small lonely island in the middle of the ocean. Even after the fieldwork was completed, he remained a staunch supporter of this project and provided aid that allowed its final completion. To my parents and my family, thank you for your support over the years. This degree represents a great sacrifice for all of us. Without your help I would not have been able to accomplish this goal and dream. All my success in life is a direct reflection of the guidance and love you have given me. To my wife Punahele, thank you for having the love and patience to allow me to finish this important research. Your love has been my greatest source of strength and I am the most fortunate man in the world to have you in my life. v ABSTRACT This dissertation examines a period in the late expansion phase (A.D. 1400-1650) of pre-contact Hawaiian society when formidable changes in ritual and social organization were underway which ultimately led to the emergence of Hawaiʻi as a powerful complex chiefdom in East Polynesia. Remotely located towards the northwest were two geographically remote and ecologically marginal islands called Mokumanamana and Nihoa Islands. Though quite barren and seemingly inhospitable, these contain over 140 archaeological sites, including residential features, agricultural terraces, ceremonial structures, shelters, cairns, and burials that bear witness to an earlier occupation and settlement efforts on these islands. This research demonstrates that over a four hundred year period from approximately ca. A.D. 1400-1815, Mokumanamana became the central focus of chiefly elites in establishing this island as a ritual center of power for the Hawaiian system of heiau (temples). These efforts had long lasting implications which led to the centralization of chiefly management, an integration of chiefs and priests into a single social class, the development of a charter for institutional order, and ultimately a state sponsored religion that became widely established throughout the main Hawaiian Islands. The ideological beliefs that were developed centered on the concept of the cord (ʻaha) as a symbolic connection between ancestors and descendants came to be a widespread organizing dimension of Hawaiian social life. Through commemorative rituals, the west was acknowledged and reaffirmed as a primary pathway of power where elite status, authority, and spiritual power originated and was continually legitimized. vi This research utilizes an interdisciplinary approach in combining ethno-historical research with archeology as complimenting ways of understanding the Hawaiian past. Through these approaches ritual power is established as a strategic mechanism for social political development, one that leads to a unified set of social beliefs and level of integration across social units. Ethno-historical analysis of cosmogonic chants, mythologies, and oral accounts are looked at to understand ritualization as a historical process one that tracks important social transformations and ultimately led to the formation of the Hawaiian state religious system. Archaeological analysis of the material record is used to understand the nature of island settlement and the investments that went into developing a monument at the effective edge of their living universe. A strong regional chronology is created based on two independent chronometric dating techniques and a relative ordering technique called seriation applied to both habitation and ceremonial sites. An additional number of techniques will be used to track human movement as source of labor, and the transportation of necessary resources for survival such as timber resources through paleo-botanical identification, fine-grained basalt through x-ray fluorescence, and food inferred through the late development of agriculture. The results of this study indicate that Mokumanamana and Nihoa islands were the focus of ritual use and human occupation in a continuous sequence from ca. A.D. 1400- 1815, extending for intermittent periods well into the 19th century. The establishment and maintenance of Mokumanamana as a ritual center of power was a hallmark achievement of Hawaiian chiefs in establishing supporting use on these resource deficient islands and pushing towards greater expressions of their power. This island temple was perhaps one vii of the most labor intensive examples of monumentality relying heavily on a voyaging interaction sphere for the import and transportation of necessary outside resources to sustain life. It highlights the importance of integration of ritual cycles centered on political competition (and/or integration) and agricultural surplus production through the calibration of the ritual calendar. The creation of this ritual center of power resulted in: (1) a strong ideological framework for social organization and order; (2) a process in which a growing class of ramified leaders could display their authority and power to rule; and increased predictability and stability in resource production through forecasting- all of which formed a strong foundation for the institutional power of Hawaiian chiefdoms. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................ iii ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................