Ancient Hawaii

Ancient Hawaiʻi refers to the period of Hawaiian history preceding the unification of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi by Kamehameha the Great in 1810.

Polynesian Triangle

To understand Hawaiian native history and culture, one must understand the greater Polynesian phenomenon. Hawaiʻi is the apex of the Polynesian Triangle, a region of the Pacific Ocean anchored by three island groups: Hawaiʻi, Rapa Nui (Easter Island) and Aotearoa (New Zealand). The many island cultures within the Polynesian Triangle share similar languages derived from a proto-Malayo-Polynesian language used in Southeast Asia 5000 years ago. Polynesians also share fundamentally similar cultural traditions, arts, religion, sciences. Anthropologists believe that all Polynesians have a common connection to a single proto-culture established in the South Pacific by migrant Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian) people.

The seven main Polynesian cultures are from:

Voyage to Hawaiʻi nei

Polynesian seafarers were skilled ocean navigators and astronomers. At a time when Western boats rarely went out of sight of land, they often traveled long distances on fleets of carefully crafted canoes that could withstand the harsh Pacific weather.

The early settlement history of Hawaiʻi is still not completely resolved. Some believe that the first Polynesians arrived in Hawaiʻi in the 3rd century from the Marquesas, followed by Tahitian settlers in 1300AD who conquered and eliminated the original inhabitants. Others believe that there was only a single, extended period of settlement starting at a somewhat later date during which contact with the southernly parts of Polynesia was upheld. The latter theory is supported by the current lack of any direct archaeological evidence showing a sharp cultural discontinuity around 1300 AD.

Indications for a Tahitian conquest of the islands are mainly found in the legends of Hawaiʻiloa and the navigator-priest Pa'ao, who is said to have made a voyages between Hawaii and the island of "Kahiki" (Tahiti) and introduced many customs that became commonplace on the islands. On Kaua'i there is also the puzzling rockwork lining the "Menehune ditch" — an ancient aqueduct that once brought water from the Waimea river to irrigate dry lands for growing taro. The rocks were shaped and fitted together — a method of stonework requiring immense labor, and not typical of Hawaiian rockwork. At Nawiliwili the large Alekoko fishpond is said to have been built by menehune, but historians believe that it was simply another one of the large projects built by chiefly fiat.

The colonists brought along with them clothing, plants and livestock and established settlements along the coasts and larger valleys. They grew kalo (taro), maiʻa (banana), niu (coconut), ulu (breadfruit) as soon as they arrived, and built hale (homes) and heiau (temples).

Village

A traditional village of ancient Hawaiʻi included several structures. Listed in order of importance:

Heiau, temple to the gods. They were built on high-rising stone terraces and adorned with wood and stone carved idols. A source of great mana or divine power, the heiau was restricted to aliʻi, the king and kahuna, or priests.

Hale Aliʻi, the house of the chief. It was used as a residence for the high chief and meeting house of the lesser chiefs. It was always built on a raised stone foundation to represent high social standing. Kahili, or feather standards, were placed outside to signify royalty. Women and children were banned from entering.

Hale Pahu, the house of the sacred hula instruments. It held the pahu drums. It was treated as a religious space as hula was a religious activity in honor of the goddess Laka.

Hale Papaʻa, the house of royal storage. It was built to store royal implements including fabrics, prized nets and lines, clubs, spears and other weapons.

Hale Ulana, the house of the weaver. It was the house where craftswomen would gather each day to manufacture the village baskets, fans, mats and other implements from dried pandanus leaves called lauhala.

Hale Mua, the men's eating house. It was considered a sacred place because it was used to carve stone idols of aumakua or ancestral gods. Men and women could not eat with each other for fear that men were vulnerable while eating to have their mana, or divine spirit, stolen by women. Women ate at their own separate eating house called the hale aina.

Hale Waʻa, the house of the canoe. It was built along the beaches as a shelter for their fishing vessels. Hawaiians also stored koa or mahogany logs used to craft the canoes.

Hale Lawaiʻa, the house of fishing. It was built along the beaches as a shelter for their fishing nets and lines. Nets and lines were made by a tough rope fashioned from woven coconut husks. Fish hooks were made of human, pig or dog bone. Implements found in the hale lawaiʻa were some of the most prized possessions of the entire village.

Hale Noho, the living house. It was built as sleeping and living quarters for the Hawaiian family unit.

Imu, the communal stone pit. Dug in the ground, it was used to cook the entire village's food including puaʻa or pork. Only men cooked using the imu.

Caste system

Ancient Hawaiʻi was a caste society. People were born into specific social classes and did not have the ability to move into another, except in the case of falling into outcast status. Each class had assigned duties and responsibilities to the greater society. The classes in order of social status were:

Aliʻi, the royal class. This class consisted of the high and lesser chiefs of the realms. They governed with divine power called mana.

Kahuna, the priestly class. This class consisted of the priesthood that tended the temples and conducted religious activities in the villages. Scientists and exceptional navigators also were deemed to have kahuna status.

Makaʻainana, the commoner class. This class consisted of the farmers, fishermen, craftsmen and their families. In a feudal society, they were charged with laboring for the overall economy.

Kauwa, the outcast or slave class. This class consisted primarily of people who were considered to be of low birth and thus born without mana. They were not allowed to move up in the caste system or improve their conditions. The mingling of members from other caste groups with the Kauwa was strictly prohibited by kapu. This caste also included prisoners captured in times of war. These prisoners forced to serve the aliʻi or were more often used for sacrifice at the luakini heiau.

The caste fueled a feudal system relative to feudal systems found in Europe circa A.D. 1000. Aliʻi gave lesser aliʻi parcels of land who would in turn govern over them. The lesser aliʻi divided the land into plots to be farmed and cultivated by makaʻainana families. Harvests were returned to the lesser aliʻi, each taking a portion before being sent to the supreme aliʻi.

Kapu system

Religion held ancient Hawaiian society together, affecting habits, lifestyles, work methods, social policy and law. The legal system was based on religious kapu, or taboos. There was a correct way to live, to worship, to eat, even to have sex. Examples of kapu included the provision that men and women could not eat together. Fishing was limited to specified seasons of the year. The shadow of the aliʻi must not be touched as it was stealing his mana. Violating kapu even by accident was punishable by death.

Kapu was derived from traditions and beliefs from Hawaiian worship of gods, demigods and ancestral mana. The forces of nature were personified as the main gods of Ku (God of War), Kāne (God of Light and Life), Lono (God of Harvest and Rebirth). Famous lesser gods include Pele (Goddess of Fire) and her sister Hiʻiaka (Goddess of Water). In a famous creation story, the demigod Māui fished the islands of Hawaiʻi from the sea after a little mistake he made on a fishing trip. From Haleakalā, Maui ensnared the sun in another story, forcing him to slow down so there was equal periods of darkness and light each day.

Chiefs

The four biggest islands, Hawaii proper, Maui, Kauai and Oahu were generally ruled by their own Alii aimoku, high chiefs (also called king, local king). Under them, subordinate district alii controlled their petty fiefs.

All these dynasties were interrelated. They all regarded native Hawaiian people (and possibly all humans) as descendants of legendary parents, Wakea (symbolizing the air) and his wife Papa (symbolizing the earth). Their legend is similar to other creation legends, such as Adam and Eve.

During the late 18th century, the kingdom of the island of Hawaii proper is known to have fragmented into several independent chiefdoms. Internecine warfare between them became common. There apparently was no longer an Alii Aimoku controlling the island.

In the beginning of 19th century, high chiefs of major islands were considered the "twenty-and-something" Alii Aimoku to hold their positions, according to count of monarchs in each realm based on Hawaiian legends. One century averagely contains three to five biological generations. Allowing for successions of siblings and such, however any experiential dynastical research generally allows less than ten successive monarchs in one century in average. Concluded from this, the Alii Aimoku dynasties were then (around 1800 CE) three to six centuries old. The Tahitian invasion of the Hawaiian islands, reportedly extinguishing all the previous population, is believed to have taken place in the 13th century CE. Alii Aimoku lordships were presumably established rather soon after the invasion.

The preceding generations, according to lineal counts in legends, some 30 generations from mythical Wakea to first Alii Aimoku rulers, thus presumably lived elsewhere than in Hawaiian islands.

Subsistence economy

Ancient Hawaiian economy became complex over time. People began to specialize in specific skills. Generations of families became committed to certain careers: roof thatchers, house builders, stone grinders, bird catchers who would make the feather cloaks of the aliʻi, canoe builders. Soon, entire islands began to specialize in certain skilled trades. Oahu became the chief kapa (tapa bark cloth) manufacturer. Maui became the chief canoe manufacturer. The island of Hawaiʻi exchanged bales of dried fish.

European discovery

Discovery of the Hawaiian islands marked the official end of the ancient Hawai'i period and beginning of Hawaiʻi's modern era. In 1778, British Captain James Cook landed first on Kauaʻi, then sailed southwards to observe and explore the other islands in the chain.

When he first arrived, some of the natives believed Cook was their god Lono. Cook's mast and sails coincidentally resembled the emblem (a mast and sheet of white tapa) that symbolized Lono in their religious rituals; the ships arrived during the Makahiki season dedicated to Lono.

Captain Cook was eventually killed during a violent confrontation between natives and British sailors. Cook's body was left behind on the beach by his retreating sailors. The British demanded that his body be returned, but the Hawaiians had already offered the body as a sacrifice at the heiau (temple). The flesh had then been stripped from the bones and the bones prepared for burial. The Hawaiian historian Kamakau says that the Hawaiians returned only some of the bones. (Kamakau 1961, pp. 103-104)

References

Finney, Ben R. -- Voyage of Rediscovery: A Cultural Odyssey Through Polynesia, University of California Press, 1994. ISBN 0520080025

Kamakau, Samuel M. -- Ruling Chiefs of Hawaii, The Kamehameha Schools Press, 1961.

Kane, Herb Kawainui -- Ancient Hawaii

Kirch, Patrick Vinton -- On the Road of the Winds: An Archaeological History of the Pacific Islands Before European Contact, University of California Press, 2001. ISBN 0520234618

Gourt Home::Gourt :: Ancient Hawaii