A former fishering village of Nu‘alolo Kai, located on the Na Pali Coast on the north shore of Kaua‘i, was occupied for at least 500 years between AD 1300 and 1900. It preserves one of the richest assemblages of organic materials on the island of Kaua‘i. We examined fragments of wood charcoal, recovered from eleven stratigraphic layers of the habitation feature K3; they correspond to prehistoric (AD 1410–1570), late prehistoric (AD 1570–1800) and historic (>AD 1800) periods respectively. Our objectives were to learn about environmental changes associated with early settlement and about past ethnobotanical uses of woody plants. In particular, we were interested in the role of native Hawaiians in the modification of vegetation and landscape. The archaeological charcoal was also compared with observations of recent flora, to examine the persistency of native species as opposed to invasions of introduced taxa until modern times.

Results/Conclusions

Thirty-one woody plants of native or Polynesian origin were identified from prehistoric, late prehistoric and historic wood charcoal assemblages from Nu‘alolo Kai. The historic record comprises the largest taxonomic variety, because either (1) Hawaiians expanded harvesting into additional environmental zones or (2) the area become more diverse over time. Additionally, our results indicate that several prehistoric and/or late prehistoric species locally disappeared, probably as a result of selective human pressure or changes in land use practices. The overall temporal distribution and environmental data on wood charcoal suggest that the location of useful plant resources may have expanded to more lowland areas and closer to residential sites, or local climate became drier at the end of habitation period. It further shows that some of the plants persisted through the entire settlement period and seem to be strongly associated with human population; however, they do not appear at Nu‘alolo Kai today. In terms of ethnobotanical uses, the identified trees and shrubs were primarily used for fuel, construction, making canoes, weapons, various tools, medicines and food. According to the comparison with recent observations, the modern local vegetation differs quite considerably from the ancient settlement flora, since only five archaeological species including Myoporum sandwicense, Chamaesyce cf. celastroides, Morinda citrifolia, Nototrichium sandwicense and Pandanus tectorius have been growing in the area during the last decades.