Ancient Hawaii

 ( Ancient Peoples ) 

The Polynesian rat accompanied humans on their journey to Hawaiʻi. David Burney argues that humans, along with the vertebrate animals they brought with them (pigs, dogs, chickens and rats), caused many native species of birds, plants and large land snails to become extinct in the process of colonization.Burney, Back to the Future in the Caves of Kaua'i. pp. 83

Estuary and streams were adapted into fishponds by early Polynesian settlers, as long ago as 500 CE or earlier. Packed earth and cut stone were used to create habitat, making ancient Hawaiian aquaculture among the most advanced of the original peoples of the Pacific.Burney, Back to the Future in the Caves of Kaua'i. pp.60-62 A notable example is the Menehune Fishpond dating from at least 1,000 years ago, at Alekoko (Kaua'i). At the time of Captain James Cook's arrival, there were at least 360 fishponds producing of fish per year. Over the course of the last millennium, Hawaiians undertook "large-scale canal-fed pond field irrigation" projects for kalo (taro) cultivation.Kirch, Hawaiki, Ancestral Polynesia. pp. 130-131

The new settlers built hale (homes) and heiau (temples). Archaeologists currently believe that the first settlements were on the southern end of the Big Island of Hawaiʻi and that they quickly extended northwards, along the seacoasts and the easily accessible river valleys. As the population increased, settlements were made further inland. With the islands being so small, the population was very dense. Before European contact, the population had reached somewhere in the range of 200,000 to 1,000,000 people. After contact with the Europeans, however, the population steeply dropped due to various diseases including smallpox.

• Heiau, temple to the gods. There were two major types. The agricultural mapele type was dedicated to Lono, and could be built by the nobility, priests, and land division chiefs, and whose ceremonies were open to all. The second type, luakini, were large war temples, where animal and were made. 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 luakini could only be entered by alii, the king, important chiefs and nobility, and kahuna who were members of the Kū priesthood.
• Hale alii, 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. Kāhili, 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 papaa, 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. The design was meant for the men to be able to enter and exit quickly.
• Hale aina, the women's eating house. Women ate at their own separate eating house. 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.
• Hale waa, the house of the canoe. It was built along the beaches as a shelter for their fishing vessels. Hawaiians also stored Acacia koa logs used to craft the .
• Hale lawaia, 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 lawaia 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 earth oven. Dug in the ground, it was used to cook the entire village's food including puaa or pork. Only men cooked using the imu.

• Alii. This class consisted of the high and lesser chiefs of the realms. They governed with divine power ( mana) within a sometimes theocracy system.

• Kahuna. Priests who conducted religious ceremonies, at the heiau and elsewhere. Professionals included master carpenters and boatbuilders, chanters, dancers, genealogists, physicians and healers.
• Makaāinana. Commoners who farmed, fished, and exercised the simpler crafts. They labored not only for themselves and their families, but to support the chiefs and kahuna.
• Kauwā. A broad and degrading category of servants, slaves, and outcasts. Marriage between higher castes and the kauwā was strictly forbidden. The kauwā worked for the chiefs, and males were often used as human sacrifices (via drowning) at the luakini heiau. (Lawbreakers of other castes and defeated political opponents were also sometimes used in human sacrifices.)

The kahuna took the apprentice into his household as a member of the family, although often "the tutor was a relative". During a religious "graduation" ceremony, "the teacher consecrated the pupil, who thereafter was one with the teacher in psychic relationship as definite and obligatory as blood relationship". Like the children learning from their grandparents, children who were apprentices learned by watching and participating in daily life. Children were discouraged from asking questions in traditional Hawaiian culture.

The alii were believed to be "managers" of land. That is, they controlled those who worked on the land, the makaāinana.

On the death of one chief and the accession of another, lands were re-apportioned—some of the previous "managers" would lose their lands, and others would gain them. Lands were also re-apportioned when one chief defeated another and re-distributed the conquered lands as rewards to his warriors.

In practice, commoners had some security against capricious re-possession of their houses and farms. They were usually left in place, to pay tribute and supply labor to a new chief, under the supervision of a new konohiki, or overseer.

This system of land tenure has similarities with the Feudalism prevalent in Europe during the Middle Ages.

The ancient Hawaiians had the ahupuaa as their source of water management. Each ahupuaa was a sub-division of land from the mountain to the sea. The Hawaiians used the water from the rain that ran through the mountains as a form of irrigation. Hawaiians also settled around these parts of the land because of the farming that was done.Rosenfeld, Alan. "Ancient Polynesia." 19 Nov. 2013. p.13. Lecture.

The rigidity of the kapu system might have come from a second wave of migrations in 1000–1300 from which different religions and systems were shared between Hawaii and the Society Islands. Had Hawaii been influenced by the Tahitian chiefs, the kapu system would have become stricter, and the social structure would have changed. Human sacrifice would have become a part of their new religious observance, and the alii would have gained more power over the counsel of experts on the islands. "Polynesian Migrations". Hawaii History,. 14 November 2010.

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 Kū (God of war), Kāne (god of light and life), Kanaloa (god of death), and Lono (god of peace and growth). Well-known lesser gods include Pele (goddess of fire) and her sister Hiiaka (goddess of dance). In a famous creation story, the demigod Māui fished the islands of Hawaii from the sea after a little mistake he made on a fishing trip. From Haleakalā, Māui ensnared the sun in another story, forcing him to slow down so there were equal periods of darkness and light each day.

The Hawaiian mystical worldview allows for different gods and spirits to imbue any aspect of the natural world.Dudley, Man, Gods, and Nature. pp. 77 From this mystical perspective, in addition to his presence in lightning and rainbows, the god of light and life, Kāne, can be present in rain and clouds and a peaceful breeze (typically the "home" of Lono).

Although all food and drink had religious significance to the ancient Hawaiians, special cultural emphasis was placed on Kava due to its narcotic properties. This root-based beverage, a psychoactive and a relaxant, was used to consecrate meals and commemorate ceremonies. It is often referred to in Hawaiian chant.Handy, Ancient Hawaiian Civilization. pp. 63 Different varieties of the root were used by different castes, and the brew served as an "introduction to mysticism".

All these dynasties were interrelated and regarded all the Native Hawaiians (and possibly all humans) as descendants of legendary parents, Wākea (symbolizing the air) and his wife Papa (symbolizing the earth). Up to the late eighteenth century, the island of Hawaiʻi had been ruled by one line descended from Umi-a-Liloa. At the death of Keaweʻīkekahialiʻiokamoku, a lower ranking chief, Alapainui, overthrew the two sons of the former ruler who were next in line as the island's aliʻi nui.

Assuming five to ten generations per century, the Alii ʻAimoku dynasties were around three to six centuries old at 1800 CE. The Tahitian settlement of the Hawaiian islands is believed to have taken place in the thirteenth century. The alii and other social castes were presumably established during this period.

Cook's two ships returned to the islands in November to re-supply, first sailing along the coast of Maui before eventually reaching an anchorage at Kealakekua Bay on Hawaii island.