Nihoa: Difference between revisions

Nihoa was well known to the [[Ancient Hawaii|early Hawaiians]]. Archaeological expeditions found extensive prehistoric [[Terrace (agriculture)|agricultural terraces]] and house sites.<!-- In 1779, approximately 4,000 [[Ancient Hawaii|Hawaiians]] lived on Nihoa. --><ref name="Tava_1998_102103">{{harvnb|Tava|Keale|1998|pp=102–103}}.</ref> At least one site has been dated to around the 1st millennium AD, sometime between 867 and 1037.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Hunt|first=Terry L.|author2=Holsen, Robert M. |year=1991|hdl=10125/19261|title=An Early Radiocarbon Chronology for the Hawaiian Islands: A Preliminary Analysis|journal=Asian Perspectives|volume=30|issue=1|page=157|issn=0066-8435}}</ref> There is some doubt as to the number of people that lived on Nihoa, because while the large terraces suggest a considerable number, there is scant [[fresh water]] to be found. Archaeologists [[Kenneth Emory]]<ref name="Emory28">{{cite book|last=Emory|first=Kenneth P.|author-link=Kenneth Emory|orig-year=1928|year=2003|title=Archaeology of Nihoa and Necker Islands|publisher = [[Bishop Museum|Bishop Museum Press]]|series=Bishop Museum Bulletin. 53}}</ref> and Paul Cleghorn<ref name="Cleghorn88">{{cite journal|last=Cleghorn|first=Paul L.|year=1988|title=The settlement and abandonment of two Hawaiian outposts: Nihoa and Necker islands|journal=Bishop Museum Occasional Papers|publisher=Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum|volume=28|pages=35–49}}</ref> estimate that water could support as many as 100 people, although if the island were previously forested, this would have increased fresh water supplies relative to its current state. Because of the island's importance, the island was added to the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1988, and subsequently became part of [[Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument]] in June 2006.

Nihoa, along with [[Necker Island (Northwestern Hawaiian Islands)|Necker Island]] to the northwest, is among the most northern, isolated, smallest and driest of the Hawaiian islands, and receives the lowest dust and [[tephra]] input. All of these features were found to strongly predict [[deforestation]] among the [[Pacific Islands]]. The collapseabandonment of the Nihoa population may stembe fromtied to deforestation although this has not been proven and small groves of trees were noted in the major drainage valleys during survey work conducted in 1928<ref name="Emory28" />.