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5BonusDucks (talk | contribs) →Ancient History: Clarified discussion of deforestation especially as it related to abandonment of the island. Removed references to collapse theory there is no evidence to suggest a social or political collapse on the island. |
5BonusDucks (talk | contribs) →Ancient History: Updated descriptions of archaeological sites and artifacts |
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Nihoa was well known to the [[Ancient Hawaii|early Hawaiians]]. Archaeological expeditions found extensive prehistoric [[Terrace (agriculture)|agricultural terraces]] and house sites.<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 high volcanic 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 abandonment of Nihoa may be tied 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" />
Artifacts recorded on the island represent a unique material culture demonstrating restraint in the utilization of wood. A number of artifact types such as bowls and human figures called ''ki'i'' that elsewhere in the Hawaiian chain would have been made out of wood were instead carved from stone, a lengthy and labor intensive process.<ref name="Archaeology">[https://www.nps.gov/articles/archeology-of-the-mystery-islands.htm Archeology of the “Mystery Islands” Nihoa and Mokumanamana]</ref> Archaeological sites on the island are similar to other site types within the Hawaiian islands and include both packed dirt and stone terraces likely for habitation and agricultural uses on the steep slopes of the island, cave shelters, and [[heiau]]. Some scholars consider Nihoa to be a matched pair with Necker Island although the latter appears not to have had a permanent population.<ref name="Archaeology" />
The heiau on Nihoa and [[Necker Island (Hawaii)|Necker Islands]] are unique in the Hawaiian chain representing a raised pavement of basalt stones with upright stones placed across this pavement often near the edges<ref name="Emory28" /> as opposed to the form common to other islands in the chain represented by a high stacked stone wall enclosing a central space. This difference in form represents an earlier iteration of Hawaiian monumental architecture that offers a unique perspective on cultural norms prior to the abandonment of Nihoa.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kirch |first=Patrick Vinton |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/11841243 |title=Feathered gods and fishhooks: an introduction to Hawaiian archaeology and prehistory |date=1985 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=0-8248-0981-5 |location=Honolulu |oclc=11841243}}</ref> Thanks to this difference in form, scholars often use the term '[[marae]]' as opposed to 'heiau' in reference to these structures and some scholars argue that the shift in form represents a shift in ritual practice in Hawaii.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kirch |first=Patrick Vinton |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1099790638 |title=Heiau, ʻaina, lani : the Hawaiian temple system in ancient Kahikinui and Kaupō, Maui |date=2019 |others=C. L. N. Ruggles, Andrew B. Smith |isbn=978-0-8248-7942-6 |location=Honolulu |oclc=1099790638}}</ref>
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