HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0540.008 2014-2016Murashige, Laura
From: McCoy, Mark <mdmccoy@mail.smu.edu>
Sent: Monday, November 16, 2015 6:27 AM
To: Council Testimony
Cc: McCoy, Mark
Subject: Testimony in Favor of Resolution 326-15 Halelua
Attachments: Prof_McCoy_testimony_halelua.pdf
Please see attached testimony in favor of Res. 326-15.
Sincerely,
Mark McCoy
1
5
Mark D. McCoy
CD
Associate Professor
Department of Anthropology
Southern Methodist University
01-
'Department
Departmentof Anthropology, Southern Methodist University
---
P.O. Box 750336, Dallas, TX 75275-0336
;eX
Physical address for shipping:
Department of Anthropology
3225 Daniel Avenue, Heroy Hall Room 413
Dallas, TX 75205-1437
Comm No.
Ref. To. L
Ref. ®ate 1 9
1
To: Hawaii County Clerk, counciltestimony(a,hawaiicounty.gov
Re: Testimony in Favor of Resolution 326-15 Halelua
I am writing to express my support for the preservation of a portion of the North Kohala coast at
Halelua. I understand that the Council is currently considering least two other resolutions
proposing preservation of other sections of North Kohala (Res. 327-15, Res. 328-15) that also
have significant cultural sites. I would strongly encourage investment in preserving all of these
portions of North Kohala.
My name is Dr. Mark D. McCoy, I am a professional archaeologist, and an Associate Professor in
Anthropology. I have PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, and I have conducted
academic research in North Kohala since 1999. As an archaeologist, my area of expertise is in
how to use the best, most current, scientific approaches to learn about Hawaii's past from cultural
sites and artifacts. But, all the investigative tools that I have at my disposal are meaningless
without active stewardship, as exemplified by the dedication of Kohala's people to preserve the
`aina for future generations.
This resolution (Res. 326-15) was only recently brought to my attention by a representative of
Vipassana Hawaii (Jesse Vega), who asked to if I would provide the Council with some
background on the scientific value of Halelua. I had the opportunity to conduct several years of
combined archaeological research and training program centered on Hawala Gulch's agricultural
fields (loi), and below I outline some of the highlights from that work.
It appears the Halelua parcel includes an especially important, and well-preserved, set of
pondfields (HLW-29, registered with the Hawaii State Historic Preservation Division as State
Site Number 50-10-02-26086). My excavations here uncovered two previous phases of
pondfields - a rarity in the archaeology of Hawaii - that were buried as sediment built up and
new ponds built on top. Moreover, we got an early radiocarbon date of 1300 AD from a burned
piece of wood from a breadfruit tree. This proved to be the earliest direct evidence of breadfruit in
the Hawaiian Islands; some 200 years earlier than previously thought. A detailed analysis of the
soil chemistry in these deposits gave us the first empirical test of how sustainable taro farming is,
from the perspective of soil fertility, over 700 years. We discovered that a combination of
nutrients dissolved in irrigation water and sediment slowly washed in over time likely contributed
to the ability of Kohala's farmers to intensively produce food here.
Since 2010, 1 have published five peer-reviewed works based on this archaeological research (see
below). These publications have in turn been cited over 40 times in other scientific literature. Not
only is Kohala precious to its people, it is a treasure and educational resource that must be
preserved.
Sincerely,
Mark D. McCoy
Associate Professor
Department of Anthropology
Southern Methodist University
Department of Anthropology
P.O. Box 750336, Dallas, TX 75275
mdmccoy a,smu.edu
Scientific publications based on archaeological research:
McCoy, M.D., Browne Ribeiro, A.T., Graves, M.W., Chadwick, O.A:, & Vitousek, P.M. (2013)
Taro (Colocasia esculenta) farming in ancient Hawaii: sedimentology and soil nutrient analyses
of irrigated pondfield soils. Journal ofArchaeo logical Science 40(3):1528-1538.
McCoy, M.D. & M.W. Graves. (2012) Small valley irrigated taro agriculture in the Hawaiian
Islands: an extension of the `wet and dry' hypothesis. In M. Spriggs, D. Addison and P. J.
Matthews (eds) (2012) Irrigated Taro (Colocasia esculenta) in the Indo-Pacific: Biological,
Social and Historical Perspectives (Senri Ethnological Studies 78). Osaka: National Museum of
Ethnology, pp. 115-130.
McCoy, M.D., Asner, G. P., & Graves, M.W. (2011) Airborne lidar survey of irrigated
agricultural landscapes: an application of the slope contrast method. Journal ofArchaeological
Science, 38(9), 2141-2154.
McCoy, M.D., & Graves, M.W. (2010) The role of agricultural innovation on Pacific Islands: a
case study from Hawai'i Island. World Archaeology, 42(1), 90-107.
McCoy, M.D., Graves, M.W., & Murakami, G. (2010) Introduction of breadfruit (Artocarpus
altilis) to the Hawaiian Islands. Economic Botany, 64(4), 374-381.