KUKUI LIGHTS THE WAY: MATCHING ORAL HISTORIES TO RADIOCARBON DATES AT KA'UPULEHU HAWAI'I

Ka’ūpūlehu forest, a remnant dry forest ecosystem on leeward Hawaiʻi Island, is home to a diverse array of native Hawaiian plants, including many unique and endangered species. It is also a nexus for collaboration between conservation workers, scientists, students, and Hawaiian cultural practitioners.

M’olelo – oral histories – from the pre-contact period describe many notable ecological and societal events in Hawaiian prehistory. One story from the Kaʻūpūlehu region describes a young chief who seeks a bride from the windward village of Kukuihaile. She is hesitant to leave her verdant home until her suitor promises to plant kukui trees near Ka’ūpūlehu. The genealogy of these individuals sets the time of this story at ca. 1715 CE. Aleurites moluccana (Kukui (Haw.), or Candlenut (Eng.)) is a Polynesian-introduced tree that has both cultural and practical significance for Hawaiian communities. Currently, kukui does not grow at Ka’ūpūlehu forest. However during the course of recent forest restoration work kukui nut shells were discovered in the soil at Ka’ūpūlehu, clear evidence that kukui had been there at some time in the past. Subsequent radiocarbon dates on two shells each give ages of 235 +/- 20 radiocarbon years (ca. 1715 CE). 1778 is the year of the first European arrival in the Hawaiian Islands, thus these samples date from the pre-contact period.

The two very different paths that converge at the same date underscore the value of connecting and co-locating scientific and cultural studies. The historical fidelity of events recorded within oral histories may be uncertain, however, the radiocarbon evidence from Ka’ūpūlehu supports this story as historical fact. Modern techniques can place ancient stories into a well-structured temporal sequence, while oral histories provide important clues for uncovering elusive historical and ecologically significant processes and events. Further, engaging students in both these lines of scholarship early in their careers – as scientists or as citizens – creates a two-fold relationship with inquiry into the natural world. This dual relationship is more compelling and more powerful than either strand alone, and firmly places scientific research within the human and cultural context that it is meant to serve.