Excavation of the Hālawa Cave Rockshelter, North Hālawa Valley, O’ahu, Hawai’i

Abstract

Hālawa Cave (site 50-Oa-B01-020) is a rockshelter located in the North Hālawa Valley several kilometers east of Pearl Harbor, on O‘ahu Island. The site consists of a midden approximately 50 cm deep located inside the rockshelter, which measures 6 x 8 m. The assemblage includes gourd cups and fire sticks, and a variety of shell, bone and stone artifacts. Also present are ecofacts (shellfish, bone and plant materials). Features found in the site include a stone wall, two or more hearths, concentrations of ash and charcoal, and food waste. The artifacts and ecofacts provide evidence of occasional Native Hawaiian occupation that began by the fifteenth century and extended into the nineteenth century. Radiocarbon dating and the presence of steel cut marks on bone indicate that the site continued to be visited into the early post-contact period. Hālawa Cave was used for intermittent habitation by individuals apparently engaged in woodcutting and local food procurement. The vertebrate remains include extinct and extirpated specie