| Abstract: |
My general objective is to connect culture contact research with an explanatory theory using archaeological and historical data associated with sites dated circa A.D. 1800 to 1850 in Honolulu, Hawai'i. I examine the archaeological and historical records for evidence of the generation of variation and variation under selection to explain the patterns of material culture change after culture contact between Hawaiians and Euroamericans. I stress a particular contextual setting in which these processes occur, that is, the 'elites' in the port town of Honolulu. Using evolutionary theory as the model, fauna and ceramic tablewares from four sites in Honolulu were selected to test hypotheses about food preferences of the Honolulu elites who occupied these sites. Ceramic tableware and fauna variability are examined as general measures of elite diets and whether they differentially persisted as a functional process over time. Another concern of the study was the successful application of evolutionary theory for temporal data that was historically of short duration. Based on models in evolutionary theory, it was proposed that the rate of change increases during situations of culture contact, therefore, empirical evidence of differential persistence would be observable. Chronologies were formulated for the feature assemblages using a combination of relative stratigraphy, ceramic seriation and terminus post quem based on documented information about ceramic manufacture. A fine time scale was developed with which to examine the distributions. Pearson chi square values were used to confirm the differences in relative proportion of the tableware and vertebrate categories. From the results, it suggested that a fitness strategy was operating. From evolutionary theory, an advertising model is examined and discussed for its applicability, especially pertaining to each site's particular historical context.
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