Abstract:
Exploring the material culture of Hawaiian house sites is vital for a better understanding of ancestral social structures. Traditional household spaces were designed around the the ‘ai kapu (taboo) system of sanctions that governed social interaction to accommodate daily subsistence and production activities. Results indicate a distinct post-1650 C.E. intra-site distribution of faunal remains that is concomitant with status and potentially gender food consumption. This patterning, however, does not ideally match the model derived from ethnographic descriptions.

Bio:
Michael J. Kolb (Ph.D. 1991, UCLA) is Professor of Anthropology at Metropolitan State University and Presidential Teaching Professor Emeritus at Northern Illinois University. His research focuses on ancient and historical household and political economies and the building of monumental architecture. He has published, amongst other things, on the labor energetics in medieval Sicily, prehistoric Europe, and Oceania. His most recent book is Making Sense of Monuments (London 2020).