During eight days in March and April 1991, Cultural Surveys Hawai'i conducted archaeological data recovery on a 12-acre parcel (TMK 4-3-07:27) at Coconut Plantation, Waipouli, Kaua'i for Coconut Plantation Limited Partnership. This property is the site of an extensive coconut grove established in the twentieth century.
Previous archaeological studies of the project area had defined a continuous cultural layer along the shoreline of the property as well as a small inland extension of that layer - State site no. 50-30-08-1801. The shoreline deposits in which three human burials were discovered during testing were designated as a preserve. Intact portions of the cultural layer's inland extension (325 square meters) as well as two other human burials were reserved for data recovery treatment.
Data recovery excavations were concentrated in the location of Cultural Surveys Hawai'i Test Trench 13 in which intact cultural deposits had been exposed. Including Test Trench 13, fourteen (14) trenches totaling 13.9 meters square were excavated within the estimated site boundaries for a sample size of 4.28%. Nine of these trenches, totaling 8.5 meters square, were excavated into an area of thicker, more complex deposits concentrated over approximately 30 to 50 square meters. The remaining five trenches were dispersed to determine the extent of the cultural deposit. Continuation of the cultural layer east into the shoreline preserve was confirmed by a stratigraphy test trench at the estimated boundary of the preserve.
Three strata continuous across the site were defined by excavation, including a non-cultural basal deposit of parent coralline beach sands (Stratum III), a dark grayish brown cultural layer bearing traditional Hawaiian materials (Stratum II) and a thin overlying layer of dark brown sandy loam containing in most areas a mixture of recent historic and traditional Hawaiian artifacts.
An additional cultural layer, Stratum II a, was revealed underlying a portion of Stratum II. It contained an abundance of artifacts and midden in light brown sand and is estimated to cover an area of 10 to 20 square meters. Stratum II a was exposed in 5 contiguous trenches totaling 4.5 square meters. The base of the cultural deposits varied from 0.25 to 0.65 meters below surface.
Midden and artifacts recovered from the excavations included basalt flakes and adz fragments, hematite flakes, volcanic glass, coral and urchin spine tools, fishhooks and modified bone and shell, and several bone awls or picks. The bone from which one of the picks was made has been identified as that of an Audubon Shearwater (Puffins herminieri), thought to have become extinct prior to Western contact. This artifact represents the first incidence of this species found in context with Hawaiian cultural materials.
The artifact assemblage and stratigraphic sequence indicate either two separate occupations occurring on this site or, what is more likely, one continuous occupation, the early stage of which was limited to a small area. This area served as a center for specialized activities of artifact manufacture rather than for habitation.