Pre-Contact Hawaiian Fish Bone Analysis from Moloka'i, 1400-1795 AD

Legacy fish bone collections from nine late pre-contact sites on leeward Moloka‘i, Hawaiian Islands, excavated in 1952 and augmented by a 2019 excavation. The 24.5 KB dataset includes quantified taxa by NISP, diversity indices, chord distances, and correspondence analysis, authored by Marshall I. Weisler. It contains the first Pacific Islands archaeological record of silverside otoliths and reveals unusually high representation of threadfin (moi).

Use Cases

• Analyze historical fishing intensity and habitat exploitation based on concentration values ranging from 3.7 to 191.3 g/m³.
• Compare fish size structure and population dynamics based on reconstructed fish weights.
• Evaluate methodological impacts on faunal recovery by comparing 1952 and 2019 excavation results.
• Study regional species composition and rarity, such as the high representation of threadfin (moi) and the record of silverside otoliths.

Strengths

• Data spans nine archaeological sites from a defined late pre-contact period (AD 1400-1795).
• Includes a controlled 2019 excavation using fine-mesh recovery, allowing methodological comparison.
• Contains the first Pacific Islands archaeological record of silverside (‘iao) otoliths.
• Analysis uses multiple quantitative methods: NISP, diversity indices, chord distances, and correspondence analysis.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The 1952 recovery favored larger elements, introducing a potential bias against small-bodied taxa.

Provenance

Source

Marshall I. Weisler via figshare.

Collection Method

Analysis of fish remains from excavations in 1952 and a controlled 1 m² excavation in 2019.

Time Range

AD 1400-1795 (late pre-contact period).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-18 07:38:15; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Leeward Moloka‘i, Hawaiian Islands, Pacific Islands.